Eric Koenig presently serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of PILnet.

Eric Koenig worked as a senior attorney and regional lawyer at Microsoft’s European Headquarters from 1991-98, and as the head of Microsoft’s federal policy team in Washington, DC from 1998-2001. He retired from Microsoft in 2001. Eric also serves as Treasurer of the Appleseed Foundation, Board Chair of the American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and a board member of the Juvenile Law Center.

Diane Stewart presently serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of PILnet.

Diane is an attorney, a private company investor and advisor, and a fiduciary. She has her own legal consultancy based in London specializing in corporate finance transactions and general counsel services to private US and international companies and to private equity investors. As an investor, she is a venture partner in early-stage UK-based investment group Ascension Ventures and focuses on investing in women founders and socially impactful for-profit ventures. In her earlier career she was a corporate transactional attorney and partner with Coudert Brothers in its San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore offices, and she was Director of Strategic M&A Development for the Norwegian telecom Telenor in Southeast Asia.

Diane serves on the Advisory Councils of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research and on the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, both at Stanford University. She co-founded the Stanford Women’s Network UK in 2013 to facilitate the creation of a women’s professional and personal support network, and she remains active as co-president. Her other non-profit board and trustee roles presently include with the American Friends of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the UK Friends of the Science Museum. Diane received her BA from Stanford University and her JD from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and she has a post-graduate Diploma from the University of Oxford SAÏD Business School.

Jean-Luc is a French practising lawyer, who has been a partner in several international law firms (in particular, until 2019 at Dentons). He founded in 1995 Droits d’Urgence (www.droitsdurgence.org), the largest French NGO working to ensure access to the rights and to justice of the most deprived persons (a staff of 50 persons and more than 300 volunteers). He chaired Droits d’Urgence for about twelve years. Jean-Luc has been awarded PILnet’s 2013 European Award in recognition of his “extraordinary contribution to the development of pro bono culture”. As a practising lawyer, Jean-Luc is a well-known
player in Private Equity, both in France and Africa. Jean-Luc graduated from Harvard Law School (1983) and from Paris Law School (PhD in 1984).

Antonia Grumbach practiced law at Patterson Belknap Webb and Tyler, where she chaired the Exempt Organizations Group, assisting nonprofits with corporate, tax and general governance advice in many sectors, including education, social services, health, human rights, philanthropy, and advocacy. Much of her work was global, ranging from the Middle East through Europe and Latin America, and nationally throughout the United States. She managed the firm in the 1990s and is serving as a retired partner and taking on pro bono projects. Antonia has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including acting as co-chair of Teachers College, Columbia University, and as chair of Wildlife Conservation Society, a global conservation organization.

John Hoerster is Public Service Counsel for the law firm of Foster Garvey, where he was a member from 1971-2010. His practice focused on corporate governance and mergers & acquisitions and he also served as the firm’s Chairman and Managing Director for 20 years. In 2010, John joined Saltchuk Resources as Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Chief Ethics Officer. Upon retiring at the end of 2016, he returned to Foster Garvey, where he helps lead the firm’s public service efforts, including its Next Chapter program for senior lawyers to provide pro bono services. In addition to the PILnet Board, John is Vice President of the Endowment for Equal Justice and serves as an Evans Ambassador for the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance.

After spending more than twenty years in private law practice and then another fifteen years on the business side of international commerce as business executive for a number of telecommunications and technology enterprises (McCaw International, Nextel International, Internap Network Services and Clearwire International), today Ping serves as a business advisor consulting with clients on cross border initiatives, primarily related to Greater China and is a co-founder and board member of a SmartGames Ltd, a Chinese edutainment media venture catering to school children in Greater China.

In the civic arena, besides serving as a Board member of PILnet since 2014, Ping continues to be active with the Blakemore Foundation which awards grants for the advanced study of Asian languages where he was a board member for a number of terms commencing in 2000. In addition, until 2014 he served for 15 years as a Board member of Landesa (formerly the Rural Development Institute), an NGO which seeks to alleviate poverty through addressing land insecurity issues affecting the rural poor.

