Class of 2024

Esther is a JD candidate and Tech and Society Fritz Family Law Fellow with the Georgetown Institute for Technology Law and Policy. As a Fritz Fellow, Esther is working on two projects while pursuing her legal education. The first is focused on studying quantum-resistant cryptography and encryption regulatory frameworks in the U.S. with the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). The second project supports the work of Professor Anupam Chander at the Tech Institute’s Global TechNet Working Group and Professor Katrin Kuhlmann, Co-Director of the Center on Inclusive Trade and Development, helping foster dialogue on global technology law and policy to make digital trade and governance more inclusive.

In addition to her fellow research, Esther also works with the Center on National Security Law at Georgetown workshopping policy solutions to thwart negative externalities to U.S.-China strategic competition in emerging digital markets on digital governance and serves as a student attorney advocating for clients of Georgetown Law’s Communications and Technology Law Clinic.

Before pursuing her legal education, Esther worked for the U.S Department of State, serving as a Human Rights Officer in Tajikistan and Consular and Economic Officer in China, and as a fellow at the U.S Mission to NATO and Office of Russian Affairs in Washington, D.C. Esther completed her Master’s Degree in National Security and Post-Soviet Politics at the Davis Center at Harvard University and worked at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a research and teaching assistant. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies and English, with minors in Diplomacy and Central Asian Studies at the College of New Jersey. Esther is a Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellow, a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow for New Americans, a Fulbright recipient, and was selected as a Forbes 30 under 30 in Law and Policy in 2019.

Esther is dedicated to bringing her experience in diplomacy, legal practice, and human rights advocacy to tackling issues at the intersection of litigation, national security, and data governance. She believes that inclusive, multi-stakeholder discussion and innovation in privacy design and digital trade policy are essential to a free and equitable digital world. A refugee who fled war with her family, Esther was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and is passionate about supporting immigrants and vulnerable populations. In her free time, Esther loves traveling, finding new coffee shops and spending time with her husband and family. She is a native speaker of Russian, and has proficiency in Mandarin and Spanish.