Eighteen Harvard Law School students have been awarded 2025 Chayes International Public Service Fellowships for work with organizations based in 12 countries. The Chayes Fellows are listed below, with their summer placements and biographical information submitted by the students.
Meha Ahluwalia – International IDEA, Sweden
Meha is a first-year student from the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to law school, Meha spent several years working in tech policy, most recently for the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and the Aspen Institute’s Tech Policy Hub. She holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge. This summer Meha will be working on global censorship and content moderation issues at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Stockholm, Sweden.
Eli Cooper – Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa, South Africa
Eli is a first-year law student originally from Owensboro, Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Louisville in 2022 with a B.A. in political science and individualized studies (human rights). After returning from his Fulbright in Slovakia, Eli began at Harvard Law School in the fall of 2024. At HLS, Eli has pursued his passion for international human rights through HLS Advocates for Human Rights, the Harvard International Law Journal, and the Harvard Human Rights Journal. This summer Eli will continue his relationship with the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa, working to expand their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity work and build his strategic litigation skills.
Jaskaran Dhillon – Minority Rights Group International, United Kingdom
Jaskaran is a first-year law student from Brampton, Canada. He graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2022 with a Bachelor of Environmental Studies in urban planning. Prior to law school, he worked for an engineering consultancy, where he coordinated environmental assessments for infrastructure projects, with a focus on the social environment and community engagement. He also worked for the Toronto Transit Commission, reviewing property development proposals for transit accessibility. This summer he will be at Minority Rights Group International in the UK, assisting with indigenous and minority land rights litigation in a variety of jurisdictions.
Caleb Groen – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United Kingdom
Caleb is a first-year law student pursuing dual degrees in public policy and law. Prior to coming to Harvard, he worked for two years at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco as a bank examiner. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California Berkeley in political science and economics. He will be working on climate-related financial disclosure requirements this summer.
Claire Heiden – British Institute of International and Comparative Law, United Kingdom
Claire is a first-year student at Harvard Law School from Vienna, Virginia. She graduated from Brown University in 2021 with a B.A. in economics. She is passionate about harnessing the power of the private sector to advance social impact and human rights. Before law school, Claire worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and later as an impact investor at Bain Capital. She is involved with HLS Advocates for Human Rights, and this summer she will be in London working on business and human rights at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
Kylie Henry – International Tribunal, Netherlands
Kylie is a first-year law student from Orange County, California. She graduated from George Washington University in 2022 with a B.A. in international affairs and minors in economics and German. Before law school, Kylie was a Fulbright fellow in Kosovo, where she taught at the American Advising Center and wrote feature articles for a local newspaper. She also spent a year in Rwanda working as a college counselor for high-achieving, low-income students. At Harvard, she is involved with HLS Advocates for Human Rights and the Harvard International Law Journal. This summer Kylie is thrilled to be working at an international court, where she is getting hands-on experience in the field of international criminal law.
Olivia Hinch – Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa, France
Olivia is a first-year student from Norwich, Vermont. She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in international relations, focusing on French and Arabic languages. Olivia is interested in work protecting political dissidents, informed by her upbringing in rural Vermont and experience conducting thesis research in Tunisia, where she interviewed activists whose courage to speak freely challenged an authoritarian regime. Before law school, Olivia investigated corruption and organized crime in jurisdictions across Africa, producing open-source intelligence used by global institutions. At HLS she is involved in HLS Advocates for Human Rights and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Olivia will contribute to strategic litigation and legal research defending whistleblowers at PPLAAF this summer.
Riya Jain – Southern Africa Litigation Centre, Malawi / South Africa
Riya is a first-year student from Nashville, Tennessee. The Chayes Fellowship will support her summer internship with the Southern African Litigation Center in their Malawi and South Africa offices. She will support prison reform and equality rights litigation aimed at advancing human rights jurisprudence across the region. At HLS, Riya is involved with the Harvard International Law Journal, the Harvard Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and the J.D. Admissions team. Prior to law school, she worked at the U.S. Department of Treasury, focusing primarily on Asian Development Bank policy. Riya graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in economics and political science.
Chenyang (Daniel) Ju – Human Rights Now, Japan
Daniel is a first-year law student from New York City. He graduated in 2022 from Princeton University with a B.A. in politics. At HLS, Daniel participated in Advocates for Human Rights and the Prison Legal Assistance Program. This summer he will be interning at Human Rights Now in Tokyo, Japan. He will research labor rights in the Taiwanese fishing industry.