During his legal career Ping was a partner at the Davis Wright Tremaine and Perkins Coie law firms and in the early 80’s practiced law had administrative responsibility for the Taipei office of Baker McKenzie.

Ping is a graduate of Princeton University (BSE Chemical Engineering) and received his law degree from Columbia University.

Jacquelyn MacLennan offers more than 25 years of experience for clients worldwide, representing leading multinational corporations, governments and trade associations. She practices EU law with a focus on litigation and concentrates on competition law, trade and customs law, EU internal market free movement/regulatory/discrimination issues, in addition to European human rights law. Jacquelyn has substantial litigation experience presenting arguments before the EU courts and European Court of Human Rights, as well as amicus briefs before the US Supreme Court. Before working for White & Case, Jacquelyn was part of the External Trade team of the European Commission’s Legal Service.

Jacquelyn leads White & Case’s Global Pro Bono Practice, and is actively involved in the African Centre on Law & Ethics Programme, where she teaches legal ethics and business and human rights to young lawyers and law students. She is on the Board of PILnet and Operation Fistula, which works to end fistula globally. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Europa Institute of the University of Edinburgh.

Atanas Politov is Dentons’ Europe Director of Positive Impact and Pro Bono, based in the firm’s Budapest office. He joined the firm in September 2016 to coordinate Dentons’ pro bono work across continental Europe. Atanas was also heading Dentons Europe Diversity & Inclusion and Women’s Advancement programs. Before joining Dentons, Atanas was PILnet’s Director for Programs and was responsible for managing PILnet’s pro bono and access to justice efforts.

Previously, he developed large-scale anti-discrimination and legal aid reform projects in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans and oversaw the development of PILnet’s pro bono efforts in China, Hungary, Russia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, and globally.

Kimberly Reed is a Partner and Chair of the International Practice Group at Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker in Washington, DC, where she represents U.S. and foreign clients on mergers & acquisitions, cross- border transactions, project finance, and space law. She has worked on deals in over 60 countries.

In 2008, Ms. Reed served on Barack Obama’s senior campaign staff as the Director of International Operations, for which she created and managed the first worldwide political campaign field operation, comprising staff and volunteers in over 70 countries, and travelled around the world as President Obama’s surrogate to American expats and foreign leaders. She has worked on six presidential campaigns, numerous Congressional, state and local races, has been a Democratic Party precinct chair, and is currently a Chief Election Judge in Maryland. She worked at The White House in the Offices of Communications and Presidential Correspondence during President Bill Clinton’s first term. She also was an Assistant Dean and professor of law at UNC Law School.

Barbara A. Schatz is Clinical Professor of Law Emerita at Columbia Law School  where she has taught and supervised students in representing nonprofit organizations since 1986. Her principal areas of interest are nonprofit organizations, social enterprise, community development, and clinical teaching.

​​She has served on the PILnet board since its incorporation in 2006 and chaired the board from 2006 until 2017. She currently serves on the boards of The Bank Street College of Education, Trickle Up, and Nonprofit New York.  She also serves on the Emeritus board of Human Rights First, an organization that she co-founded and on the board of which she served for more than 35 years.

She has taught and consulted with law faculties in China, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Poland, Hungary, and several other countries in central and eastern Europe in connection with their efforts to establish clinical legal education programs.

Prior to joining the faculty of Columbia, she served as executive director of the Council of New York Law Associates (now the Lawyers Alliance for New York). As director, she administered a pro bono program for 1,800 lawyers, created the organization’s Community Development Legal Assistance Center and co-founded Court Appointed Special Advocates, a program of advocacy for children in foster care, as well as Human Rights First. She also represented nonprofits, particularly developers of low-income and special needs housing, in corporate, tax and real estate matters.

A retired partner and former head of Skadden’s Hong Kong office, Singapore office and co-head of its Asia operations, Alan focused his practice on all aspects of development, financing, acquisition and divestment of energy and infrastructure projects throughout the Asia-Pacific region, working on many multi-billion dollar projects and “first of their kind” innovative structures. He also handled all the financing and related work for Wynn Macau’s hotel-resort projects. He established Skadden Hong Kong’s highly recognized pro bono practice and headed that initiative for many years, and remains involved in pro bono activities in Hong Kong, including currently serving as Chair of the Law Society’s Pro Bono Committee. In addition, he was one of the founders of the Hong Kong Pro Bono Legal Roundtable, and serves on its Steering Committee. Alan is currently on the board of his synagogue in Hong Kong, serving as Vice President, and is also on the Executive Committee of the Board of Fellows of his alma mater (Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA).

