Kristie Bluett
Kristie Bluett
Associate Professor of Clinical Law | Director, Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic
525, College of Law Building
About
Kristie Bluett is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Law and the Director of the Domestic Violence & Civil Protection Order Clinic. Previously, she was a Clinical Teaching Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center in the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic (IWHRC). She also served as a Visiting Professor and Acting Director of the IWHRC from 2016-2017. In those roles, Professor Bluett supervised law students in strategic litigation cases, legislative drafting, and human rights reporting for local partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, and supervised human rights fact-finding trips to Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Eswatini. Immediately following law school, she worked in private practice for five years as a litigation associate at large law firms in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. While working in private practice, Professor Bluett represented survivors of domestic violence in asylum and U-visa matters.
She has conducted numerous short-courses and trainings for law students, lawyers, judges, and law professors around the world, including an Introduction to U.S. Law and Legal Systems course in Tbilisi, Georgia, interactive teaching methods and curriculum design in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and oral advocacy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She continues to serve as a National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) faculty member teaching trial skills to practicing lawyers in the U.S.
Professor Bluett received her J.D., cum laude, with a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies, and L.L.M., with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center. She holds a B.A., summa cum laude, from The George Washington University, where she was awarded the Wilber J. Carr Prize for demonstrating outstanding ability in the study of international affairs while displaying the qualities necessary to be a dedicated public servant.
Education
L.L.M., Georgetown University Law Center
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
B.A., The George Washington University
Scholarship
Marriage Equality under the ICCPR: How the Human Rights Committee Got It Wrong and Why It’s Time to Get It Right, 35 Am. U. Int’l. L. Rev. 605 (2020).
Note, Girls’ Education Under Attack: The Detrimental Impact of Sexual Abuse by Teachers on School Girls’ Human Rights in Kenya, 49 Geo. J. Int’l. L. 241 (2018) (Supervisor and Editor).
The Promise of a New Constitution – Achieving Equal Inheritance Rights for Women in Swaziland: A Human Rights Report and Proposed Legislation, 40 Geo. J. Int’l. L. Online 441 (2009) (with Allison Menkes, Carla Smith and Andrea Vossler).
Displaced and Disconnected: Middle East and North Africa Region, UNHCR INNOVATION SERVICE (June 2023),https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Displaced-and-Disconnected-MENA-report.pdf.
Disappearing Human Rights Defenders: Russia’s Human Rights Violations and International Crimes in Ukraine, AM. BAR ASSOC. CENTER FOR HUM. RTS. (Oct. 2022), https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/human_rights/justice-defenders/chr-hrd-disappearances-ukraine.pdf.
Displaced and Disconnected: East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region, UNHCR INNOVATION SERVICE (July 2022), https://www.unhcr.org/innovation/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Displaced-and-Disconnected-East-Africa-1.pdf.
The Abuse of Counter-Terrorism and Extremism Laws to Target Human Rights Defenders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, AM. BAR ASSOC. CENTER FOR HUM. RTS. (June 2022), https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/human_rights/justice-defenders/misuse-counterterrorism-laws-eurasia-en.pdf.
COVID-19 Related State of Emergency Measures: Impact and Responses, AM. BAR ASSOC. CENTER FOR HUM. RTS. (Feb. 2022), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/human_rights/reports/covid-19-related-state-of-emergency-measures-impact-and-response/ (with Kersty McCourt, Ken Nyaundi, and Shalom Ndiku).
Poland: Business, Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law, HELSINKI FOUND. FOR HUM. RTS. (Feb. 2021), https://hfhr.pl/en/publications-7798/business-judicial-independence-and-the-rule-of-law (with Małgorzata Szuleka and Maciej Kalisz).
The Case of Judge Igor Tuleya: Continued Threats to Judicial Independence in Poland, AM. BAR ASSOC. CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. (Nov. 2020), https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/human_rights/justice-defenders/igor-tuleya.pdf.
Poland’s Judicial Reform Falls Short of EU Expectations, Complicating Cooperation Against Russia (2022), Just Security, (with Jasmine Cameron and Scott Cullinane), https://www.justsecurity.org/83324/polands-judicial-reform-falls-short-of-eu-expectations-complicating-cooperation-against-russia/.
Living in Limbo: The Impact of Greece’s Safe Third Country Policy on Afghan Asylum Seekers (2021), Just Security, https://www.justsecurity.org/79134/living-in-limbo-the-impact-of-greeces-safe-third-country-policy-on-afghan-asylum-seekers/.
In Law and Practice: Australia’s Obligation to Prohibit Child Detention in the Context of International Migration (2021), ANZSIL Perspective, https://anzsilperspective.com/in-law-and-practice-australias-obligation-to-prohibit-child-detention-in-the-context-of-international-migration/.
Paper presentation: Poland: Business, Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law (with Małgorzata Szuleka and Maciej Kalisz), hosted by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (conducted remotely), February 25, 2021.
Paper presentation: State Party Obligations Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child: How the Convention’s Best Interest Principle Restricts State Sovereignty in the Context of International Migration, European Society of International Law (ESIL) Interest Group on Migration and Refugee Law Pre-Conference Event in Athens, Greece, September 12, 2019.