Gwynne L. Skinner

Assistant Professor of Clinical Law

• M.St. in International Human Rights Law (LL.M. equiv.), Oxford University, with distinction
• J.D. University of Iowa, with high distinction
• M.A. University of Iowa
• B.A. University of Northern Iowa, summa cum laude

Curriculum Vitae

gskinner@willamette.edu

Professor Gwynne Skinner joined the Clinical Law Program faculty in the fall of 2008 after serving as a visiting clinical professor of law at Seattle University. While at Seattle University, she completed her M.St. in International Human Rights Law (LL.M. equiv.) from Oxford University, where she earned distinction. Prior to teaching, Professor Skinner was a civil rights and international human rights attorney with the Seattle law firm she founded, the Public Interest Law Group PLLC, a civil litigator with the national law firm of Dorsey and Whitney LLP, and a federal and state prosecutor.

Professor Skinner has several years experience litigating human rights cases under the Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act. She was lead counsel in the case of Corrie et al v. Caterpillar, a cutting-edge ATS case, and is working on several other ATS cases as well. In addition, she has cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights. Professor Skinner also has substantial experience representing immigrants seeking asylum and has done extensive work on the rights of refugees and immigrants, including the conditions of detention. She recently was asked to serve as an expert on the Technical Resource Group for the ICE Medical Services study commissioned by Congress. 

Her scholarly research primarily focuses on issues related to human rights litigation in U.S. courts and the role of customary international law in domestic courts.

Professor Skinner is a member of the Oregon and Washington bars and is admitted to practice in the district courts of both states, as well as the Ninth, Eighth and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal.

SSRN Author Page

Publications

• "Customary International Law, Federal Common Law, and Federal Court Jurisdiction," forthcoming, Valparaiso Law Review, Spring 2010.
• "Bringing International Law to Bear on the Detention of Refugees and Conditions of Immigrant Detention in the United States," forthcoming, Willamette Journal of International Law and Dispute Resolution Vol. 16, 2 (Fall 2009).
• "A Clinical Model for Bringing International Human Rights Home: Human Rights Reporting on Conditions of Immigrant Detention," 7:2 Seattle Journal for Social Justice 649 (Summer 2009).
• "Federal Jurisdiction Over U.S. Citizens' Claims for Human Rights Violations," 37 Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law Vol. 1, 53 (2008).
• "The Nuremberg Precedents and Their Impact on Civil Claims of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in U.S. Courts under the Alien Tort Statute," The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and Their Policy Consequences Today, ed. Beth Griech-Polelle, Nomos, C. H. Beck, forthcoming 2008.
• "Nuremberg's Legacy Continues: The Nuremberg Trials' Influence on Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts under the Alien Tort Statute," 71 Albany Law Review 321 (January 2008).
• "War Crimes Litigation in U.S. Courts: The Caterpillar Case," The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Development, Special Publication No. 9 (August 2006).
• "Intimate Association and the First Amendment," 3 Law and Sexuality 1 (1993).