2023-2024 Fellows
Anandita Mishra LLM ’24 holds an LL.M. from New York University School of Law and a B.A.LL.B. (H)’ from National Law University Odisha, Cuttack, India (2019). She began her career at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (Mumbai), one of the largest law firm in India, as a dispute resolution attorney focussing on commercial litigation and arbitration. She transitioned her litigation practice to also work on technology laws as she moved to New Delhi to practice at the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court. She worked with the Internet Freedom Foundation on matters concerning illegal use of facial recognition technology, intermediary liability, website blocking, anti-competitive privacy policies, VPNs regulations, illegal use of Pegasus spyware on Indians, and challenging the use of sedition law against digital journalists.
She co-founded, and co-managed the Digital Patrakar Defence Clinic from 2021-2022, that provided pro bono legal aid to around 40 journalists in that year. She was invited at Rights Con 2022 for a lightning talk on the Clinic. She was a panellist at the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum 2023 on a panel discussing tensions between privacy and civic freedoms in personal data protection laws, and also at NLUO’s Constitutional Law Society panel on ‘Strategic Litigation on Digital Rights’. During her time at NYU, she worked with HURIDOCS (Geneva) on European data protection laws. She enjoys working at the intersection of innovation and law, and authored a paper on the recent New York Time’s copyright suit against Open AI. Currently, she is working as a Junior Research Fellow at the Information Law Institute at NYU where her research focuses on software liability and cybersecurity.
As an LL.M. Public Interest Fellow, Anandita will work with World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency Institutional Administration Practice Group on artificial intelligence and data governance issues in the development finance space.
Joyce Claudia Choo (LLM'24)'s deep interest in International Law and Human Rights began when she volunteered at a grassroots political NGO in Malaysia. At 18, she gained first-hand exposure to the prevalence of injustice within the criminal justice system by working on cases of torture, death penalty and arbitrary arrest of political prisoners. Coming from a working-class background and being the first person in her family to complete high school and attain higher education, she is interested in addressing how the law discriminates against individuals from poor socio-economic backgrounds, and how this intersects closely with race and colorism. With this vision in mind, she obtained her law degree, while continuing her work as a death penalty caseworker with Amicus, allowing her to connect with defendants from similar backgrounds, and understand the law through the perspectives of those on the receiving end of racial inequality. Joyce obtained a High First Class, alongside the RG Lawson subject awards for the highest marks in her cohort for Counterterrorism and Human Rights and Criminal Evidence.
With a mission of investigating how racial injustice pervades geographical confines, Joyce pursued an LLM in International Legal Studies, focusing on International Humanitarian Law. Reflectively, she drew from her experiences working in spaces of injustice to inform her analysis of how the law is shaped by powerful actors. As the recipient of a merit-based research fellowship, Joyce explored drone strike litigation and accountability in the Middle East as a Llyod N. Cutler Salzburg Fellow and researched the global judiciary and democratic decline with the UN Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges. Her work also focused on warfare and accountability, having worked closely for the COI of Ukraine with Commissioner de Greiff as a Transitional Justice Fellow. Joyce published related articles, including in the N.Y.U Journal of International Law & Politics and the Gonzaga University Journal of International Law, and explored evidence-based solutions to injustice as a co-author of the Evidence: Law and Context casebook (6th Edn)
As an LLM PILC fellow, Joyce is grateful to be able to contribute her legal education in IHL to the work of the Department of Legal Affairs at UNRWA, applying her background towards the facilitation of food, medical and humanitarian relief in Gaza.
Naman Anand LLM ’24 holds a Master of Laws (International Legal Studies) from NYU Law, along with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours, Majoring in Sociology) and Bachelor of Law (Honours, Majoring in International Law) from the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) in India, where he graduated amongst the Top of his stream with High Honours.
Naman's academic journey includes the Solidarity in EU Law Scholarship (University of Pisa, 2020), United Nations Millennium Fellowship (2021/22, 2022/23), SDURI Scholarship (University of Western Australia, 2021), and the US Embassy Warsaw Summer School Scholarship (Adam Mickiewicz University, 2021). In 2022, he received the Lucerne Academy for Human Rights Implementation Scholarship. He also pursued international law studies at the University of Tartu, Samara National Research University, and the Indian Society of International Law.
