PhD Student · Fulbright Scholar
José Jans Carretero Pardo
PhD Student in Political Science · University of Illinois Chicago
I am a PhD student in Political Science at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) and a Fulbright–MinCiencias Scholar (2025–2030). My work is amphibious — it moves between the archive and the courtroom, between constitutional theory and empirical fieldwork, between Colombia and Chicago — and draws on mixed methods, pairing qualitative research (archives, ethnography, case comparison) with quantitative analysis. After a decade of frontline legal practice at the intersection of transitional justice, human rights, and public-interest litigation, I now take up the theoretical questions that practice forced me to ask.
Research agenda
Research & Publications
My research sits at the intersection of comparative politics, constitutional law, and the political sociology of law, asking how accountability institutions confront state violence and criminal governance in Latin America — a question I approach with mixed methods, combining qualitative archives, ethnography, and participatory action research with quantitative comparative analysis. I bring a decade of frontline practice in Colombia's transitional justice process to the theoretical questions that organize my doctoral work.
- Criminal governance, state-criminal networks, and the politics of violence
- Constitutional law, civil rights, and democracy
- Courts, accountability institutions, and transitional justice
- Public-interest litigation and the political sociology of law
- Drug policy, prohibition, and health-rights frameworks
- Comparative politics of Latin America
2015–2024 · Colombia
A decade of frontline practice
Most recently, I served as Lead Counsel for Judicial Representation before Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), as a staff attorney with the SAAD-Víctimas in the Secretaría Ejecutiva. I led a team of six attorneys and two assistants representing more than 2,079 individual and 26 collective victims in the macro-cases on extrajudicial executions ("false positives") — work that contributed to the indictment of 25 army officials, including five generals, for 303 victims in Casanare and 135 in the Caribbean region. Earlier, I was senior attorney at the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective (CAJAR), international consultant for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and attorney at the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP). Across these roles I filed more than 30 amicus curiae briefs and constitutional actions before Colombia's Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the JEP, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the International Criminal Court.
Legal education · Colombia
Teaching and clinical work
Alongside my litigation practice, I have built a parallel teaching trajectory in Colombia. I am the founding coordinator of the Carlos Gaviria Díaz Strategic Litigation Legal Clinic at the Legal Aid Office of the Industrial University of Santander (UIS), where I also taught Constitutional Theory. I designed and delivered the Research Methodologies course in UIS's Master's Program in Human Rights, and served as teaching and research assistant in several seminars at the Universidad de los Andes, including the Centre for Sociolegal Research (CIJUS). This clinical, methodological, and doctrinal experience shapes how I build my own research agenda and how I train students to move fluently between advocacy, evidence, and theory.
Beyond the work
A bit more about me
Outside the courtroom and the classroom, I am an endurance athlete, a certified running and strength coach, a community organizer, and a lifelong student of political theory. Most mornings I train along the Chicago lakefront or in Little Village. I love to cook and to share food from around the world with friends; I move steadily through audiobooks and podcasts, follow technology closely, and watch Real Madrid matches with my cats — the small rituals that keep the soul in good company.
Education
- PhD, Political Science, University of Illinois Chicago, 2025–2030 (Fulbright–MinCiencias Scholar).
- LL.M. (Master of Laws), Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, 2018–2019 (Academic Vice President fully funded assistantship).
- LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws), Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, 2008–2015 ("Quiero Estudiar" Scholarship; top-ranked in the Colombian National Saber Pro Exam in Law, 2013-II, and Humanities, 2014-I).
Additional training
- Diploma in Drug Policy, Health, and Human Rights — CIDE, Mexico, 2020.
- Leadership, Organizing, and Action: Leading Change Certification — Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 2018.
- Clinical Seminar in Human Rights — Central European University, Budapest, 2017.
- Bertha Justice Human Rights Global Convening — University of the Witwatersrand / CALS, South Africa, 2018.
Affiliations
- Department of Political Science, University of Illinois Chicago.
- Fulbright Scholar — Fulbright–MinCiencias Endowed program.
- Working Group on Criminal Politics — Northwestern, University of Chicago, and UIC.
- Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA).
Languages: Spanish (native) · English · French.
Contact
Let’s talk.
Research collaborations, consulting briefs, expert testimony, speaking invitations, or press inquiries — this inbox is open.
Or write directly: jcarr74@uic.edu