ºìÌÒÊÓƵ

ºìÌÒÊÓƵ’s Sustainable International Development Law (SID) program is excited to welcome four new international fellows this fall.Ìý

Adaobi Egboka, Monica Nasiche Munyendo and Andrés Felipe Ruiz-Camelo were named 2017-18 Barer Fellows. The Barer Institute focuses on the role of law in improving the rule of law, economic development and sustainable growth in developing countries and countries in transition. The Institute identifies and mentors emergingÌýlawyer-leadersÌýwho will develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. These mid-career leaders from lower to middle income countries enroll in the SID LLM and serve as catalysts for change in their home countries upon graduation.

In partnership with TRACE International, a leading nonprofit business association focused on anti-bribery compliance, ºìÌÒÊÓƵ also welcomed Pagamsuren Lkhagvasuren to the SID LLM program. Committed to advancing commercial transparency, TRACE scholars expand their leadership skills and legal knowledge to work in the field of anti-corruption.

Learn more about these fellows in their bios below.

Adaobi Egboka

Adaobi Egboka is a lawyer from Nigeria and works as the Executive Programs Director of Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), a human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) in Nigeria. Egboka has over nine years’ cumulative and progressive experience on access to justice and good governance issues and over seven years’ experience in NGO management, project coordination, fund raising, stakeholder management and team/capacity building.ÌýHer work focuses on innovative leadership and the effective application of international and human rights treaties and standards through capacity building, strategic litigation, and advocacy. She has championed several campaigns on the passage of progressive legislation in Nigeria, including the passage of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Special Persons’ Law and Domestic Violence Law, both ofÌýLagos State.ÌýShe is currently at the forefront of the passage of a Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill before the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Egboka works to ensure the full implementation of laws on justice sector reform and prohibition of Gender Based Violence. She manages the West African Focal Point of the Coalition for an Effective African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. She served as an expert on Electoral Violence Mitigation at The Electoral Institute, Abuja, from February 2015 -2016, and has also served as the Technical Assistant on Police Reform in the Rule of Law Advisory Team in the office of the Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Egboka is a graduate of Law from the University of Lagos. A fellow of the Global Network for Public Interest Law (PILnet) where she served as a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School, and interned at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) in New York. She hopes to focus her studies on multidisciplinary approaches to addressing rule of law, inequality and good governance challenges. Specifically, she will explore the critical role of civil society organizations in fostering good governance for economic development in Africa.

Monica Nasiche Munyendo

Judge Monica Munyendo is a Senior Resident Magistrate at the Kenyan Judiciary Training Institute (JTI). Prior to her appointment with the JTI, she served as a Resident Magistrate in Kilgoris Law Court from 2012-16. She also has experience in private practice and with the Lake Basin Development Authority. As a magistrate, Judge Munyendo served as Head of the Station and convened quarterly stakeholder meetings with government and stakeholders in the region. During her tenure at Kilgoris, she partnered with various non- governmental organizations, including World Vision, to aid children with respect to their rights, harmful cultural practices and court processes.

During her time on the bench, Judge Munyendo has handled both civil and criminal matters and has presided over matters involving youth, sexual offences and female genital mutilation cases. She is committed to improving access to justice through the court systems, tackling barriers to individual litigants such as language differences, illiteracy, distance and cost, as well as systemic challenges like the lack of judicial financial independence, understaffing and case backlogs.

Judge Munyendo believes in the need to transform the Kenyan Judiciary in order to meet the aspirations of the Kenyan people as envisioned in the constitution. She is currently overseeing a survey of Kenyan citizens to better understand the justice needs of the Kenyan citizens and what is needed to improve access to justice. She is eager to learn about U.S. court systems, pro bono and civil legal aid programs and access to justice initiatives.

Andrés Felipe Ruiz-Camelo

Andrés Ruiz-Camelo is an attorney from Colombia, where his career has focused on public affairs and advising the public sector. Ruiz-Camelo began his legal career with the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República), an independent audit institution charged with investigating the management of public resources. There, he worked directly on significant cases and audits. He then worked with a private law firm specializing in public law, where he represented public servants and worked on various procurement processes.

Ruiz-Camelo then acquired experience dealing with legal issues related to large infrastructure projects. He was the lead researcher on a project for the construction of a suburban train connecting Bogotá with the surrounding regions, a project with vast social implications. Working for a second private firm that represents public entities, Andrés provided legal advice for significant public procurements, including a large infrastructure plan which aims to change the country’s face, unite different regions and revitalize local economies, as well as a project designed to reconstruct or reinforce Colombia´s infrastructure to withstand severe weather conditions. Ruiz-Camelo is interested in studying infrastructure development and land issues while at the University of Washington.

Pagamsuren Lkhagvasuren

Pagamsuren Lkhagvasuren is a Mongolian-born lawyer who holds a Master of Laws degree from the National University of Mongolia School of Law. Her goal is to bring transparency and justice to Mongolia by combatting commercial bribery and ensuring corporate compliance. She has more than six years’ experience as a compliance manager and lawyer at Mongolia’s largest group company, MCS Group and MCS Coca-Cola. For the last two years she has worked actively on several Transparency International Mongolia projects investigating corruption risks in awarding mining sector licenses at the national level in Mongolia, and researching the financing of political parties. Lkhagvasuren’s work on political party financing involved evaluating the law and its enforcement, and has led to strong public awareness and participation in the draft amendment to the law on financing of political parties introduced by the president of Mongolia.Ìý

Ìý