Julia Mayerhofer is the Co-Executive Director of PILnet.  She joined the team in July 2018 and in addition to leading the organization, she also oversees all operations and programs of PILnet in Asia. Previously she was with the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) for seven years and led the Network as Executive Director/Secretary General from 2015-2018. Prior to her work with APRRN, Julia worked with a refugee community center in Hong Kong where she supported fundraising, project development, and also community outreach. Julia is an Austrian national and has a B.A. in Educational Sciences and a M.A. degree in Development Studies. In addition she has participated in various trainings related to human rights/refugee rights and remains a strong interest in this area.

Andrej Nosko is PILnet’s Co-Executive Director. Prior to joining PILnet, Andrej was head of a division at an international foundation overseeing portfolios on policy research, innovation, democracy, governance, anti-corruption, and law enforcement. There he also spearheaded design, innovation and uptake of new technologies in research and communication. Andrej also worked for the European Commission on law enforcement and internal security. Nosko received his PhD (Summa Cum Laude) in political science from Central European University in Budapest.

His professional interests include resilience of civil society and human rights defenders and future of democracy, as well as Environment and Climate Justice, Environmental, Social, and (Corporate) Governance (ESG), and the related societal, energy and industrial transition.

Ágnes Almádi joined the PILnet Budapest office in 2019. Previously she worked as a senior member of the Open Society Foundation’s Grants Management Team at Admin Group, with an educational background in Humanities and Human Resources.  Currently in a Project and Operations Manager role, she supports PILnet’s different programs, projects and events in business administration functions, coordinates the European Pro Bono Alliance and runs the Hungarian Clearinghouse.

Vanessa Chan is the Program Officer based in Hong Kong. She is mainly responsible for The Law for Change Student Competition which aims to nurture the next generation of pro bono and public interest lawyers by empowering them to create social impact by  addressing social justice issues in Hong Kong.

Vanessa’s passion of doing social impactful work fostered during her internship and extra-curricular experiences in legal NGO, legal clinic and social enterprise. She thinks law should be made more accessible to the underserved communities by bridging gaps and unleashing potentials.

She holds an LLB (Law with Politics) from The University of Manchester and an LLM (International Economics Law) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Ana de la Cruz Cubeiro is a Junior Program Officer based in Madrid. She has a dual Bachelor’s degree in Law and Economics, and she recently completed an LLM in International Criminal Law. Ana was part of a Law Clinic centered around combating gender-based violence targeting teenagers in Spain, and more recently she contributed to a research group at the University of Amsterdam, aiming to shed light on international crimes perpetrated against migrants. Ana works for the Europe team at PILnet, focusing primarily on the Global Clearinghouse.

Jonathan Davis is the Assistant Director of PILnet’s office in Hong Kong. He began his legal career in the corporate immigration sector, where he spent over a decade working as a US and Irish immigration lawyer in New York, London, Dublin and Hong Kong. Jonathan’s human rights experience includes a bonded labor abolition project in South Asia with the International Justice Mission, and more recently, a year at Justice Centre Hong Kong providing legal support to refugees and asylum seekers. In addition to a JD degree, Jonathan has an LL.M. from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Rights Law from the National Law School of India. He is qualified to practice in Hong Kong, California, Ireland and England & Wales.

Judit Geller is a Senior Legal Officer  based in PILnet’s Budapest office. Judit is an experienced human rights lawyer who has been leading strategic litigation and legal advocacy challenging human rights abuses and discrimination of Roma in Europe. Prior joining to PILnet, Judit worked as a senior lawyer for the European Roma Rights Centre and represented victims of discrimination at domestic courts, at the European Court of Human Rights and UN Treaty bodies, focusing on advancing equality and access to justice for women and children. Judit holds a Master Degree in Law, an LLM in Children’s Rights, and a BA in Public Administration and is admitted to the Budapest Bar of Hungary.

Candice Johnson is the Acting Director of Communications and Events based out of the New York office. In this role, she works as part of the Development and Communications team to develop PILnet’s internal and external communications as well as manages all of PILnet’s digital platforms. Prior to joining PILnet, Candice worked at Odyssey Impact as a Project Manager where she managed and developed their online multimedia resource and worked to broaden their faith-based network. Previously, she worked as Marketing Manager at Liaoyuan International High School in Shanghai, China. Candice received her M.S. in Global Affairs from New York University with a specialization in International Relations.

As the Finance and Operations Senior Manager at PILnet, Cintia leads with strategic vision to ensure financial integrity and operational excellence across our global NGO. Her expertise in sustainable budgeting, cross-border financial management, and compliance comes from a robust career in organizations that champion diverse causes such as Chance for Children, Budapest Pride and Terre des hommes Foundation. Cintia’s dedication to the NGO sector is reflected in her advocacy for organizational sustainability and social change, underpinned by a comprehensive background in administrative and financial management. Driven by a passion for social progress, she guides each project with a strategic financial outlook to bolster our mission and foster innovation within the NGO landscape.

Annie Li is a Project Coordinator based in Hong Kong. Before joining PILnet, she worked at small- and medium-sized civil society organizations in Hong Kong in advocacy, research, and communications, with a focus on non-discrimination and migration. She also worked with the International Organization for Migration as a consultant on research, business partnership, and evaluation projects in Hong Kong. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Government and Laws) degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Hong Kong, and studied at Sciences Po Paris for a year as an exchange student.

