IJNetwork partners with law firms, grassroots organizations, and educational institutions to create justice initiatives.  Our core staff brings these partners together and does hands-on work that ranges from legal advocacy to keeping our own team connected.

From November 2004 to May 2006, Ms. Foster was an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights (“CCR”) and Counsel for CCR’s Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative. Prior to joining CCR, she was a litigation associate at Clifford Chance US LLP and previously served as a law clerk for Hon. Delissa A. Ridgway at the United States Court of International Trade. Ms. Foster is a graduate of Cornell Law School, where she was an editor of the Cornell International Law Journal, and currently serves on the Executive Board of the Cornell Law School Alumni Association. She received her B.A. with honors from Boston University, and is a graduate of BU’s Modern British Studies Program at St. Anne’s College, Oxford University.

Barbara Olshansky is IJNetwork's Litigation Director and the former Leah Kaplan Distinguished Professor of Human Rights at Stanford Law School.  Barbara also formerly served as Deputy Legal Director and Director Counsel of the Global Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where her docket included class action lawsuits concerning international human rights; immigrants’ rights; race discrimination in employment, education, the environment, and public health; and prisoners’ rights. Prior to joining the Center in 1995, Barbara was a senior attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund where her responsibilities included litigation, policy analysis, advocacy, and lobbying on toxic and solid waste issues, sustainable economic development, and environmental justice. Barbara has also practiced union-side labor and plaintiffs’ employment discrimination law at the law firm of Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard, P. C. in New York City. After law school, Barbara clerked for the Honorable Rose Elizabeth Bird, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. Barbara received her J.D. from Stanford University, and her two undergraduate degrees, summa cum laude, from the University of Rochester.

Barbara recently co-authored two books: the first, Against War With Iraq, analyzes the international law ramifications of the U.S. decision to pursue unprovoked aggression; and the second, America’s Disappeared, discusses America’s “war on terror” detainees. She has also written three other books, including Secret Trials and Executions, which assesses the military commissions scheduled for Guantánamo detainees; Democracy Detained, which examines the secret practices of the U.S. government in the “war on terror” and The Case for Impeachment, which compares the current malfeasance of the Bush Administration with prior presidential administrations against which impeachment investigations were commenced.

Jeff L. Hogue is IJNetwork's Technology Director, as well as a member of the Board. He is a Supervising Attorney at Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc., where he provides direct legal representation to low-income residents of western New York. Jeff also serves as the project manager for Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiatives Grant projects which are developing online, interactive interviews that produce pleadings and customized legal information for unrepresented litigants. He has a small technology and design consulting company and has provided technology consulting to several legal providers. He is also serving as one of the upstate LawHelp.org outreach coordinators, and serves on the local Zoning Board of Appeals. He is a graduate of Cornell Law School and the Fulbright College Honors Program at the University of Arkansas.

Jeff was recently honored with the New York State Bar Association’s 2010 Denison Ray Civil Legal Services Award at the Legal Assistance Partnership Conference in Albany. Sponsored by the Department of Pro Bono Affairs, the award honors a legal services staff attorney who provides outstanding criminal or civil representation to low-income clients. As a skillful and effective advocate for low-income and disadvantaged clients, Hogue was recognized for his leadership in increasing access to justice through the use of technology.

Wilneida Negron is the Project Coordinator for IJNetwork's Prisoners and Their Families Advocacy Project. She holds a Master in Public Administration and is currently completing a PhD in Political Science, majoring in comparative politics and public policy. Wilneida has spent over a decade working in the non-for-profit sector as a Social Worker and Program Coordinator. A language enthusiast, Wilneida speaks and writes in Spanish, Chinese, and French. She is currently studying Arabic.

Sarah Howard is the Assistant to the Executive Director at IJNetwork. She has recently received her bachelor's degree in Latin American Studies and Human Rights at the University of Washington. Sarah has interned with the ACLU as a legal researcher and with Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo in Argentina. Most recently, she served as a criminal investigator for a public defender office in Seattle and is a fellow of the minority rights organization Humanity in Action. She is an avid traveler of the Americas and is pursuing her own project on technology and transparent democracy in regions of South America.

Josh Herlands is a Harvard Law School Public Interest Fellow at the IJNetwork, focusing on litigation and advocacy on behalf of clients detained at Bagram prison in Afghanistan.  Specifically, Josh is part of the legal team in Maqaleh v. Gates, the lead case filed by IJNetwork on behalf of Bagram detainees.  His other work at IJN has focused on advocacy and coalition building to end human rights violations such as torture, extraordinary rendition, arbitrary detention, and extrajudicial killing. Prior to law school, Josh spent several years working in finance and renewable energy development.  During that time, he focused on the wind energy sector, helping project developers raise capital and bring projects to completion.  Josh has also worked in wilderness therapy, leading backpacking trips for at-risk youth.  Josh holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in International Policy Studies from Stanford University.

Former Staff

Elizabeth Donger was an IJNetwork Intern and is a student at Yale University. She is a religious studies and international studies double major and hopes to study international human rights law after graduation. She also recently interned with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Alexander Karsten was IJNetwork's first Human Rights Fellow. He graduated from the University of Buffalo Law school, and is now an attorney at the Empire Justice Center in Rchester, New York. He continues to work with IJNetwork on several projects.

Brian McCafferty was an IJNetwork Intern and a senior at New York University with majors in history and sociology. He also currently interns with LawHelp.org, where he works in outreach and website maintenance.

Alix Reid was IJNetwork's first Development Director. She is a certified mediator at the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago and works in the publishing industry. Prior to moving to the midwest, Alix was the Editorial Director, Vice President, and Director of Foreign Acquisitions at HarperCollins Children's Books in New York, where she published many critically acclaimed and award-winning books for young adults. She holds masters degrees in English literature from Harvard University and the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in English and history from Williams College, where she graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Lisa Riordan Seville is the former Communications Associate at IJNetwork. Prior to IJNetwork she worked at Lapham's Quarterly in New York City, Counterpoint Press in Berkeley, California, and conducted research and investigative work for criminal defense cases in the San Francisco Bay Area. She graduated with honors from the Universtiy of California at Berkeley with a dual degree in English and Art Practice.

Erin Valentine was a Staff Attorney at IJNetwork. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she was a James Wilson Scholar and the recipient of the Blank Rome Alvin Ackerman Prize. At Penn, Erin was a senior editor for the Journal of International Law and the founder of the Penn Law International Human Rights Advocates. Erin interned in the gender rights division of the Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia and the litigation department of Clifford Chance US LLP. Prior to law school, Erin interned for Amnesty International in Washington, DC and volunteered at the Institute for Motivating Self-Employment, a micro-credit and woman's development organization in rural India. She holds a B.A. in International Studies from the University of California, Irvine where her research focused on transnational accountability, human rights, and US foreign policy.

Sabina Rizvi was an IJNetwork Intern and a rising senior at Seton Hall University. A major in Diplomacy and International Relations with minors in Arabic and Economics, she hopes to attend law school next fall to study International Human Rights Law.