Co-Presidents
Emily Ray (eray@jd21.law.harvard.edu)
Emily is a 3L from a very tiny town in the middle of the woods in Maine, where you were more likely to see a bear than a taxi. Before deciding to attend law school, she studied government and philosophy, earning her masters degree in legal and political philosophy from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland (her Scottish accent is killer). Emily’s academic and personal focus at HLS is, unsurprisingly, strengthening legal protections for human rights in the U.S. and around the world. Her work has focused on corporate accountability for human rights violations and international accountability for Myanmar in relation to the Rohingya genocide and violence against other ethnic communities. When not doing legal work, Emily loves to watch nature documentaries, cook/bake, and hang out with her dog, Ruth Bader Ginsbark.
Jamie Magcale (jmagcale@jd21.law.harvard.edu)
Jamie is a 3L from the Philippines. She graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2015 with a degree in Psychology. She spent her 1L summer at the National Center for Law & Economic Justice and her 2L summer at Covington & Burling. Her areas of interest include transitional justice, children’s rights, human trafficking, and socioeconomic development. When she isn’t doing “law school stuff,” Jamie spends her time taking care of her plants, binge watching TV shows, and searching for the best fruits in town.
Vice-President & Treasurer
Jasmine Shin (jshin@jd21.law.harvard.edu)
Jasmine is a 3L interested in international criminal law, corporate accountability, and human rights in North Korea. Prior to law school, she worked as a human rights researcher for the South Korean Mission to the UN. For the first two years in Advocates, she worked on the Expanding the International Criminal Court’s Jurisdiction Project. Aside from Advocates, Jasmine has been actively involved in the International Human Rights Clinic and the Board of Student Advisors, and enjoys running and designing cake toppers in her free time.
Communications Director
Michelle Bao (mbao@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Michelle is a 2L from New Jersey. While interning at a newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa, Michelle covered a wide array of sociopolitical and economic issues, from education inequality and xenophobia to government corruption and capture. The people she talked to as a reporter ultimately sparked her interest in going to law school to become a better advocate. At HLS, Michelle is also involved in the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Board of Student Advisors. In her free time, Michelle loves to bake (and watch baking- and cooking-related competitions on TV). Fun fact: she is also trying to earn enough Lexis Points to purchase a KitchenAid stand mixer of her own.
Co-Directors of Programming
Grant Fergusson (gfergusson@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Grant is a 2L from Atlanta, Georgia, with interests ranging from corporate accountability and international development to economic and environmental justice. Over his 1L summer, he worked at the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Policy Planning, and at HLS, he also serves as the Director of Membership for the Equal Democracy Project, an editor for the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, and a member of Lambda. Before law school, he completed an MPhil in Public Policy from the University of Cambridge, worked in New York as a paralegal at Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP, and served as a World Tour Manager for the Yale Whiffenpoofs, an a cappella group. Grant’s a fan of hiking, board games, and all things caffeinated – and he’s ranked every coffee shop in walking distance to campus.
Amre Metwally (ametwally@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Amre is a 2L interested in the intersection of technology and human rights. Prior to law school, he worked and lived in Turkey on a Fulbright Scholarship, helped run an international human rights and education non-profit, and worked at YouTube as the Policy Manager for political extremism and graphic violence issues on the platform. In this role, Amre also led efforts to advocate for product and policy changes to better protect content uploaded by human rights actors from erroneous takedowns. At HLS Amre is involved with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, the Harvard Human Rights Journal, the Journal of Law and Technology, and the Middle Eastern Law Students Association. Outside of school, Amre spends much of his free time defending the glory that is Egyptian food to his fellow Arabs.
Co-Directors of Activism
Sondra Anton (santon@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Sondra is originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and is currently a 2L at HLS. While an undergrad at Washington University in St. Louis, she spent several months in South America researching the role of Chilean torture survivors and local activists in initiating human rights prosecutions. Sondra later moved to the United Kingdom and earned her Master’s degree in Politics at the University of Oxford, with her graduate dissertation focusing on the geopolitics of global justice at the International Criminal Court. During her time at Harvard, Sondra hopes to continue to study issues surrounding justice and accountability in post-conflict societies and pursue a career in international human rights law after graduation. She is also very passionate about grassroots social justice movements and the fight for racial justice in the US, and hopes to use her role in Advocates to institutionalize pathways for direct action and community activism available to members. A fun fact about Sondra: She once spent a month walking 500 miles across Spain on the Camino De Santiago!