Garth Meintjes was the executive director of PILnet from 2015 through 2021 and now serves as a Senior Consultant based in the organization’s New York office. Prior to joining PILnet, Garth served as the executive director of ISLP for nearly five years. In this role, he led the integration of the organization’s operations in the United States and Europe. Previously, Garth was chief operating officer at the International Legal Foundation, where he oversaw the expansion of their programs in Afghanistan and Nepal. Before this, he led the JEHT Foundation’s international justice program, which focused on challenging U.S. exceptionalism to international justice, particularly in its national security policies. Garth has a B.A. from the University of Stellenbosch, an LL.B. from the University of Cape Town, and LL.M. and JSD degrees from the University of Notre Dame.

Anastassiya Miller is a Senior Legal Officer at PILnet, based out of the New York office. Anastassiya joined the team in July 2018 and currently leads the Eurasia Program and oversees PILnet’s global portfolio on civic space. Anastassiya is a Kazakh human rights lawyer with more than 15 years of experience in the human rights field, focusing on protection of civic space through different tools. She previously worked with Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, and pioneered strategic litigation in Central Asia on national and international levels (before the UN treaty bodies).

In 2015, Anastassiya held an internship in Germany at the Institutfür Ostrecht, conducting research on human rights issues in post-Soviet countries, drafting conclusions for courts. She graduated with an LL.M. degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Notre Dame du Lac in 2018.

Cherry Ng is a Program Officer based in Hong Kong with her work focusing primarily on the Asia Clearinghouse. Prior to joining PILnet, she worked at a law firm as a trainee solicitor, and later as a research assistant at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from Durham University, and a Master of Laws and a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws from the City University of Hong Kong. She takes great professional interest in the intersection of the law with women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights, and has volunteered extensively in these disciplines.

Wendy Otieno is the Communications Consultant based in Nairobi, Kenya. In her role, she works as part of the Development and Communications team supporting the implementation of the Communication strategy. She has nearly 8 years of experience in her field. Prior to PILnet, she gained her skills working with several organizations both in the private and nonprofit sectors in different capacities, most specifically in development communications, grant management, website management, social media and corporate strategy design and implementation, stakeholder management, and event planning. 

Wendy holds a BA in Applied Communication from Multimedia University of Kenya and is currently finishing her MA in Corporate Communication from the same University. 

Giulia Patane has held several roles at PILnet since 2018 and is currently a Program Manager. She holds a Juris Doctor, a Specialization Degree in Law (Universita’ degli Studi di Perugia) and a Master of Art in Human Rights (Mahidol University, Bangkok). After working for a civil and criminal law firm and assisting the Public Prosecutor Office in Italy, Giulia moved to Asia in 2012 to design and implement NGOs and academic projects predominantly on Access to Justice for victims of trafficking in the South East Asian territory.

Giulia was based in PILnet’s Hong Kong office leading the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Project across Southeast Asia since 2018. In 2021, Giulia relocated back to Europe where she currently manages the implementation of programs related to vulnerable groups (children’s rights, minority rights, anti-trafficking in persons) and of PILnet’s Online Regional Course on Public Interest Lawyering. Since moving back to Italy, Giulia also helps develop pro bono collaborations in the space of children’s rights and unaccompanied minors.

Ana Pérez is a Legal Officer at PILnet’s Budapest office. She is involved in a range of topics including ESG, SLAPPs, training for resilience of civil society, as well as the Global Clearinghouse. Prior to PILnet, Ana was a legal researcher on migration and human trafficking in Spain and has worked in the fields of Business & Human Rights and ESG for the last five years. Specifically she was a Researcher and Regulatory Affairs Specialist at Datamaran, a Project Manager at Columbia University’s Business and Human Rights Clinic, and lastly a Project Officer on Human Rights and Sustainable Investment at the International Federation for Human Rights in Paris. Ana earned her M.A degree in Human Rights from Columbia University. 

Raisa Shumeyko is the Finance Manager in PILnet’s New York office. As a Finance Manager, Raisa is responsible for a range of programs involving business and fiscal affairs of the organization. She works closely with the Budapest and Hong Kong offices to maintain grant reporting, allocations, and financial transactions. Prior to joining PILnet, Raisa worked extensively in the nonprofit sector providing accounting and consulting experience.  As a senior accountant at the Cathedral School and Greenwich House, she had managed financial aspects of operations ranging from bookkeeping functions to preparing the 990 form and Board reports. Raisa holds a BA in Accounting from National College of Finance in Moscow, Russia.

Jasmine Simperingham is currently the Global Project Coordinator (Forced Displacement) based in Geneva. She is working with the global legal community to advance refugee rights pro bono and to facilitate partnerships with refugees and others affected by displacement that use the power of law to increase access to rights, justice and solutions. Jasmine joined the team in September 2020, coming to PILnet with over 15 years of international experience in the refugee response, human rights and justice sectors. This includes more than 8 years experience with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as experience in the legal and justice sectors working for government authorities in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Jasmine holds a Master of Laws (Hons), a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, specializing in international human rights and international criminal law.

Laura Szucs is a Legal Officer at PILnet with a diverse background in international, European and human rights law. She has an LLB degree from the Hague University of Applied Sciences and an LLM from Lund University in Sweden. Laura has experience working with nonprofit organizations in the advocacy and human rights fields. She works for the Europe team and contributes to PILnet’s mission of advancing access to justice and strengthening civil society resilience by designing and implementing collaborative projects that strengthen legal networks and foster collaboration among legal pro bono professionals and the non-profit sector.

Qian Wu is the Finance Manager of PILnet Asia. Since 2012, Qian has been responsible for the financial functions of the office, including budgeting, accounting, and reporting. She has more than a decade of experience with nonprofit groups, including an organization that promotes the rule of law in China, a British charity assisting children and young adults with life-shortening conditions, and a Chinese policy bank focusing on agricultural development in China. She received her B.A. in economics from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law and her masters in finance and accounting management from the University of Reading (U.K.).