- Leanna Katz
- Mees Brenninkmeijer
- Oscar Bisot
- Narain Yucel
- Carla Arbelaez
- Nathan Penman
- S茅bastien Offredo
- Mar铆a Emilia Vintimilla
- Laura Robinson
- Nathan Kumaranayake Mendel
- S茅bastien Offredo
- Lena Dzifa Phillips
- Marina Saporito
- Isabella Spano
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 91社区's Faculty of Law working primarily in the area of labour law and the political economy.聽Leanna also holds an O'Brien Graduate Fellowship at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.聽Her broader interests include labour聽and employment law, social welfare law, contract law, competition law, administrative law, and critical and feminist legal theory.聽
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.鈥疨reviously, 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 91社区 Faculty of Law. His research, under the supervision of Prof. Fabien G茅linas, focuses on inherent adjudicative powers in international arbitration. Mees鈥� interests further include artificial intelligence and the law,聽conflict of laws,聽legal theory, public international law, business and human rights, and environmental law. His work has been published in Arbitration International, the ICSID Review 鈥� 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 91社区鈥檚 Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.聽
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 91社区鈥檚 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.聽
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 91社区, he taught French and Qu茅bec literature as a sessional lecturer. Oscar is passionate about workers鈥� rights and previously served as vice-president of the University of Toronto鈥檚 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 91社区, 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鈥檚 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. 聽
He obtained an MSc in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics, a Master鈥檚 in Applied Data Science from the University of Michigan, and a BSc. in Global Health from the University of Toronto.聽聽
Carla Arbelaez
Carla is a fourth year BCL/JD student at 91社区鈥檚 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.聽
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 91社区, 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 91社区 Journal of Sustainable Development Law,聽an Environmental Education聽Intern聽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.
Nathan Penman
Nathan Penman is a first year BCL/JD student at 91社区鈥檚 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 91社区 Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Rooted, an Indigenous law publication. He writes regularly for the Quid Novi and is a caseworker for Innocence 91社区. As well, he is a podcaster for the 91社区 Law Journal and the 91社区 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.
Mar铆a Emilia Vintimilla
Emilia is an LLM student at 91社区鈥檚 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 91社区 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 91社区 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 91社区 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 91社区, 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.
Nathan Kumaranayake Mendel
Nathan is a second year BCL/JD student at 91社区鈥檚 Faculty of Law. He graduated with a BA (First Class Honours) in Philosophy from 91社区 and was awarded the 91社区 Research Group on Constitutional Studies Prize for his undergraduate thesis.
Nathan has a long-standing interest in health and social policy and has interned with health & human rights organisations in Myanmar and Uganda. As a 91社区 Global Health Scholar, he researched the effects of COVID-19 on the global tuberculosis epidemic. While a non-partisan intern at the House of Commons, Nathan explored the political side of policy development, working with both Conservative and Liberal MPs.
Hailing from Halifax, Nathan is a long-standing member of the competitive swimming community and has been recognised as both Summer Coach of the Year (2022) and Volunteer of the Year (2024) by Swim Nova Scotia. At the Faculty, Nathan is currently a Senior Editor with the 91社区 Journal of Law and Health, Vice President (Finance) at Criminal Law 91社区 and the 91社区 Clinical Legal Education Student Coordinator.
S茅bastien Offredo
S茅bastien is a second-year JD/BCL candidate at the 91社区 Faculty of Law. As a law student, his interests include international law, transnational justice, and the role of bilingualism in law.
He currently serves as an editor for both the faculty鈥檚 international law journal and its flagship 91社区 Law Journal. He previously worked with the Transnational Justice Clinic on projects related to police abuse in Nigeria and housing rights for Indigenous women and girls+. He recently completed a legal internship at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, an NGO located in The Gambia, to further his interest in human rights.
S茅bastien holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and French from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. His prior professional experiences include paralegal and recruiting work in New York. Outside of law, his passions include running, reviewing music, and photographing cute cats that lurk Montreal.
Lena Dzifa Phillips
Lena is a third year BCL/JD student at the Faculty of Law. Her interests lie in public and private international law, human rights, and environmental/climate justice with the goal of facilitating access to justice. Prior to law school she worked in Canada and East Africa, supporting grassroots and systems change work led by-and-for Black, Indigenous and African communities. She also engaged in projects focused on design and spatial justice, and creative practice as protest. Lena studied International Relations, Environmental Policy, Urban Development Planning and Southern Urbanism at the University of Toronto, University College London and the University of Cape Town.
Marina Saporito
Marina Saporito is a first-year Master of Laws student at 91社区. She holds a Juris Doctor from Queen鈥檚 University. During her law degree, she was involved with student governance and was the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Queen鈥檚 Law Journal. She also participated in the Jessup Moot and the Clara Barton Competition as an Oralist and Coach.
Marina has worked for a handful of human rights and international justice organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Lawyers for Justice in Libya, Partners in Justice International, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. She is interested in international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and human rights law.
Prior to attending law school, Marina attended the University of Alberta where she completed degrees in Psychology and Indigenous Studies. As a graduate student in Indigenous Studies, Marina was awarded the Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship.
Isabella Spano
Isabella Spano is a doctoral candidate at 91社区 Faculty of Law. Her doctoral dissertation examines the global quasi-regulatory power of large tech companies and the development of plural legal orders in digital ecosystems. Isabella鈥檚 core research area relates to the interactions of law and new technologies with focuses on human rights, international law, and criminal justice dimensions, as well as platform, data, and AI governance. She has also developed research projects on the legal codification of marginalized identities, analyzing the phenomenon of 鈥渙thering鈥� in Canadian aboriginal law, and on the protection of Indigenous data sovereignty in the context of Indigenous language digitization projects.
Isabella is Cultrice della Materia (鈥渞ecognized expert鈥�) in the areas of international and comparative criminal law in the Department of Legal Studies at the University of Bologna (Italy). At the Department, she is also an academic collaborator and teaching assistant, teaching and mentoring international cohorts of students. She obtained her combined Bachelor and Master of Laws degree cum laude from the University of Bologna, with a master鈥檚 thesis on the regulation of genocide denial and hate speech in European and North American legal systems.