Naman is the Founder and Managing Editor of the Indian Journal of Projects, Infrastructure, and Energy Law™ (IJPIEL), India's largest open-access infrastructure and energy law platform. Since 2020, IJPIEL has ranked 5th in Feedspot’s Global Energy Law Blog rankings and has been cited by the Asian Development Bank, the World Economic Forum, and the Government of India. His writings have been cited by the American Bar Association, Rutgers University, Auckland Tech, and others.
As a Bachelor's student, Naman interned with the Ministry of Trade & Commerce on the DS-541 WTO dispute, a Brussels law firm on CAS matters, and clerked for Judge Amol Rattan Singh at the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was also a Temple of Understanding Summer Fellow, Assistant Director for Harvard Model United Nations India, and research assistant to Dr Heather McRobie.
Before NYU, Naman advised the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, World Bank, ADB, 'Big 4' firms, and Fortune 500 companies on international and comparative construction and energy law. He received the FIDIC Asia-Pacific Future Leaders’ Forum Award (2022) for his work as a UNDP legal consultant on a solar power plant in Yemen.
At NYU Law, Naman focused on the trinity of International and Comparative Public Procurement Law, ESG, and development finance. He was a Member of the International Organizations Clinic and a Graduate Editor of the Journal of International Law and Politics. He also served as a Visiting Editor for the Trento University Law Review.
As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, Naman will work with the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to advance Clean Energy Access solutions for developing nations. Later this year, he will be one of the youngest Academic Visitors in the history of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge and plans to research public interest concerns and sustainability in outer space.
Uzma Sherieff LLM ’24 holds a Master of Laws in International Legal Studies from NYU Law, as well as a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of International Studies (with Distinction) from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Before coming to NYU, Uzma practiced for several years as a civil and family defense lawyer and then as a criminal defense lawyer for First Nations peoples at two major Aboriginal Legal Services in Australia. Prior to that, she was a law clerk to a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, a foreign law clerk to a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and worked for the New South Wales Crown Solicitor’s Office on coronial inquests and special commissions of inquiry.
While at NYU, Uzma focused her studies on racial justice, abolition, civil rights and international human rights law. She was a student advocate with the Global Justice Clinic, where she worked on legal empowerment projects with the Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative. She was a Transitional Justice Scholar and a Human Rights Scholar with the Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice, where she was a research assistant with the Prevention Project. She was also a research assistant for the NYU-Yale Tribal Constitutions Project and a LLM representative on the board of the NYU South Asian Law Students Association.
As a LLM Public Interest Fellow, Uzma will continue to work with the Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative to provide legal training and advocacy support to jailhouse lawyers and currently incarcerated people across the United States.
2022-2023 Fellows
Belén Aguinaga LLM '23 obtained a Bachelor of Laws (magna cum laude) and a Master in International Dispute Resolution and Arbitration from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in Ecuador. She also completed an LL.M. in International Legal Studies at NYU School of Law as a Dean’s Graduate Scholar and a Fulbright Foreign Student Scholar.
While pursuing her Bachelor of Laws, she participated in the regional rounds of the Price Media Law Moot Court at Cardozo Law School and in the Interamerican Human Rights Moot Court Competition organized by American University Washington College of Law. As student advocate in the Legal Aid Clinic and the Public Interest Clinic, Belén worked on cases related to extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and racial discrimination and femicide before domestic courts and filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against Ecuador for denying the recognition of a same-sex marriage.
Before coming to NYU, she worked as a Legal Advisor at the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, as Director of the Truth Commission and Human Rights Department at Ecuador’s Prosecutor’s Office, and as an Associate at Rosero & Albán law firm. Through these positions, Belén built experience in domestic criminal and constitutional law as well as in international human rights law. Since 2020, she has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at USFQ, where she teaches the following courses: Crimes against Human Rights, International Criminal Law and Constitutional Procedure.
At NYU, Belén focused her work on International Criminal Law and International Human Rights Law. She was a Student Advocate at the Global Justice Clinic where she explored legal empowerment and worked on the Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative project. She has also conducted research related to judicial independence, as a research assistant for professor Margaret Satterthwaite.
As an LLM PILC Fellow, Belén will be part of the International Advocacy and Litigation Team at RFK Human Rights, supporting litigation before international mechanisms.
Ilaria Bellini LLM ’23 holds a Master’s Degree in Law from Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, where she graduated among the top of her class, with a Master Thesis in International Arbitration.
