Meet the experts!

Executive Director and co-founder at GHRH

Appointed King’s Counsel in March 2022, Sultana is a highly experienced human rights, international law and criminal justice barrister, advising States, NGOs and individuals. She also advises large multi-national corporations on Diversity & Equality. She is Chair of the Bar Standard Board’s Taskforce on Religious & Belief.

​Sultana's unique expertise in high profile counter terrorism & national security cases spans across the Criminal Courts, Coronial Courts, Administrative and Family Divisions of the High Court and the Appellate Courts. She is part of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Roster of Criminal Justice Sector Experts dealing with Counter-Terrorism.

She advises on international human rights, international criminal law and humanitarian law issues. She is currently on the Advisory Board, Influencing Corridors of Power (ICOP), School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London; Member of Legal Expert Advisory Panel for Fair Trials International (LEAP); Special Advisor on Human Rights for the Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights; and on the Advisory Council for JUSTICE.

Sultana is an award-winning barrister, winning Barrister of the Year 2022 at the Inspirational Women in Law Awards; appearing in the HERoes Top 100 Women Future Leaders, 2021; Winner of the Professions Category, Asian Women of Achievement, 2021; Finalist in BSN Lawyer of the Year (Chambers), UK Legal Diversity Awards; and Finalist, in Outstanding Woman in Professional category sponsored by Baker McKenzie, Precious Awards 2021. She is also the Founder & Director of Modest Fashion Festival which attracted a global audience of 1.56 billion.

Judge – Court of Justice of Sergipe (TJSE)

Juliana Nogueira Galvão Martins has been a member of the Judiciary since 2009. She is currently the Presiding Judge of the 2nd Special Court for Domestic and Family Violence against Women in Aracaju and serves as the Coordinator for Women’s Affairs at TJSE (2025-2027). Throughout her career, she has received official recognition for judicial efficiency and the reduction of case backlogs.

At the national level, she holds leadership positions as the 2nd Secretary of the Executive Commission of COCEVID and 1st Secretary of the National Forum for Protective Justice (FONAJUP) for the 2024-2026 term. Additionally, she is the Vice President of the State Forum for Children and Youth (FOEJI-SE). She is a prominent advocate for gender equity and professional training within the judicial system.

Senior Partner at Figueiredo Advogados and Board Advisor

Alessandra Figueiredo is a senior corporate lawyer with over 24 years of experience in national and international business environments, specializing in strategic litigation and counsel for law firms. As the founder of Figueiredo Advogados, she has a distinguished track record of providing high-level legal support to major multinational and Brazilian corporations. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Law and Public Policy, further enhancing her multidisciplinary expertise which has been recognized by Análise Advocacia, naming her among Brazil’s most admired lawyers for four consecutive years.

A dedicated advocate for the legal empowerment of girls and women, Alessandra serves as a Board Advisor for the British organization The Caring Family Foundation and the Dutch-founded Casa Patris. Representing The Caring Family Foundation, she led the strategic advocacy and co-authored the federal law that established the International Day of the Girl Child in Brazil’s national calendar. Her mission is centered on leveraging her extensive legal expertise and academic background to combat poverty and discrimination, ensuring that the rights of girls and women are a central priority within the Brazilian legislative and social landscape.

Public Prosecutor – Rio de Janeiro State Public Prosecutor's Office

With over 22 years of legal experience, Gabriela Lusquiños has dedicated the last 15 years to defending the rights of children, adolescents, and women. She holds advanced legal training from EMERJ, specializing in Civil Liability, Children’s Rights, Juvenile Justice, Mediation, and Restorative Justice.

She created and implemented the "Bem-Me-Quer" Program, a benchmark for humane care and the prevention of revictimization for sexual violence survivors. Currently, she serves in the 7th Children and Youth Prosecutor's Office of the Capital, where she coordinates protection networks and public policies for child advocacy. She is also a member of the DEGASE/MPRJ Task Force, investigating and addressing institutional violence.

Judge, Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice

Vanessa Cavalieri is a Judge at the Child and Youth Court of Rio de Janeiro. A specialist in her field, she is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Rights at both EMERJ (Rio de Janeiro State School of the Judiciary) and ENFAM (National School for the Formation and Improvement of Judges).

She serves as the Coordinator of the Restorative Justice Center (CEJUSC) at the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice (TJRJ) and is a member of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitors Leadership Program (Protecting Women and Children). She is also the author of the "Eu Te Vejo" (I See You) Protocol, a prominent initiative focused on preventing school violence.

Paula Jefferson is a partner at our London office and leads the Abuse & Neglect practice group.

Paula has extensive and unique experience in advising clients facing a wide range of issues and claims as a result of sexual abuse and harassment allegations. Paula represents a broad range of faith organisations, insurers, independent schools, youth organisations, health providers and charities.