Laura Tuell is the Firmwide head of Pro Bono at Jones Day and continues her efforts as an active pro bono practitioner representing numerous immigrants seeking asylum, particularly women seeking protection against gender persecution. Laura also has experience in housing discrimination, voting rights, landlord-tenant law, and death penalty issues. She was instrumental in working with the D.C. Bar to create the Free Legal Advice and Referral Clinic and has participated in that clinic for more than 10 years. Laura is chair of the board of the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and secretary of the board of Bread for the City. Among many awards for her efforts, she was named D.C. Bar Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.

Suzanne E. Turner is a partner and the chair of Dechert’s firm-wide Pro Bono practice, which provides legal representation to individuals and organizations that otherwise could not afford it. Her practice involves a wide range of human rights and civil rights litigation. Throughout her career, Ms. Turner has been active in many organizations focused on access to justice and civil rights issues. Currently, Ms. Turner is a board member of PILnet and of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. From 2005-2009, she served as a member of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. She is the former chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Public Interest Section, founded and co-chaired the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Law Firm Pro Bono Committee and served as vice-chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities Equal Access to Civil Justice Committee.

Robert J. Vanni, Esq., a graduate of NYU School of Law and Columbia Business School, is Emeritus Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, a private non-profit corporation, operating 90 branches and four research libraries with a then annual budget of $240 million. From 2011 to mid-2019, he served as Senior Consultant for Government Relations of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York (now Nonprofit New York), an umbrella organization representing and serving more than 1500 nonprofit members in the New York City, Long Island, and Westchester area. A former corporate associate with the law firm of Shearman & Sterling, Robert has also served as the first General Counsel of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; as legislative assistant to Assemblyman Anthony G. Olivieri (deceased); and in legal positions with the United Nations Secretariat. He currently serves on the Board of PILnet; the Board of Humanities New York (formally New York Council on the Humanities); and as an Advisor to the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.

Aryeh Neier is president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations. He was president from 1993 to 2012. Before that, he served for 12 years as executive director of Human Rights Watch, of which he was a founder in 1978. He worked 15 years at the American Civil Liberties Union, including eight years as national executive director. He served as an adjunct professor of law at New York University for more than a dozen years, and has also taught at Georgetown University Law School and the University of Siena (Italy). From 2012-2017, he served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs of Sciences Po.

Neier is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, and has published in periodicals such as the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and Foreign Policy. For a dozen years he wrote a column on human rights for The Nation. He has contributed more than 300 op-ed articles in newspapers including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the International Herald Tribune. Author of seven books, including his most recent, The International Human Rights Movement: A History (2012), Neier has also contributed chapters to more than 20 books.

He has lectured at many leading universities in the United States and worldwide. He is the recipient of seven honorary degrees and numerous awards from such organizations as the American Bar Association, the Swedish Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Dr. Krassimir Kanev graduated in 1982 from Sofia University. Specialized Human Rights and Religious Freedom at Columbia University in 1996-97. For 10 years he taught an introductory course on international human rights at Sofia State University. Has also taught sociology, sociology of law, critical social theory, environmental studies and international human rights in a number of colleges and universities in Bulgaria and abroad, among them the Plovdiv State University, the University of Oregon, the University of Sarajevo and the Central European University. Has taught courses on UN mechanisms for human rights protection for lawyers from several East European countries.

Dr. Kanev started human rights work in 1988. Has been and continues to be an activist in a number of human rights NGOs. Since 1994 – Director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. In the past, he has also been member of the boards of a number of international human rights NGOs and institutions. At present, he is Vice-President of the European Prison Litigation Network, director emeritus of PILnet, member of the Management Board of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, member of the Board of the Association for the Prevention of Torture and member of the Board of the International Partnership for human rights. Dr Kanev successfully represents clients before the European Court of Human Rights on a variety of human rights violations.