Before joining NYU, Ilaria worked for two years in an international law firm in Milan, focusing on EU law, International Law, and Litigation. In addition, she worked in the Sanctions Unit at the European Commission, where she collaborated on several flagship initiatives on the unintended impact of Sanctions on Humanitarian Aid. On that endeavour, she also had the chance to contribute to the draft of legal acts of the European Commission, by participating in the negotiations and preparatory works of the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. During her time at Bocconi, Ilaria also gained experience working for the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Milan, and in the corporate practice of a UK-based law firm. She qualified as a lawyer in Italy during her LL.M., in October 2022.
As an LL.M. at NYU, Ilaria specialized in International Legal Studies, and particularly in Law and Development, Human Rights, and Foreign Policy. She was also selected as one of the four LL.M. students to take part in the International Organizations Clinic, where she contributed to the research and draft of a report in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. As part of her extra-curricular activities, Ilaria worked throughout her entire LL.M. year as a Research Assistant at the NYU’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, within the Prevention Project.
As a Public Interest Fellow, Ilaria will work at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, in Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering.
Catalina Henao LLM '23 holds a Bachelor of Law from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and a Specialization Degree in Public Law from Universidad Externado de Colombia. She graduated among the top of her class from both universities.
Before coming to NYU, Catalina practiced law in Colombia for eleven years, working for the judiciary branch. She served as a law clerk in the State Council. She also worked at the Constitutional Court for ten years, holding different positions. During her last year at the Constitutional Court, she served as Deputy Associate Justice to Justice Gloria Stella Ortiz-Delgado. Since 2020, Catalina teaches a Civil Procedure course focused on Constitutional Law in University ICESI, in Cali, Colombia.
As an LL.M at NYU Law, Catalina specialized in International Legal Studies. She also was a member of the Legal Empowerment and Judicial Independence Clinic, recently created to support Professor Margaret Satterthwaite in her mandate as UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.
As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, Catalina will continue to contribute to the various activities of the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.
Lilian Winter LLM '23 holds a law degree from Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany, where she graduated among the top of her class. She received a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation for both her law studies in Germany and her LLM. Lilian was also awarded the NYU Dean's Graduate Scholarship and the German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship.
While studying law in Germany, Lilian was a board member of a refugee law clinic where she advised refugees on immigration law and served as the head of the counseling department. Lilian also worked as a research assistant for a German law professor for several years. In her free time, she was active in an organization supporting FLINTA law students and is still a member of a German association of feminist lawyers.
At NYU, Lilian focused on critical legal studies and social justice, particularly with regard to gender and racial equality. As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, she will work with the Center for Reproductive Rights on the Legal Strategies, Innovations and Research team on two projects concerning global abortion laws and reproductive rights of adolescents.
2021-2022 Fellows
María Alejandra Castillo LLM’ 22 holds a Bachelor of Law from Universidad Libre de Colombia, where she graduated among the top of her class. She also holds a diploma in Constitutional Law. As a law student, she participated in the Public Interest Law Clinic addressing administrative law issues and working with victims of enforced displacement. She also completed an internship with the Ministry of Labor in Colombia.
Before coming to NYU, María Alejandra co-founded her own boutique law firm, Castillo y Solis Abogados S.A.S., and served as the director of pro bono cases, where she litigated human and reproductive rights cases for low-income women. In her free time, she also volunteers working with family caregivers and children with disabilities that are victims and survivors of domestic violence.
At NYU María Alejandra focused on strategic litigation, international law, and human rights. As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, she will be working with the Center for Reproductive Rights on three global advocacy projects related to gender and reproductive rights protections.
Nakhlé “Nax” Hamouche LLM '22, earned an integrated Bachelor of Laws and Master 1 degree with honors from Saint Joseph University of Beirut, specializing in general international law during his final year. While at Saint Joseph University, he was recognized with an award for his public interest volunteer work. He also holds a Master 2 degree in Comparative Law, specializing in comparative public law, with honors from Paris-Panthéon-Assas University. Additionally, he completed the general diploma and two certificates in international legal studies at the Institute of Higher International Studies (IHEI) of Paris-Panthéon-Assas. Admitted to the Beirut Bar Association, he has gained professional experience in Lebanon and France in the fields of international and comparative law.
