Amrit Singh, a human rights lawyer and expert on democracy and the rule of law, will join the NYU Law faculty in August as a professor of practice and faculty director of the Rule of Law Lab. Singh’s teaching will focus on the theory and practice of countering democratic decline.
She comes to NYU Law from Stanford Law School, where she is currently professor of the practice of law. At Stanford, Singh founded and directed the Rule of Law Impact Lab, which studies and deploys innovative legal tools to defend democracy and the rule of law worldwide.
“At a time when issues of democracy and the rule of law are at the forefront across the globe, Amrit’s deep expertise is especially valuable,” says Dean Troy McKenzie ’00. “She will make a wonderful addition to the NYU Law faculty and will serve as an exceptional resource for our students.”
Singh has conducted strategic litigation, research, and advocacy on a wide range of issues in the US and internationally. She has testified before Congress, authored numerous human rights reports, co-authored the book Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond, and appeared frequently as a commentator and author in the domestic and international press. Singh has also published pieces in outlets such as the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, the New York Review of Books, the Lancet, the Los Angeles Times, and Just Security.
Prior to joining Stanford, Singh served as the director of the Open Society Justice Initiative’s Accountability Division, where she oversaw several rule of law and human rights projects. She successfully litigated before the European Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In Fall 2021, Singh taught the Resisting Contemporary Authoritarianism Seminar at NYU Law with University Professor J.H.H. Weiler. Previously, Singh was a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, litigating immigrants’ rights and national security cases.
Singh clerked for Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. She holds a BA in economics from Cambridge University, an MPhil in Economics from Oxford University, and a JD from Yale Law School.
Posted March 10, 2025