Ikram Ais (iais@llm21.law.harvard.edu)
Ikram Ais is the current class Marshal of the LL.M Class of 2021. This Spring Term she is serving as a student attorney at the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School. She has previously served as Project Coordinator Assistant of the MENA Region for CRISP e.V in Germany. Before that, Ikram worked as the Regional Human Rights Educator for Amnesty International Algeria. She was a lecturer on law at the faculty of Economics at the University of Oran 2 and a legal advisor for Sub-Saharan and Syrian migrants and refugees in Algeria. In addition, Ikram was elected to serve as the Vice Chair and Spokesperson for Amnesty International Algeria after founding a youth group and expanding the NGO in the western side of the country. Ikram’s strong understanding of the MENA region and its conflicts allowed her to build different initiatives between different NGOs, in order to increase the MENA youth engagement in civil society to promote human rights, and to establish good governance and the rule of law. Ikram is an awardee of the MEPI Student Leaders Program of the U.S State Department and the Cross Culture Program sponsored by the German Federal Foreign Office. She is a current LL.M candidate at Harvard Law School, specializing in International Law, Human Rights and Comparative Constitutions. Additionally, she holds a bachelor degree in Public Law from the University of Oran 2: Mohamed Ben Ahmed. In her free time, Ikram enjoys playing chess and contemporary dancing.
Community and Training Coordinator
Anoush Baghdassarian (abaghdassarian@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Anoush, a native New Yorker, is a rising 2L at HLS. Anoush is the co-founder of the Rerooted Archive, which documents more than 200 testimonies from Syrian-Armenians who have fled the conflict in Syria, contributing the testimonies to UN documentation and related case-building efforts, as well as preserving the history and culture of this ethnic and religious minority community. Between college and law school, Anoush completed a Master’s in Human Rights Studies at Columbia University and worked as an advisor to the Armenian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York covering human rights and legal issues. Throughout law school she plans to further develop her career path in international criminal law and transitional justice working on cases of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. One fun fact is that she loves theatre and has written two historical fiction plays that have been published and produced! She is so excited to meet you all and learn more about your amazing interests and aspirations!
Project Coordinator
Nathalie Gunasekera (ngunasekera@jd21.law.harvard.edu)
Nathalie is a 3L from Switzerland. Prior to law school Nathalie worked in international development, where she focused on employment creation programming in the Western Balkans, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. Nathalie is interested in international human rights, international development, and transitional justice. Fun fact about her: she enjoys growing sunflowers.
Project Leaders
Allison Beeman (abeeman@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Allison is a second-year J.D. student at Harvard Law School. She graduated from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in Government and Legal Studies and the Fletcher School at Tufts University with an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy. Prior to law school, she lived in Jordan, where she worked for a start-up e-commerce bookstore, a Middle East news agency, a humanitarian research consultancy, and a refugee resettlement legal aid organization. This summer, she worked on war crimes investigations as an intern with the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and on consumer protection with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. At HLS, Allison is also a Co-President of the Law and International Development Society and works on the Harvard Human Rights Journal and the Harvard International Law Journal.
Ayano Kitano (akitano@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Ayano is a 2L from Japan. She studied international relations prior to law school and is interested in refugee rights, conflict resolution and transitional justice. At HLS, she is also an article editor for the Harvard International Law Journal. In her free time, Ayano enjoys classical music and jigsaw puzzles.
Cindy Wu (cwu@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Cindy is a 2L from Guelph, Ontario, a small town close to Toronto, Canada. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 2019 with a degree in International Relations and Peace, Conflict & Justice. She currently serves as a managing editor for the Harvard Human Rights Journal. Cindy’s legal interests include corporate accountability, mass incarceration, and environmental justice. When she’s not in Zoom classes, Cindy enjoys music, baking, and reading (fiction, not casebooks).
Prue Brady (pbrady@jd22.law.harvard.edu)
Prue is a 2L from Sydney, Australia and is interested in corporate accountability, civil rights and women’s rights. Prior to law school, Prue graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Finance and Accounting and then worked in finance as a valuations specialist in both Sydney and Chicago. When not doing legal work, she spends her time baking sourdough, killing houseplants and drinking either coffee or wine (and is also the treasurer of the wine club at HLS).
Daniel Montoya (dmontoya@jd23.law.harvard.edu)
Daniel Montoya is originally from Miami, Florida but is currently doing 1L from Medellin, Colombia. Daniel graduated from Harvard College in 2018 and worked as a paralegal in New York City. Daniel is extremely interested in city diplomacy and the intersection of law and urban planning in producing sustainable development. A fun fact is that during his time in college, he visited 35 new countries and hoping after the pandemic, he will continue visiting more.
Davy Perlman (dperlman@jd23.law.harvard.edu)
Davy is a 1L from Iowa City, Iowa. Before law school, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was a Fulbright scholar in Mexico City, where he worked with a human rights defense center. He is interested in the role of institutions and how they affect human rights and economic growth. He likes to cook and he misses a good street taco.
Dasha Kolyaskina (dkolyaskina@jd23.law.harvard.edu)
Dasha is a 1L originally from Kazan, Russia but raised in Lexington, Kentucky. She studied economics and political science prior to law school and is interested in corporate accountability and environmental law. At HLS, Dasha is also an Article Selection Editor and Executive Technical Editor for the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Outside of class, Dasha enjoys hiking and card games.