DIREITO RIO discusses Human Rights politics

Professor Thiago Bottino, coordinator of undergraduate studies at DIREITO RIO, was selected to deliver a lecture at the world conference of the International Association of Law Schools (IALS) in March 2013, in India. The panel will discuss the contribution of law schools to public policies in defense of human rights, and Bottino will share the table with law professors from universities in South Africa, Estonia, Ireland and Malaysia. Presented by Bottino, the panel presented the initiative of DIREITO RIO to provide free legal assistance to institutions and nongovernmental organizations in proceedings before the Supreme Court. The first cases date back to 2008, when graduate students prepared written records of amicus curiae for the Brazilian Press Association (when the unconstitutionality of the Press Law of the dictatorship was recognized) and the Rainbow Group (when the rights of homosexual union were recognized).Since then, the School has given legal support to NGOs in other processes of great impact, as the case of Clean Record (Ficha Limpa). According to Bottino, the event is an opportunity to multiply initiatives that change the paradigm of paternalism that predominates in the care of those in need to a qualified legal practice with a national impact, he believes.