Garth Meintjes is the executive director of PILnet and is 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.

Isabel Chang is the Senior Program Officer of PILnet’s Hong Kong office. Isabel manages the Hong Kong Pro Bono Clearinghouse and other activities aimed at improving access to pro bono legal services for NGOs and social enterprises and the communities they work with.

Prior to joining PILnet, Isabel worked at various non-profit organizations in research and communication, project management, and community outreach. With the passion to serve the marginalized communities, previously she worked at Mission for Migrant Workers assisting migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. Isabel graduated with a BA in Cultural Studies from Lingnan University and an LLM in Human Rights from the University of Hong Kong

Ding Chen is the Assistant Director of PILnet’s Hong Kong office. She is a Hong Kong and Australian (New South Wales) qualified lawyer. She joined the team in May 2020 and works with the Director of the Hong Kong office to oversee PILnet’s Hong Kong programs, focusing on strengthening local pro bono legal practice to meet the needs of Hong Kong civil society. Prior to joining PILnet, Ding worked in compliance and risk control in the financial services sector, and also as senior dispute resolution lawyer with international law firms in Hong Kong, London and Australia. She also worked as an asylum lawyer and provided free legal assistance and information to refugees and asylum seekers in Greece and Hong Kong.

Judit Geller is Senior Legal Officer and is 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.

Sarah Gibbs is the Executive and Development Assistant based in the New York office. Prior to joining PILnet, she earned her MS at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs where she consulted with multiple international nonprofits while studying peacebuilding and international development. Prior to her time at NYU, Sarah served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Georgia where she worked on multiple projects focused on youth civic engagement and gender equality. She has seven years of administrative experience in a small law firm and holds a BA in English and Psychology.

Toby Greenfield joined PILnet in 2018 and now serves as the Director for Development and Communications based in the New York office. She is involved in creating and implementing PILnet’s development and communication strategy and responsible for managing the development process for foundation and government grants. Prior to joining PILnet, Toby worked for the SUNY Center for International Development as a Communications Coordinator and for the UN’s International Organization for Migration as a Communications Fellow. Previously, she spent 16 years in the private sector working in strategy and planning for television networks. Toby has a Master’s in Public Administration, concentrating in Nonprofit Management and Global Policy from Rockefeller College, part of University at Albany, and a Bachelor’s of Science from Syracuse University.

Candice Johnson is the Communications and Technology Officer 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.

Koreeyor Manuchae (Yor) is the Local Coordinator for PILnet’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons project in Thailand. Koreeyor graduated at the Law School of Eastern Asia University. While supporting PILnet, Koreeyor is also a human rights litigation lawyer for court proceedings in criminal and commercial cases at NSP Legal Office. Koreeyor works in close collaboration with Human Right Lawyer Association, Human Right Development Foundation, Asylum Access Thailand and other human rights organizations. Previously, Koreeyor worked in supporting migrant workers to access to justice and advocating for their rights.

Julia Mayerhofer is currently the Director of PILnet’s Hong Kong office.  She joined the team in July 2018 and oversees all operations and programs of PILnet Hong Kong. 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.

Anastassiya Miller is a Senior Legal Officer, based out of the New York office. She is a Kazakh human rights lawyer with more than 10 years of experience in the human rights field, focusing on strategic litigation nationally and internationally. Anastassiya is a human rights trainer and specialist in the area of public control of closed facilities (pre-detention centers, prisons, mental hospitals, etc.).In 2015, she held an internship in Germany at the Institutfür Ostrecht, conducting research on various human rights issues in post-Soviet countries and drafting conclusions for the court. She graduated with an LL.M. degree in international human rights law from the University of Notre Dame in 2018.

Michelle Ng is the Incubation Manager of PILnet’s Hong Kong office. She coordinates the Law for Change Competitions for law students in Hong Kong, aiming at stimulating students’ interest in public interest law and raising awareness about the role of law as a tool for change. Michelle graduated with BSocSc in Policy Studies and Administration from the City University of Hong Kong, LLB from the University of London, and MSocSc in Criminology from the University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining PILnet, she worked for Mother’s Choice and Universities in Hong Kong, and has started some projects related to refugees.