Luisina Kemanian Leites – Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Switzerland
Luisina is a first-year law student from State College, Pennsylvania. She graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a B.A. in international relations, a B.A. in Latin American studies, and minors in Arabic and Spanish. Before law school, Luisina was a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Montería, Colombia. At HLS, Luisina is involved with the International Law Journal, the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and HLS Advocates for Human Rights. This summer she will be working at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Anna Kate Manchester – International Humanitarian Law Centre, Jerusalem
Anna Kate is a second-year student from Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from the University of Alabama in 2023 with a B.A. in political science and legal history and two minors in computer-based research and international studies. She spent the 2022-2023 academic year as a visiting student at St. Catherine’s College at the University of Oxford, where she studied international law and human rights. Anna Kate previously worked at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the Alabama Law Institute. At HLS, Anna Kate serves as the lead executive editor for the Harvard International Law Journal and the co-president of HLS Advocates for Human Rights. This summer she will be supporting the Jerusalem desk of the International Humanitarian Law Centre in their work to apply the laws of war to the current conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Kiran Misra – Global Legal Action Network, United Kingdom
Kiran is a joint J.D./Ph.D. student at Harvard Law School and Harvard University’s Department of Government. Prior to starting her Ph.D., Kiran worked as an investigative journalist and Fulbright Fellow in Germany, as a consultant for the United Nations in Italy, and as a Boren Fellow in India. She received both her master’s and bachelor’s in public policy with honors from the University of Chicago. This summer Kiran will be working at the Global Legal Action Network on their campaigns to expose how international systems facilitate corporate and state abuses, helping develop transnational legal strategies that empower communities to seek justice in local and international legal forums. She is originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
David Niedzwicki – International Energy Agency, France
David is a first-year student at Harvard Law School. Originally from Pennsylvania, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 2021 with a double major in government and economics. He worked at a public relations firm in Washington, D.C. for several years before entering law school. At Harvard, he is involved with the Harvard International Law Journal and the Harvard Environmental Law Review. He will be working this summer at the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris as part of the IEA’s Office of the Legal Counsel.
Reina Patel – Southern Africa Litigation Centre, Malawi / South Africa
Reina is a first-year law student from Novi, Michigan. She graduated with honors from Barnard College in New York, where she studied international politics and French. For two years prior to law school, Reina was a research associate for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) where she worked with Senior Fellow Ebenezer Obadare to research, analyze, and write on political issues across sub-Saharan Africa. Her work on African politics, human rights, healthcare access, and more has been published by CFR. At HLS Reina has been involved with the Harvard Human Rights Journal and HLS Advocates for Human Rights. This summer Reina will be at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre in both Johannesburg, South Africa and Blantyre, Malawi, where she will be working on human rights issues across southern Africa.
Vaishnav Rajkumar – TRIAL International, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Vaishnav is a first-year student. Originally from India, he was born and raised in the U.A.E. He graduated with a B.A. in European politics from Kings College London, and then completed an M.Phil. in politics and international studies at the University of Cambridge. Vaishnav has worked as an editor for international relations publications and has conducted research in conflict resolution and crisis response. In addition to his research, Vaishnav’s fields of interest include international humanitarian law and international legal accountability enforcement. At HLS he is on the executive boards of the International Law Journal and the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and he is also a part of HLS Advocates for Human Rights. This summer Vaishnav will be working at TRIAL International in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mirella Rogers – UNIDROIT, Italy
Mirella is a first-year student from Houston, Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in international relations with high honors. Before law school, Mirella worked for a non-profit organization in Indonesia that remediates marine plastic pollution through river trash barriers and environmental disaster clean-ups. During her undergraduate studies, Mirella drafted and aided environmental policy reform as a legislative intern for the Texas Legislature. Mirella has tailored her studies and extracurricular engagements at HLS around international and environmental law and aspires to pursue a career in international environmental law. This summer she will be working on corporate sustainability due diligence projects at the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law in Rome, Italy.
Charlotte Veator – International Commission of Jurists, Belgium
Charlotte is a first-year law student from Beverly, Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022 with B.A. degrees in biology and English. Before law school, Charlotte worked at an electronic health record company in Wisconsin. At HLS she is involved in the Harvard Human Rights Journal and HLS Advocates. Her summer work at the International Commission of Jurists in Brussels will focus on projects that advocate for the rights of children to be heard in their own legal proceedings.
Victoria Yusupov – British Institute of International and Comparative Law, United Kingdom
Victoria is a first-year law student from Tucson, Arizona. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2024, where she studied psychology and sociology. At Harvard Law School, Victoria is involved with the Harvard Human Rights Journal and the Harvard International Law Journal, and she is an active member of the Women’s Law Association and First Class. This summer Victoria will be working in London at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. Her work will span several research projects, focusing on immigration detention, migration control technologies, border measures, voting rights for migrants, and anti-trafficking efforts.