Opportunities at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Dale and James J. Pinto (L’76) Fellowship
HRI is pleased to facilitate the Dale and James J. Pinto (L’76) Georgetown Law Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Fellowship — a unique opportunity for Georgetown Law graduates of the J.D. program to spend a full year with one of Washington’s leading human rights organizations. The fellowship is made possible through the generous support of Dale and James Pinto and provides a crucial path for Georgetown students to secure a place in the highly competitive field of international human rights advocacy.
Current and Former Fellows
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2024-2025
Bassel Jamali
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2023-2024
Nina Moraitou-Politzi
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2022-2023
Sarah Morsheimer
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2021-2022
Jessica Doumit
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2020-2021
Rachel Finn
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2019-2020
Amanda Strayer
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2018-2019
Naomi Glassman-Majara
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2017-2018
Caitlin Callahan
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2016-2017
William Juhn
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2015-2016
Mai El-Sadany
Bassel Jamali is the 2024-2025 Dale and James J. Pinto Fellow with the International Advocacy and Litigation program. He graduated from Georgetown University with a J.D. and a Master of Arts in Arab Studies. During his dual-degree program, Bassel worked at several human rights and non-profit organizations, including the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, where he worked on reports on human rights violations and provided support for human rights defenders. Prior to graduate school, Bassel spent a year abroad in France, where he taught English, and graduated from Whitman College with a B.A. in History.
Nina Moraitou-Politzi served as the 2023-2024 Dale and James J. Pinto Legal Fellow with the International Advocacy and Litigation Team. Nina received her J.D. magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center with a certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies, graduating as a Public Interest Fellow and member of the Order of the Coif. She was also granted the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Student Advocacy Award for her work representing a Syrian doctor and his family with their claim for asylum. During law school, Nina was on the Executive Board of the Georgetown Journal of International Law and served as a Human Rights Associate in the 2020-21 cohort. She interned with EarthRights International in Washington, D.C. and Earthjustice in Anchorage, Alaska on corporate accountability cases supporting human rights and environmental defenders, as well as with the U.S. Department of Justice, Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Legal Adviser.
Sarah Morsheimer served as the 2022-2023 Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She obtained her J.D. as a Global Law Scholar and earned a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies. While at Georgetown, Sarah explored multiple aspects of international human rights law through internships with Human Rights Watch, the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and Human Rights Now. She became acquainted with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights working as the Georgetown Pinto Summer Associate. She was the Legal Director of Georgetown’s chapter of the International Refugee Assistance Project, and she was a student advocate in the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic. Prior to law school, she interned at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and worked for the Jesuit Refugee Service in Italy.
Jessica Doumit served as the 2021-2022 Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She obtained her J.D. with a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies. While at Georgetown, Jessica focused her research and advocacy on human rights and accountability. During her first summer, she served as a legal intern for the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Later, she became a Legal Fellow at the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre, where she developed a guide on how to pursue justice for crimes committed In the Syrian war through the national courts of the United States. She was also a Student Attorney in the Policy Clinic and a volunteer with the International Refugee Assistance Project.
Rachel Finn served as the 2020-2021 Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She earned a J.D. cum laude with a Certificate in Refugees & Humanitarian Emergencies from Georgetown Law, where she was a Public Interest Fellow and Managing Editor of the Georgetown Journal of International Law. While at Georgetown, Rachel represented an asylum seeker in the CALS clinic and worked on the trial team prosecuting crimes against humanity and war crimes at an international criminal tribunal in The Hague. Prior to law school, she worked at the Enough Project, combating the financing of mass atrocities and conflict in central and east Africa.
Amanda Strayer served as the 2019-2020 Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in May 2019 with a focus on human rights and international humanitarian law. She co-authored the Georgetown Human Rights Institute’s 2018 fact-finding report on violence and discrimination against LGBT persons in Guyana. She also worked on strategic impact litigation challenging laws permitting child marriage in Botswana through the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic. Prior to law school, Strayer worked with Women for Women International, where she researched violations of women’s rights in conflict-affected areas and traveled to Afghanistan and Rwanda to conduct interviews with women impacted by conflict, displacement, and poverty. She is excited to return to RFK Human Rights after interning in the DC office during the summer of 2018.
Naomi Glassman served as the 2018-2019 Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Naomi graduated from Georgetown in 2018 with a J.D. and M.A. in Latin American Studies. During her joint degree, Naomi has researched the use of international human rights law during the dictatorship in Chile at the Vicaria de la Solidaridad, and has also spent time in Colombia working at the Consejo de Estado on the intersection of administrative law and the Peace Accords. While at Georgetown, Naomi participated in the CALS clinic, representing a woman and her children applying for asylum in the U.S.
Caitlin Callahan served as the 2017-2018 Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Caitlin graduated with a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown Law. While at Georgetown, Caitlin participated in the HRI Associates Program and the HRI Fact-finding Project, in which she co-authored the published report entitled Ensuring Every Undocumented Student Succeeds: A Report on Access to Public Education for Undocumented Children.
William Juhn served as the 2016-2017 Pinto Fellow at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. A graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A.), Fudan University (M.A.), and Georgetown Law (J.D.), William is now working with the Strategic Litigation Unit of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights on a variety of the organization’s cases.
Mai El-Sadany served as the first Pinto Fellow in 2015-2016 and is now a Legal Associate at the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law (ICNL) and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP). Mai holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Georgetown Law. During her time as a Pinto Fellow, Mai spearheaded the organization’s work on political repression in Egypt, including through the development of a submission to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of the detained student Mahmoud Mohamed Ahmed Hussein – who was subsequently released.
Summer Associate at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
HRI is also excited to have helped facilitate a new and exciting initiative in 2017 that provided for two paid summer internships with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Also made possible through the generosity of the Pinto family, the Summer Associate position provides a generous stipend to qualifying J.D. students who successfully apply through a competitive process. More information about the position can be found in the call for applications, which is circulated to graduating J.D. students early in the Spring semester each year.