Patrick Cremin
Writing Program Participant (Formerly known as the CAP Writing Program) 2021-2022
Patrick Cremin is a J.D. Candidate at Harvard Law School (Class of 2022). Prior to attending law school, he worked in social policy research assessing early child care and education programs. At HLS, Patrick has pursued studies in education and civil rights law and participated in the Education Law Clinic. After graduation, he will continue youth and education advocacy work in his home state of California.
María Asensio Velasco
Writing Program Participant (Formerly known as the CAP Writing Program) 2021-2022
María Asensio Velasco is an LL.M. Candidate at Harvard Law School, studies that she is undertaking with a full scholarship from Fundación La Caixa. A human rights lawyer, María has specialized her practice in the area of children’s rights. Before joining HLS, she has worked for International Organizations such as the Council of Europe and UNICEF, as well as for various NGOs, combining her professional undertakings with volunteer projects with children in vulnerable situations. She has also lectured and tutored at the Human Rights Clinic of ICADE Law School. María graduated valedictorian from both an LL.B. and a Bachelor’s in International Relations from ICADE Law School. She also holds an LL.M. in Legal Practice from UNED University.
Dionne Koller Fine
Writing Program Participant (Formerly known as the CAP Writing Program) 2021-2022
Juan Felipe Wills
Writing Program Participant (Formerly known as the CAP Writing Program) 2021-2022
Juan Felipe Wills is an LL.M student from Colombia. He has previously worked in the Colombian Defense Ministry, where he collaborated actively with the military, police, and international organizations to promote human rights and international humanitarian law policies in the Armed Forces. His legal interests are public international law, human rights, laws of war, and transitional justice. At Harvard, he is part of the Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program, the Harvard Human Rights Journal, the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, and the Colombian Students Society.
Chloe D’Souza
Writing Program Participant (Formerly known as the CAP Writing Program) 2021-2022
Chloe is an Aboriginal woman from Western Australia, currently completing the LLM Program at Harvard. Chloe is a qualified lawyer in Australia and has worked in energy law and regulation, and most recently native title and Indigenous land rights in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. After completing the LLM Program, Chloe intends to return home to Australia and continue researching better governance structures to create platforms for Indigenous self-determination.
Apirat Kraisiridej
CAP Graduate Program Participant, 2019-2020
Apirat Kraisiridej is an LL.M. Student from Thailand at Harvard Law school (LL.M. expected 2020). She received a scholarship from the government of Thailand to study and conduct extensive research in the area of juvenile justice. Upon completion of her LL.M. degree, she hopes to use her knowledge to advocate for juvenile justice reform in Thailand.
Tara Casey
CAP Graduate Program Participant, 2018-2019
Tara Casey is an LL.M. Student from Ireland at Harvard Law School (LL.M. expected 2019). She completed her undergraduate law studies at University College Dublin, where she studied family and child law, social inclusion and human rights education in the Irish secondary school level curriculum. She has engaged in policy based research advocacy for both US and Irish organizations on issues ranging from exclusionary school discipline to illegal and forced adoptions in 20th century Ireland. While at HLS, she hopes to further explore the protections of women’s and children’s rights in domestic and international legal systems and upon completion of her LL.M. degree hopes to work in an organisation that promotes systemic barrier removal for access to justice for women and children and advancement of their human rights.
Ha Ryong Jung (Michael)
CAP Graduate Program Participant, 2017-2018
Ha Ryong Jung (Michael) is a 3L (JD expected 2018) at Harvard Law School from South Korea, who focuses on international children’s rights and child protection, particularly on issues of justice for children in Southeast Asia. His current interests encompass the promotion and enhancement of juvenile justice reform and child-sensitive procedures for children in contact with the law, especially pertaining to those deprived of liberty. Since entering law school, he has worked on children’s issues in the UN System, NGOs, clinics, a government agency, and courts in multiple countries including Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the US. He also has experience in the broader framework of human rights, as well as international criminal law and humanitarian law. Upon graduation, he plans to return to Southeast Asia to continue upholding the rights of children and ensuring their protection.
Fiona Lin
CAP Graduate Program Participant, 2017-2018
Fiona Lin is currently studying for an LL.M. at Harvard Law School (LLM expected 2018). She studied law at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, completing a dissertation about the implications of privatization for the judicial review of schools in England. As well as taking classes on education law and policy, she has taken courses regarding issues of gender and family, and constitutional law. Beyond the academic perspective, Fiona is interested in understanding the practical issues affecting teaching and learning, and has volunteered in local Cambridge schools.