As an LLM student at NYU Law, Nax pursued the International Legal Studies program and served as the LLM OUTLaw Representative. In Fall 2021, he participated in the United Nations Diplomacy Clinic and was assigned to the mission of the country presiding over the 76th session of the General Assembly. During Spring 2022, he interned at the Independent International Legal Advocates (IILA), an NGO dedicated to facilitating more effective and equitable participation of small and developing States in the creation and application of international law. This involvement aims to amplify the voices of disadvantaged States, thereby enhancing the impact of international law.
As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, Nax will continue his work with IILA throughout Fall 2022, providing legal support to small and developing State partners and assisting them in ongoing international treaty negotiations.
Vidhya Karnamadakala LLM '22 completed an LLM (International Legal Studies) from NYU School of Law as a Dean's Graduate Scholar and holds international relations and law degrees (with honours) from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
During law school in Australia, Vidhya was a research assistant to Professor Justine Nolan on business and human rights projects and a student editor on the Australian Journal of Human Rights. In 2018, she joined UNDP in Bangkok as a junior consultant where she worked on initiatives to strengthen local governance for sustainable development. Later, she practiced as a solicitor in the litigation team at King & Wood Mallesons, and was also an advocate for refugee rights at Refugee Advice & Casework Service where she provided legal representation and support to persecuted individuals seeking protection in Australia.
At NYU, Vidhya was a Human Rights Scholar at the Centre for Human Rights & Global Justice, where she provided research assistance on the Prevention project led by Professor Pablo de Greiff.. As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, Vidhya will work with the Institute for Human Rights & Business on the protection of migrant workers rights, ensuring just transitions in climate action and embedding the protection of and respect for human rights in sector-specific business activities.
Yosalem Teklehaimanot LLM’ 22 holds a Masters of law degree from NYU School of Law as Arthur T. Vanderbilt scholar. She also earned an LLM degree in human rights law and a Bachelor of Laws from Addis Ababa University with the highest honor of “very great distinction”.
Prior to NYU, she served as a tenured academic faculty at Addis Ababa University School of law where she co-founded and directed the first International Humanitarian Law Clinic in the wider sub-Saharan Africa region. During her stay at the University, Yosalem has lectured on courses such as international human rights law, environmental law, and international humanitarian law. Prior to becoming an academic, Yosalem was a DLA Piper global scholarship fellow and has worked as a junior associate at a DLA Piper Africa partner law Firm: Mehrteab Leul and Associates.
Yosalem has also worked as a National Consultant to UN Women and has actively engaged with various civil society organizations including the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association and the Consortium of Ethiopian Human Rights Organizations providing both direct legal services and conducting broader advocacy. At NYU Law, Yosalem focused on international human rights law, constitutional law, and immigration law and worked as a student advocate at the Global Justice Clinic. Yosalem is awarded the LLM Public interest fellowship from NYU with a placement at African services committee- a grass roots human rights organization in Harlem, New York. As LLM Public interest fellow, Yosalem will provide direct legal services to immigrants and humanitarian refugees fleeing conflict, war, and violence from across Africa and the world.
2020-2021 Fellows
Deekshitha Ganesan LLM '21 is an LLM student and Hauser Global Scholar at NYU School of Law, where she focuses on international human rights, criminal procedure, and criminal justice. She graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore with a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) in 2016.
Before coming to NYU, Deekshitha worked with an NGO in Bangalore focusing on bail reform and issues of equality and non-discrimination, particularly transgender rights and the rights of persons with disabilities. Her work primarily took the form of legal and policy research and litigation. She is a member of the core team of the Detention Solidarity Network, an online platform that seeks to critically engage with the carceral state in India and build public awareness on issues of detention, custodial violence, and prison reform. At NYU, she also works with the Bernstein Institute on their Jailhouse Lawyering Initiative.
As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, Deekshitha will be working with Penal Reform International based in London on alternatives to imprisonment, right of isolated populations groups in prisons, and improving the accessibility of regional and international standards on prisons and rights of incarcerated persons.
Pamela Zambrano LLM '21 holds a Bachelor of Laws (with honors) from the Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, Mexico. During her career, Pamela has collaborated with government agencies, civil society organizations, and international institutions. As a law student, she was an intern at the Gender and Social Violence Observatory of Puebla, where she supported public policies to prevent femicide in Puebla. Besides, she assisted victims of human rights violations in the Inter-American System of Human Rights on subjects related to the due criminal process (first, while conducting a fellowship in the Inter-American Commission in Washington D.C. in 2015 and second, as a volunteer in the Inter-American Court in Costa Rica in 2016). From 2017 to 2019, she coordinated projects at the Institute of Criminal Procedural Justice to monitor the implementation of the Juvenile Criminal Justice System in Mexico and reduce youth incarceration.
