Thank you for your interest in Catholic University’s International Human Rights Summer Law Program in Rome, Italy! Susanna F. Fischer, Director, International Human Rights Summer Law Program in Rome, Italy, is looking forward to welcoming another enthusiastic group of students and faculty to the Rome Program in Summer 2026. 

Susanna F. Fischer, Director, International Human Rights Summer Law Program in Rome, Italy, and Director, Comparative and International Law Institute 
fischer@cua.edu

Susanna Frederick Fischer has practiced law on both sides of the Atlantic, as a New York attorney and an English barrister. Her primary areas of practice and her main research interests are copyright law, art law, media law, cyberlaw, and constitutional law, from a comparative law perspective.

Professor Fischer received her legal education at Merton College, University of Oxford, where she received a B.A. in jurisprudence, and the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was awarded the LL.M. degree. She also studied at Princeton University, where she earned an A.B. in history, magna cum laude.

She practiced for five years as a barrister in London, England, at 5 Raymond Buildings (currently headed by Desmond Browne QC and Matthew Nicklin QC). She represented clients before all levels of English courts and tribunals, including the House of Lords. In London, she also worked part-time as a Night Lawyer providing pre-publication legal advice for News International plc, the publishers of The Times, The Sunday Times, and the Sun. She also taught Contracts at London Guildhall University. She later spent three years practicing intellectual property law as an associate at two New York City law firms, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.

Professor Fischer joined the faculty of Columbus School of Law in 1999, where she teaches or has taught copyright law, art law, entertainment law, introduction to intellectual property law, international intellectual property law, constitutional law, comparative law, comparative constitutional law, and civil procedure. She has taught courses on intellectual property law in Krakow, Poland, for the American Law Program jointly run by the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America and the Jagiellonian University, as well as for the summer program in International Business and Trade held at the Jagiellonian University. She has also taught a summer course at the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

She served as the native English language consultant for a translation of the Polish Civil Code into English, published by Wolters Kluwer Polska in 2012.

Stacy Brustin is a Professor of Law Emerita and Director of the Immigration Law and Policy Initiative [ILPI] at CUA, Columbus School of Law. ILPI engages in interdisciplinary research, fact-finding, policy reform, and advocacy to protect the rights and dignity of individuals fleeing their home countries and seeking refuge in the U.S. Professor Brustin was the founder and director of the Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Clinic until 2022. Her research and scholarship focused on access to justice in immigration courts and detention centers as well as the impact of mass deportation policy on children and families. Professor Brustin also provides media commentary on immigration policy issues. She initiated the law school’s spring break immigration legal services border trips in 2019. Professor Brustin serves on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration. In addition to the Immigration and Human Rights Seminar, she teaches Forced Migration: U.S. Law and Policy.

Ashley Feasley is currently serving as the inaugural Legal Expert in Residence at CUA's Immigration Law and Policy Initiative. Ashley is the former Director for Migration Policy and Public Affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and she has held senior level positions at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Ashley also served as a Director for Transborder Security at the National Security Council at the White House during the Biden Administration and worked in policy development and advisory roles at the Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services and at U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security. Ashley has extensive experience in migration and international trade law: including immigration law, customs and anti- dumping/countervailing duties, human trafficking and refugee and asylum law. Ms. Feasley has taught at Fordham University School of Law and previously taught a course at the Columbus School of Law.