Emily Davies
CAP Graduate Program Participant, 2017-2018
Emily Davies is a Senior at Harvard College (expected A.B. 2018) concentrating in Economics with a secondary in Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights. She focuses on international development and is especially passionate about child welfare. Emily’s commitment to this work is rooted in both her personal background as an international adoptee and her experiences volunteering with disadvantaged children both domestically and abroad. In the future she hopes to address these issues professionally.
Claire Houston
CAP Graduate Program Participant, 2010-2017
Claire Houston completed her S.J.D. at Harvard Law School under the supervision of CAP Faculty Director, Professor Elizabeth Bartholet. She also completed the requirements of the LL.M. at Harvard Law School, and holds an LL.B. from Queen’s Law School (Canada) and a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Trent University (Canada). Claire is a past fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, Claire articled at the Ontario Office of the Children’s Lawyer and clerked for justices of the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Claire’s doctoral research considered the impact of feminist legal theory and advocacy on laws respecting family violence. She was also the lead author on a recent study commissioned by the Ontario chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts on child protection intervention in high conflict custody cases. Claire has also written and published in the areas of children’s participation rights, protecting substance-exposed infants, and children’s health care decision-making.
To learn about Claire’s previous Working Paper Lunch Series presentation, click here.
To learn about Claire’s Post Doctoral research with CAP, click here.
Dan Zhou
Harvard Law School S.J.D. Candidate
Dan Zhou is an S.J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School. Professor Elizabeth Bartholet is one of his field supervisors for his doctoral research project. In 2016, he completed the requirements of the LL.M. at Harvard Law School, and also holds a master’s degree from Renmin University of China.
His S.J.D. project will explore the topic of public interest lawyering in China. He will examine the nature, place of, and possibilities for public interest advocacy at the margins of Chinese society. Two areas of interest germane to his project are women’s rights and the rights of the child. Zhou will investigate how Chinese public interest lawyers work on advocacy for children, youth and women. By implication and by extension, his research will provide a window into the broader meaning of law and justice in authoritarian regimes.
He is one of the very few Chinese lawyers to ever come out to local, national and international media about his sexual orientation, personal experiences and legal advocacy. After he had worked on commercial law matters for 8 years, he founded a public interest legal advocacy organization in Shanghai in 2005, focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues and rights of people with HIV/AIDS. Also, he made a groundbreaking contribution to research on, and critique of, legal treatment of same-sex intimacy in modern Chinese society by publishing a book in the Chinese language in China in 2009. In addition, he has cooperated with the China Law Center of Yale Law School over the past decade on comparative antidiscrimination law related to sexual orientation and gender identity as well as HIV/AIDS. He was a visiting scholar at Yale’s China Law Center in 2004 and in 2015.
Pedro Hartung
Visiting Researcher, 2016-2017
Pedro Hartung was a CAP-affiliated Visiting Researcher for the 2016-17 academic year. He is a Ph.D. candidate at University of São Paulo Law School in the Public Law department, researching the state’s intervention in families’ affairs to protect children’s rights. Besides the discussion of the legal status of children, his current project involves the analysis and evaluation of judicial governance and decision-making processes on cases related to children, and specifically the suspension or termination of parental rights.
Pedro holds a B.L. degree from University of São Paulo/Brazil and a Zertifikat– Aufbaustudium in den Grundzügen des Deutschen Rechts from Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich (LMU)/Germany. He is a member of the Brazilian Bar and works as Policy and Advocacy coordinator at Alana Institute, an NGO which specializes in the promotion and protection of children’s rights in Brazil, with a focus on the child’s relationship with the media and corporations.
From 2012-2016 he served as a National Counselor at the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents – CONANDA – for the Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic of Brazil – Brasília/DC, representing the Brazilian state in various international agendas, such as the 2015 Day of General Discussion (United Nations/Committee on the Rights of the Child), the Public Hearing on media and children’s rights (OAS/Inter-American Commission on Human Rights), and the 2015 Meeting of Senior Officials on Human Rights and Foreign Ministries of MERCOSUR and Associated States (RAADH). For two years he worked as the coordinator of Luiz Gama Human Rights Clinic at the University of São Paulo Law School.