Helen Pankhurst CBE is a British women's rights activist, writer, and international development advisor, recognized as the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the suffragette movement, and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst. Born and raised in Ethiopia to historian parents immersed in the country's cultural and political life, she has pursued a career spanning over three decades in advocacy for gender equality through practical programs addressing education, economic participation, leadership, and violence prevention.[2]Pankhurst holds the position of senior advisor to CARE International, focusing on women's economic empowerment and leading initiatives like the annual #March4Women campaign to advance policy changes globally, particularly in Ethiopia and the UK. She also serves as a professor at Manchester Metropolitan University, where her work emphasizes coalition-building for gender equity, and was the inaugural Chancellor of the University of Suffolk from 2018 until stepping down in 2025. In 2019, she received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to gender equality, reflecting her contributions to international development and feminist scholarship that build on her family's activist legacy without replicating its militant tactics.

Celeste is human rights lawyer and activist recently returned to practise here in the UK in family law, specifically public law children cases. She was called to the Bar in 1991 and in 2011, having reached the pinnacle of junior work in her field, decided to follow her dream to work overseas in the international human rights field. Since her return she has seamlessly picked up her practice and is a highly respected and very sought-after advocate regarded as a leader in the public law family field. She brings a wealth of experience, including experience garnered in the criminal jurisdiction augmented by her overseas experience, a feminist and human rights-based approach, intellectual rigour, and passion.

Prior to her sojourn overseas she was regularly the advocate of choice both for the local authority and parents alike in the most serious cases such as shaken baby, FII and baby death cases.

Although often led in such cases she was regularly entrusted by the local authority to take on leading counsel.

Philippa Webb is Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford and the Blavatnik School of Government. In October 2025, she is launching the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice in partnership with the Clooney Foundation for Justice. She is also a barrister at Twenty Essex and has appeared before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the European Court of Human Rights and the UK Supreme Court. Philippa has held positions in the Presidency of the International Court of Justice, the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court and in United Nations Headquarters. In her human rights practice she has represented an individual who have been allegedly subjected to modern slavery and persons who claim to have been harassed through a State’s use of spyware. Philippa has represented small island States in international climate litigation and she is counsel to States intervening in cases concerning genocide. Her publications include Freedom of Speech in International Law (2024, chapters on insulting speech and false speech, A Clooney & D Neuberger eds), The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law (2021, with A Clooney), Oppenheim’s International Law: United Nations (2017, with Dame Rosalyn Higgins GBE KC, D Akande, S Sivakumaran and J Sloan), and The Law of State Immunity (2015, with Lady Fox KC).

A human rights and gender equality activist

Georgiana Epure is a human rights and gender equality activist, whose work is located at the intersection of local and international levels. Her work currently focuses on protecting and advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in Central and Eastern Europe. Previously, she worked on global advocacy to end child marriage, international human rights strategic litigation, and led gender equality initiatives in Romania. In recognition of her impact, Georgiana was honoured with the 2024 GHRH Trailblazer Award for Leadership.

In 2020, she initiated and has since led Romania’s national campaign to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work, a movement that led to the country’s ratification of the International Labour Organisation’s Convention on Violence and Harassment.

Georgiana holds an MPhil in International Relations and Politics from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Social Science Research Methods from the University of Leeds.

Helen is a local, national and international women’s rights’ activist and coalition convenor, academic, university chancellor, international development worker, author and speaker. With over 30 years’ experience of advocacy, collaborative campaigning, developing organisational strategies, personal and financial management, action research, programing, fundraising and representation.

Focus areas: women’s rights, their education and economic opportunities, their leadership and political voice, sexual and reproductive rights, addressing violence agains

Pragna Patel is the co-founder and co-director of Project Resist, an organisation focused on the rights of black and minority women and girls in the UK. She is the former director and founding member of the Southall Black Sisters (SBS), an advocacy and campaigning centre where she worked from 1982 to Jan 2022 with a break in 1993 when she left to train and practice as a solicitor.  Over those 40 years, she led SBS on some of its most important cases and campaigns on a range of issues from violence against women, to immigration-related abuse and religious fundamentalism.  She was also a founding member of Women Against Fundamentalism and is currently a member of Feminist Dissent. She is the recipient of many awards including the Bob Hepple Award for contributions to equality in 2015, an honorary doctorate in law from Keele University in 2019, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Criminal Justice Alliance in 2023. Pragna has written extensively on race, gender and religion.

Former President of the Law Society of England and Wales

Lubna Shuja is a Former President of the Law Society of England and Wales (2022/23).  She is the first Asian, first Muslim and only the 7th female to take office as President in its 200 years history.       

 Lubna has been a solicitor for 33 years and a Mediator for 19 years. An expert in ethics and professional regulation for over 19 years, Lubna adjudicates as a Chair on misconduct and regulatory hearings.  She has also worked with the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service.

Lubna is the owner of Legal Swan Solicitors in Birmingham and a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Online Procedure Rule Sub-Committee.  She is on the SQE Advisory Board of Barbri Global.

Lubna has extensive experience of public speaking in the UK and internationally.  She has appeared in the media discussing and writing on a wide range of legal issues.