- Leanna Katz
- Mees Brenninkmeijer
- Oscar Bisot
- Narain Yucel
- Carla Arbelaez
- Nathan Penman
- Sébastien Offredo
- MarÃa Emilia Vintimilla
- Laura Robinson
Leanna Katz
Leanna Katz is the Director of the Transnational Justice Clinic and the first Adams-Burke Global Justice Fellow. She is a doctoral candidate at Æ»¹ûÒùÔº's Faculty of Law working primarily in the area of labour law and the political economy. Leanna also holds an O'Brien Graduate Fellowship at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. Her broader interests include labour and employment law, social welfare law, contract law, competition law, administrative law, and critical and feminist legal theory.Â
Leanna's work has been published in the Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal, the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, the Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues, and the Commonwealth Judicial Journal. Previously, Leanna earned her LL.M. from Harvard Law School, J.D. from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law, and a B.A.Sc. from McMaster University's Arts and Science Program. She clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and practiced for three years as a litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York.
Mees Brenninkmeijer
Mees Brenninkmeijer is a doctoral candidate at Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Faculty of Law. His research, under the supervision of Prof. Fabien Gélinas, focuses on inherent adjudicative powers in international arbitration. Mees’ interests further include artificial intelligence and the law, conflict of laws, legal theory, public international law, business and human rights, and environmental law. His work has been published in Arbitration International, the ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal, the Journal of World Investment & Trade, and the Journal of International Arbitration. Mees holds a Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Scholarship and one of the first Adams-Burke Global Justice Fellowships at the Transnational Justice Clinic at Æ»¹ûÒùԺ’s Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.Â
Prior to his doctoral research, Mees trained with the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris and with the arbitration practice groups of two global law firms. He has also worked as a Research Associate with Æ»¹ûÒùԺ’s Private Justice and the Rule of Law Research Group. He earned a LLB and LLM from the University of Amsterdam, and a BA in Liberal Arts & Sciences from the Amsterdam University College.Â
Oscar Bisot
Oscar Bisot is a second year BCL/JD student at the Faculty of Law. He enjoys studying law with a comparative perspective, especially constitutional law, contract law, legal philosophy, and religious legal systems. Before coming to Æ»¹ûÒùÔº, he taught French and Québec literature as a sessional lecturer. Oscar is passionate about workers’ rights and previously served as vice-president of the University of Toronto’s union of non-faculty teaching staff, the largest in Canada. He studied literature, philosophy, and classics at Paris Nanterre University, Sorbonne University, and the University of Toronto.
Narain Yucel
Narain is in his 2nd year of the BCL/JD law degree at Æ»¹ûÒùÔº, with an interest in corporate accountability, data regulation, and human rights. Before law, he worked for the Principles for Responsible Investment, a UN-supported initiative promoting sustainable investment. Narain’s previous roles include working as a facilitator for climate engagement in the UK, as a social researcher with the public sector and non-profits, and as a fellow with the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy. Â
He obtained an MSc in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics, a Master’s in Applied Data Science from the University of Michigan, and a BSc. in Global Health from the University of Toronto. Â
Carla Arbelaez
Carla is a fourth year BCL/JD student at Æ»¹ûÒùԺ’s Faculty of Law. She holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy from McMaster University. Throughout her undergraduate studies, Carla fell in love with, and worked alongside, the diverse array of community organizations and grassroots political movements in the post-industrial city of Hamilton.Â
During her time at the Faculty, Carla volunteered as a Board Director of Hamilton charity Student Open Circles, a Senior Advocate at the Legal Information Clinic at Æ»¹ûÒùÔº, a Legal Research Volunteer at Research for the Frontlines, and a Pro Bono Student at the Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers. She also worked as the Managing Editor of the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Journal of Sustainable Development Law, an Environmental Education Intern at GreenVenture, and a Summer Student at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Carla is interested in migrants' rights, children's rights, environmentalism, and issues of poverty, as well as how these topics intersect in contemporary manifestations of environmental migration.
Sébastien Offredo
Sébastien Offredo is a first-year JD/BCL candidate at the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Faculty of Law. He is interested in international humanitarian law, American constitutionalism, human rights, and the role of bilingualism in law. Prior to moving from the United States to Montreal for law school, Sébastien’s work experience included political canvassing, paralegal assistance, and legal recruiting. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and French from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina.
Nathan Penman
Nathan Penman is a first year BCL/JD student at Æ»¹ûÒùԺ’s Faculty of Law. Nathan studied forensic psychology and philosophy at St. Francis Xavier University, gaining him an appreciation for the complexities in human behaviour and societal power structures. Turning to law school, he seeks a rich and nuanced legal education and immersive experiential learning opportunities.
Nathan currently edits the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Rooted, an Indigenous law publication. He writes regularly for the Quid Novi and is a caseworker for Innocence Æ»¹ûÒùÔº. As well, he is a podcaster for the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Law Journal and the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Journal of Sustainable Development Law. Nathan looks forward to his summer internship with the Akwesasne Justice Department, an experience in legal pluralism and Indigenous justice.
MarÃa Emilia Vintimilla
Emilia is an LLM student at Æ»¹ûÒùԺ’s Faculty of Law. In addition to her role as an Adams-Burke Global Justice Fellow at the Transnational Justice Clinic, she works as a junior editor for the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Journal of Law and Health and as a research assistant in a class actions research project. She also serves as the Vice President External of the Canadian Hispanic Bar Association Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Chapter. Her broader interests include health law, civil liability, constitutional law, privacy law, and human rights law.
Emilia earned her LLB from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), graduating summa cum laude. Previously, she clerked and worked as a constitutional jurisdictional expert at the Constitutional Court of Ecuador. She also practiced law as a junior litigator at Bustamante Fabara, one of the most prominent law firms in the country. Currently, she is a legal intern FR/SPA at Lawyers without Borders Canada.
Laura Robinson
Laura Robinson is a third-year JD/BCL candidate at the Æ»¹ûÒùÔº Faculty of Law. She is from the unceded Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, and Passamaquoddy territory along the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick.
Before studying at Æ»¹ûÒùÔº, she earned a BA(Hons) from St. Thomas University in New Brunswick in Human Rights, Political Science, and Science, Technology and Society Studies. Passionate about building international solidarity for human rights issues, she completed an MA in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and worked with the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network in humanitarian accompaniment.