Currently, she is working on the women’s rights situation in Mexico at her organization, the Feminist Circle of Legal Analysis. There, she represents (pro bono) women who have been victims of based-gender discrimination in the Mexican courts and international human rights organizations. She is enrolled in the LL.M in International Legal Studies. Also, she is a Transitional Justice Scholar. During the summer, she will be supporting the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, an international youth-led organization committed to promoting adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive rights and meaningful youth engagement at the national, regional, and international levels.
2019-2020 Fellows
Matthew Blainey LLM '20 holds a Master of Laws in International Legal Studies from NYU School of Law, as well as a Bachelor of Laws (Honors) and a Bachelor of International Relations from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
Before coming to NYU Matthew served as a law clerk to Justice Hargrave at the Supreme Court of Victoria and was a lawyer and Senior Associate in the litigation departments of two of Australia’s preeminent international law firms, where he worked on complex litigation and provided pro bono legal advice to indigenous communities and women at risk of homelessness.
At NYU Matthew has focused on human rights, climate change, international organizations, strategic litigation and international criminal law. He has also worked with Just Atonement, an NGO that engages in human rights-based climate change advocacy, and he was a Human Rights Scholar at NYU’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. In this role, he conducted research for Professor Pablo de Greiff regarding the role that constitutions can play in preventing violence and co-authored an article regarding climate change litigation with Professor Philip Alston. As an LLM Public Interest Fellow, he will continue working with Just Atonement to develop and implement its climate change litigation strategy.
Shivani Danielle Jacelon LLM '20 is a recent graduate of the NYU School of Law having completed her LLM specializing in International Legal Studies in May 2020. She received her LLB from the University of Warwick in 2008 and completed the LPC at the University of Law (formerly the College of Law), London in 2009. Prior to being admitted to NYU, Shivani specialized in Real Estate and Estates law in her home country of Trinidad and Tobago. She was a partner at a leading law firm in Trinidad where she had been practicing law since 2010 until the commencement of her LLM. During her time at NYU, Shivani took part in external internships at the Family Center in Brooklyn and at the Legal Aid Society at the Harlem Community Office. Her exposure to public interest law during these internships, coupled with taking courses based on social rights and justice during her LLM, fostered her desire to pursue a career in Public Interest Law in earnest. Shivani was awarded a LLM Public Interest Fellowship from NYU with a placement with the Legal Aid Society in the Fall of 2020 where she will focus on Group Housing representation and advocacy. Shivani is also a member of the Ontario Bar and will sit the New York Bar in September 2020.
Tyrone Bailey LLM '20 holds a Bachelor of Laws with First Class Honours from the University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica) where he graduated as the top student. He also obtained a Certificate in Legal Education (a legal practicing certificate) from the Norman Manley Law School (Jamaica) where he was on the Principal’s Honour Roll and received numerous subject prizes.
He taught numerous law courses at the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law between 2014 and 2019, at the University’s campuses in both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In 2016 he was appointed to the post of Judicial Counsel at the Caribbean Court of Justice. At the court, he assisted the judges with deciding final appeals from Caribbean States as well as international law matters regarding the interpretation and application of a regional economic treaty entered into among States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Tyrone has served as Liaison Officer to the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (The Venice Commission) in respect of developments in Constitutional Law in Barbados, Belize, Dominica and Guyana. He also worked along with the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (a regional group of Heads of Judiciary, Judges, and other judicial officers) and the Caribbean Court of Justice Academy for Law in organizing major biennial Caribbean law conferences.
He is currently pursuing NYU’s LLM in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration as a Hauser Global Scholar and a Starr Foundation Global Law School Scholar. He has expressed strong interests in academia as well as the success of the Caribbean Single Market (CSME). As the NYU LLM Public Interest Fellow, Tyrone will undertake a Fellowship with CARICOM and will work closely with the CSME Unit in Barbados. This Fellowship will allow him to work closely with regional policymakers as they attempt to further elaborate the CSME regime.