Sturm College of Law News
Cox Price Human Rights Award presented to Paul L. Hoffman, Esq.
October 19, 2009
The Nanda Center presented the 2009-2010 Cox Price Human Rights award on October 15, 2009, to Paul L. Hoffman, Esq. of Schonbrun, De Simone, Seplow, Harris and Hoffman LLP. Mr. Hoffman is the leading U.S. lawyer in Alien Tort Statute cases. Mr. Hoffman argued or participated in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain (Alien Tort Statute), Khulumani v. Barclay National Bank Ltd. (the Apartheid cases), Mujica v. Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Alien Tort Statute), El-Masry v. United States (extraordinary rendition), Doe v. Unocal (Alien Tort Statute corporate complicity), and Hilao v. Estate of Marcos (international human rights). Presently and for the last ten years, Mr. Hoffman serves as a member of Amnesty International’s nine-member International Executive Committee which oversees Amnesty International’s operations throughout the world.
Click here to view Mr. Hoffman’s lecture on “Suing Corporations for Human Rights Violations: A View from the Frontlines.”
Words of praise for Mr. Hoffman from Sherry Broder, Esq., the first recipient of the annual Cox Price Human Rights Award and human rights attorney practicing in Honolulu, Hawaii:
Paul Hoffman has been a pioneering trailblazer who has pushed forward the field of international human rights, so that it is now a defined set of legal principles requiring governments to treat each individual with dignity and respect. He has tirelessly promoted the values of international human rights at the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ACLU, ABA, International League for Human Rights, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. Working in collaboration with others when possible, and working alone when necessary, Paul has identified abuses requiring attention and has developed the innovative legal approaches needed to bring justice to the victims of abuses and accountability to those responsible for these heinous acts. He is a creative and persistent litigator, and has also excelled as a teacher, scholar, mentor, and colleague.
We have had the opportunity to work with him on the Marcos Human Rights Litigation for the past 23 years. Paul had the courage to represent the unpopular group, the communists, and had the vision to push the issues in the case beyond torture and summary execution to claims for wrongful arbitrary detention which had not been recognized as a basis for a legal claim before. Paul has never given up, despite all the obstacles and difficulties in the case, particularly the monumental problems in collecting.
His lifetime of efforts on behalf of those in need has truly made a difference in giving meaning and life to the international legal principles of human rights and enforcing human rights law. He has made very important contributions to the elimination of torture, summary execution and disappearance by governments.