Divya Srinivasan
CAP Graduate Program Participant, 2016-2017
Divya Srinivasan was CAP Graduate Program participant during the 2016-17 academic year. She received an LL.M. at Harvard Law School, with a concentration in International Human Rights. She graduated from law school in India in 2014, after which she worked as a labor lawyer in India. She took courses on child rights during her year at Harvard. During her internships in law school in India, she worked on issues relating to child sexual assault.
Lisa Owens
Visiting Researcher, 2015-2016
Lisa Lucile Owens was a CAP-affiliated Visiting Researcher for the 2015-16 academic year. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University in the sociology department. Broadly, Lisa’s work involves the study of agency, identity, and norms in traditional and novel social spaces, including cyberspaces and markets. Her current project uses as point of departure policy analogies from non-cyberspace contexts to discuss agency and identity formation of children in cyberspace. In particular, she focuses on children’s privacy rights, analyzing the rights language already used in both protective measures specific to children and in children’s rights to free expression. This project ultimately interrogates the way rights policies construct “the child” as a rights-holder with agency and identity.
Lisa holds J.D. and LL.M. degrees and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Prior to beginning her Ph.D., Lisa worked at the Harvard Management Company and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She also served previously as the Director of Public Affairs for the State of Alabama at Planned Parenthood of Alabama.
To learn about Lisa’s Working Paper Lunch Series presentation, click here.
Charlotte Proudman
Visiting Researcher, 2015
Charlotte Proudman was a CAP-affiliated Visiting Researcher for Fall 2015. Charlotte is working on a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, researching the role of law in changing harmful social and cultural practices, and specifically female genital mutilation (FGM) against women and girls in the UK. The empirical research involves semi-structured interviews with FGM-practicing community members and professionals responsible for designing and enforcing legislation. Charlotte worked closely with the Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls in drafting FGM legislation which was introduced in the Serious Crime Act 2015. Charlotte’s interest in FGM stems from practicing as a barrister in family law. She is a barrister at the Chambers of Michael Mansfield QC in London.
To learn about Charlotte’s Working Paper Lunch Series presentation, click here..
Utsav Bains
Visiting Researcher 2013-2014
Utsav Bains was visiting researcher at the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School from 2013 to 2014. He is now a prominent human rights lawyer based in New Delhi.
He practices primarily at the Supreme Court of India but routinely visits other courts for cases involving child sexual abuse and terrorism. He is credited with providing free legal aid to victims in some of the most challenging cases in India involving a powerful Godman and Terror organizations.
He interned with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (Government of India) from June 2009 to July 2009. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is an Indian governmental commission, established by an Act of Parliament, the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act in December 2005, thus is a statutory body. The commission works under the aegis of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.
He worked as a Law Clerk with a Judge of the Supreme Court of India from July 2010 to July 2010.
He worked with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (Government of India) as a Consultant from June 2011 – September 2011.
He worked as a Consultant with the Commonwealth Youth Programme, Asia Centre from October 2011 to February 2012. Commonwealth Youth Programme (Asia Centre) is part of the Commonwealth Secretariat, an inter-governmental organization of 54 member States. The Commonwealth Secretariat hosts the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM) which is preceded by the CYP-supported Commonwealth Youth Forum that ensures young people’s representation at CHOGM.
He was awarded the Youth Icon Award at the London School of Economics (LSE) for work on issues relating to Justice and Human Rights by NISAU (National Indian Students and Alumni Union in UK). The award was conferred by a member of British Parliament Mr. Virendra Kumar Sharma, member of the parliamentary select committees on Health, Human Rights, and International Development on 3rd October 2017.
He completed his Bachelor of Laws – LLB from Panjab University.
He attended the Leadership in Public Policy Course organized by the British High Commission with the University of Oxford in February 2018.
Dr. Sunita Siwach
Visiting Researcher, 2010-2011
Dr. Sunita Siwach was a CAP-affiliated Visiting Researcher in 2010-11 and has been engaged in a comparative study of Psycho-Social Legal Well-Being of Adopted Children of Indian Origin in India and United States of America. She is a recipient of Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship, 2010-11 (affiliated to Harvard law School, Harvard University, USA) as a Visiting Researcher. As a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow she got the opportunity to present her research work in various Institutions. During this period she has visited various Universities and colleges such as North West Indian College, Washington State, USA, San Diego State University, California, USA, College of Sequoias, California, USA, University of North Texas, Denton Texas, USA, South-Eastern University, Florida, USA, under Fulbright Occasional Lecture Fund and presented her Research Work. As a Fulbrighter she got the opportunity to interact with Fulbright community across the world. As a visiting Researcher she attended more than hundred seminar/conferences/symposia etc. During this period she also visited Canada and participated in International Adoption Summit.