Linh Nguyen is the Local Coordinator of PILnet’s anti-trafficking in persons project in Vietnam and is based in Hue. Before joining PILnet, she worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for four years, where she was in charge of direct assistance to survivors of human trafficking in the Southern region of Vietnam. She is also leading an independent project
to raise awareness about safe migration in the country.

Linh holds a Master’s in Public Policy with a concentration on International and Global Affairs from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Fulbright and John F. Kennedy
fellow between 2017 and 2019.

Andrej Nosko is PILnet’s Director for Europe. Andrej oversees PILnet’s European operations, focusing on linking civil society and private sector, leveraging the use of legal pro bono for the benefit of civil society and social enterprises. He supervises the day-to-day operations of the European office and contributes to the development and oversight of PILnet’s strategy in Europe.

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 European Commission on law enforcement and internal security. Nosko received his PhD (Summa Cum Laude) in political science from Central European University in Budapest.

Sophary Noy is PILnet’s Local Coordinator for Cambodia and is based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Sophary is a certified expert on investigating SGBV as International Crimes in UN Women-JRR roster. She has been working in the area of human rights protection and fair trial rights in the last ten years. She holds an MA in Peace and Reconciliation studies from Coventry University, UK, and studied Human Rights Law at the University of Hong Kong. She is an LLB graduate from the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE) and held a Bachelor of Education (TEFL) from Institute of Foreign Language (IFL), Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP).

Giulia Patane is a Senior Legal Officer at PILnet’s Hong Kong office. Giulia is leading PILnet’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Project across five jurisdictions in the region (Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Hong Kong). She holds an Integrated Master Degree in Law, a Specialization Degree in Law and a Master of Art in Human Rights. 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 investigating Access to Justice for victims of trafficking in the South East Asian territory.

Leila Saad is the Deputy Director of PILnet and is based in the organization’s New York office. Prior to joining PILnet, she was a non-profit consultant for many years, working with organizations in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas. Previously, she worked at the JEHT Foundation, where she helped run the International Justice grantmaking portfolio to challenge U.S. exceptionalism to international law and legal mechanisms. She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, where she studied international political economy. 

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.

Oo Kyaw Thein is a local coordinator of PILnet and based in Yangon, Myanmar. And, he is a Myanmar-qualified Supreme Court Advocate with a LL.B from Dagon University, Yangon. He also completed a Diploma in Political Management at Cambridge Academy of Management and a Diploma in International Relations at Yangon University. Oo Kyaw Thein’s extensive professional experience has focused heavily on involved roles with CSOs and INGOs, in particular as Legal Advisor to ERI (2016-18) and Legal Advisor to the ICNL (2014-15). Previously, as a sole-practitioner Higher-Grade Pleader, his practice focused on criminal laws and delivery of training programs relating to rule of law, human rights and environmental law.

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.).

Sean Yau works as Legal Officer in the Hong Kong office. He is mainly responsible for building relationships with local law firms, organizing capacity building trainings for to promote pro bono legal services, and developing programs to improve the legal health of Hong Kong NGOs. Prior to PILnet, Sean researched international law at the University of Amsterdam and Columbia Law School. Previously, he worked on public international law in various capacities at the African Union, UN International Law Commission, and international criminal tribunals.

Edwin Rekosh is the founder of PILnet, was its president and CEO until 2015, and continues to serve the organization as a senior advisor. He is currently a co-founder & managing partner of Rights CoLab, a platform for experts in the fields of civil society, technology, business and finance who collaborate to build new ways of organizing civic engagement and leveraging markets to improve the impact, resilience, and sustainability of human rights initiatives.

The original inspiration for PILnet, which Rekosh established as a program of Columbia Law School in August 1997, came from his work assisting the development of human rights groups in Romania and then elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe during the early 1990s as they sought to engage with their countries’ newly emerging constitutional orders. Rekosh lived for a cumulative total of 10 years in Romania and Hungary and has assisted civil society organizations and law schools to develop public interest legal programs in China and over 30 other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. He has also been a leader in the global growth of pro bono practice.