The Center for Inter-American Legal Education works to educate lawyers in foreign countries, mainly Cuba, on U.S. laws regarding international relations, such as embargo laws and export controls. ¹ It receives most of its funding from the Ford Foundation, a major left-of-center institutional funder. ²

Funding

The majority of funding granted to the Center for Inter-American Legal Education comes from the Ford Foundation. ³ For example, in 2018, of their total revenue of $239,000 they received $220,000 from the Ford Foundation to “educate and build the capacity for practicing Cuban lawyers” on “aspects of U.S. law relevant to their representation of Cuban interests.” ⁴ The Ford Foundation is one of the largest foundations in American history, and has historically funded left-wing causes. ⁵

The Atlantic Philanthropies has also funded the Center for Inter-American Legal Education for “education of Cuban lawyers in aspects of U.S. law.” ⁶ The Atlantic Philanthropies was an offshore Bermuda-based foundation that was able to fund activities that U.S.-based foundations cannot. ⁷

Activities

The Center for Inter-American Legal Education’s projects include producing and disseminating lectures from United States-based law professors to lawyers in Cuba and other countries, with the goal of educating foreign lawyers on the particulars of U.S. law so that they may represent the interests of foreign nationals, governments and their agencies, and foreign-based corporations. ⁸

Associated Lawyers and Law Firm

The principal lawyer at the law firm Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman, P.C., Michael Krinsky, lists the Center for Inter-American Legal Education as one of his professional affiliations. ⁹ Krinsky gives counsel to the Cuban government, including Cuba’s “Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Investment, Ministry of Basic Industries, Ministry of Telecommunications, and Ministry of Culture.” Krinsky also works with Cuban agencies “in all the permissible areas of commerce, finance, travel and intellectual property” as it relates to the United States and Cuba. Among Krinsky’s “notable successes” in litigation, he lists his work in “defense of Cuban assets in the United States from seizure in satisfaction of “anti-terrorism” judgments.” Krinsky has also represented foreign interests in cases related to the Bolivian state-owned telephone company, Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and Iran’s central bank, among others. ¹⁰

The firm of Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman is Cuba’s only U.S. counsel. ¹¹

People

Trustees include Christine Farley, Michael Avery, Jules Lobel, Carlin Meyer, and David Rodovsky. ¹²

Christine Farley is a professor of law at American University Washington College of Law who specializes in intellectual property law. Before her academic career, she worked at the law firm Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman. ¹³

Michael Avery is a professor emeritus at Suffolk University Law School ¹⁴ and the author of The Federalist Society: How Conservatives Took the Law Back from Liberals. ¹⁵ Avery also serves on the board of the National Police Accountability Project. ¹⁶ He has also served as the president of the far left National Lawyers Guild. ¹⁷

Jules Lobel is professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. He also serves as vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and is the author of several books, including Less Than Perfect Union: An Alternative Perspective on the U.S. Constitution. ¹⁸ He is also the vice president of the Abolitionist Law Center, a radical left-wing organization that seeks to abolish the police force and prison system. ¹⁹

Carlin Meyer is a professor emerita at New York Law School. She focuses on issues related to sex, gender, and sexuality, and was formerly the president of the N.Y.C. Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. ²⁰

David Rodovsky is a civil rights and criminal defense attorney, and senior fellow at Penn Carey Law, University of Pennsylvania. He is the co-author of Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation. ²¹

1. “Center for Inter-American Legal Education.” CauseIQ. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/center-for-inter-american-legal-education,261793756/.
2. “Center for Inter-American Legal Education, Inc.” Ford Foundation, November 28, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/center-for-inter-american-legal-education-inc-129182/.
3. “Center for Inter American Legal Education Form 990.” ProPublica, 2018. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/261793756/08_2019_prefixes_26-26%2F261793756_201812_990_2019082816603694.
4. “Center for Inter-American Legal Education, Inc.” Ford Foundation, November 28, 2023. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/center-for-inter-american-legal-education-inc-129182/.
5. Braun, Ken. “The Ford Foundation’s Ugly, Warped View of America: Big Labor, Big Government, Big Censorship.” Capital Research Center, September 7, 2023. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-ford-foundations-ugly-warped-view-of-america-part-3/
6. “Center for Inter-American Legal Education.” The Atlantic Philanthropies. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantees/center-for-inter-american-legal-education.
7. Ciaramella, CJ. “ProPublica ‘exposé’ Failed to Disclose Own Donors’ Lack of Disclosure.” Washington Free Beacon, September 10, 2012. http://freebeacon.com/politics/sins-of-omission/.
8. “Center for Inter American Legal Education Form 990.” ProPublica, 2018. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/261793756/08_2019_prefixes_26-26%2F261793756_201812_990_2019082816603694.
9. “Michael Krinsky.” RBSKL. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://rbskl.com/attorneys/michael-krinsky/.
10. “Michael Krinsky.” RBSKL. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://rbskl.com/attorneys/michael-krinsky/.
11. “Litigation on Behalf of Foreign Governments, and Their Agencies and Enterprises.” RBSKL. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://rbskl.com/practice-areas/litigation-on-behalf-of-foreign-governments-and-their-agencies-and-enterprises/.
12. “Center for Inter American Legal Education Form 990.” ProPublica, 2018. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/261793756/08_2019_prefixes_26-26%2F261793756_201812_990_2019082816603694.
13. ^[1] “Faculty.” American University Washington College of Law. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/farley/bio/.
14. “Michael Avery.” Suffolk University Boston. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.suffolk.edu/academics/faculty/a/v/avery_michael_1595218.
15. “The Federalist Society.” Vanderbilt University Press, May 10, 2023. https://www.vanderbiltuniversitypress.com/9780826518774/the-federalist-society/.
16. “About Us.” National Police Accountability Project, January 8, 2024. https://www.nlg-npap.org/about-npap-justice/.
17. “Michael Avery.” NYU Press, February 21, 2019. https://nyupress.org/author/michael-avery/.
18.  “Jules Lobel.” Jules Lobel | School of Law | University of Pittsburgh. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.law.pitt.edu/people/jules-lobel.
19. “Jules Lobel.” Abolitionist Law Center, July 27, 2023. https://abolitionistlawcenter.org/person/jules-lobel/.
20.  “Emeriti.” New York Law School, April 3, 2023. https://www.nyls.edu/academics/faculty/faculty-profiles/emeriti/.
21.   “David Rudovsky.” PennLaw. Accessed April 8, 2024. https://www.law.upenn.edu/faculty/drudovsk.