Sunita obtained her Doctoral degree in Psychology. The Ph.D. research work was sponsored by Bureau of Police Research & Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Her Research work was on Police Specific Stress and Burned Out Stress Syndrome in Police Personnel. She has widely published her work on police in The Indian Police Journal. She also taught Psychology as Associate Professor in a college. She has also worked as Deputy Director in Psycho-Social-Division and Public Cooperation Divisions in National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, Ministry of Women and child Development Government of India. During her tenure she worked with International and Grass-Root level NGO’s. She has worked for prevention of Human Trafficking in India and widely published on the topic. She has also worked as Deputy Director in Central Adoption Resource Authority, Ministry of Women and child Development Government of India. She was in-charge inter-country adoption in CARA. During her tenure she tried to simplify the adoption guidelines so that maximum children can get loving and caring families in India and Abroad. She worked with various Embassies/High Commissions, Central Authorities and Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption. She also worked with various Recognized Indian Placement Agencies, Authorized Foreign Adoption Agencies, Special Adoption Agencies at National and International level worldwide. During this period she visited France and hold discussion with Government of France on various International issues related to inter-country adoption of Indian children in France.
Presently she is working as Deputy Secretary in University Grants Commission, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. She can be reached at [email protected].
Ayako Harada
Visiting Researcher, 2010-2011
Ayako Harada was a CAP-affiliated Visiting Researcher in 2007-08. She has been engaged in research on children and family law issues involving child abuse and neglect, child custody, and adoption. She served as a CAP-affiliated Visiting Scholar from February 2008 to March 2009. While she was at Harvard, she focused on American adoption policies and practices. She earned her doctoral degree (LL.D) from Kyoto University in 2007. In 2008, she published a book entitled “America’s Struggle with Child Abuse Crisis: Prevention Efforts and Family Welfare Policies” (written in Japanese). Currently she is a Research Associate at Waseda University Institute of Comparative Law, Tokyo, Japan.
Liping Wang
Visiting Researcher, 2006-2007
Liping Wang was a CAP-affiliated Visiting Researcher in 2006-07. She is a Law Professor at Shandong University School of Law in P. R. China. She is also a member of Chinese People’s Political Consulative Conference in Shandong Province, the president of Family Law Association of Shandong Province and a member of Gender & Law Research Center in the Chinese Association of Social Science. Her research and teaching interests include human rights, civil law and issues related to women, children, family and labor. Liping Graduated from Shandong University in 1986 with B.A in Law, from Xiamen University in 1989 with M.A in Civil Law, and from Shandong University in 2004 with Ph. D in Jurisprudence. She was a 2006-2007 Fulbright Research Visiting Scholar in CAP at Harvard Law School. Her publications include: On the Protection of Privacy in the Information Age (Shandong People’s Press,2008), Study on the Parenthood Law (Law Press, 2004) , A Jurisprudential Study of Family Law (Shandong People’s Press, 2003) , Children’s Rights (Shandong People’s Press, 2002), as well as numerous law review articles in China (for example, “A Comparative Study on Child Custody Between The U. S. and China”, Legal Forum Vol. 2, 2008 ). She was very active in participating in the legislations relating to family law, women law and children law. She has won Distinguished Women Worker of Shandong Province Award and Excellent Young Professor in Teaching of Shandong University Award for her outstanding work.
Colonel Mukul Saxena
Visiting Researcher, 2005-2006
Indian Army Colonel Mukul Saxena was a CAP-affiliated Visiting Researcher in 2005-06. While at Harvard, he was engaged in research on the impact of localized conflict/emergency settings on children with particular reference to their treatment under stringent national security laws. His other research interests in the field of child rights include the freedom of expression and right to manifest religious belief. In 2007, he published an article in Symposium on Law and Religion titled, “The French Headscarf and the Right to Manifest Religious Belief” (The University of Detroit Law Review, 2007). Mukul is a graduate of the National Defence Academy, Kharakwasla, India and completed an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex, UK. He is presently commanding an Indian Army Infantry Battalion in Kashmir and is a Ph.D. fellow at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. He is also a consultant with the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, New Delhi and is presently leading a study for the Commission on substance abuse among children in Northeast India. He has also been actively involved human rights advocacy in the Indian Army.