Established in 1992, originally as Canadian Lawyers Association for International Human Rights, Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental charitable organization, established to promote international human rights, within and in connection to Canada.

It is governed by a Board of Directors who meets monthly and holds an annual meeting open to all members.

Lindsay Bailey – President (Acting)

Lindsay is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Justice and Accountability, where she investigates and litigates serious human rights abuses, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. She has experience in litigation and advocacy at all levels of federal court in the U.S., including the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as internationally. Previously, Lindsay was a Supervising Attorney at the Georgetown Environmental Law and Justice Clinic where she led projects in environmental and climate justice, corporate accountability, and Indigenous rights. Lindsay was also a Bertha Justice Fellow at EarthRights International, where she litigated corporate accountability and human rights cases, including a class action against a banana company for funding Colombian paramilitaries and a tort case against the IFC for financing a toxic power plant. Lindsay holds a JD cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she spent four semesters in the Harvard International Human Rights Clinic litigating extrajudicial killing and corporate accountability cases arising out of Colombia and Bolivia, including the first-ever civil trial against a former head of state in the United States for extrajudicial killing. Prior to her work as a lawyer, she spent three years in Northern Ghana working with local governments and received her B.A. hons. in Politics and Governance from Toronto Metropolitan University. She is admitted to practice law in New York and the District of Columbia.

James Yap – President (On Leave)

James is a Toronto-based lawyer specializing in international human rights and transnational corporate accountability. He represents plaintiffs in all kinds of human rights and social justice claims, with a focus on cases that raise novel and/or complex issues of transnational justice. In the course of his work he has:

  • Acted as plaintiff’s counsel in some of the key Canadian precedents on these topics, such as Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya and Toussaint v. Canada.
  • Advised numerous NGOs and international organizations, including Amnesty International, EarthRights International, the American Bar Association, the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project, and Above Ground.
  • Presented at various venues in Canada and around the world, including Harvard University, the Université de Montréal, the United Nations, and the House of Lords.
  • Published several scholarly articles on topics relating to international human rights and transnational corporate accountability.

James also sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Council for International Law (CCIL), and teaches international human rights law at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. Currently, James is visiting at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law serving as Acting Director of the school’s International Human Rights Program (IHRP).

James holds a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, where he graduated with various class prizes and the Silver Medal, and a Master of Laws from Yale Law School. After completing his JD he clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for Justice Ian Binnie. James also holds a BSc in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from a university in Montreal presently named in honour of a former slaveholder.

Florence Au – Treasurer

Florence Au has been CLAIHR’s Treasurer since 2010. Florence studied Finance at the University of Toronto and graduated with a Master of Science from New York University. She is a CFA Charterholder.

Andrew Cleland

Andrew (he/him) is a Montreal-based civil litigator with over nine years of experience assisting workers, human rights victims, and communities with complex legal issues. He chairs CLAIHR’s Strategy and Organization Committee.

After completing his legal studies at McGill Faculty of Law, Andrew began his career in 2012 at a Quebec law firm specializing in class action and public interest litigation. As a litigator there, he represented consumers, workers, and human rights victims in class actions before all levels of court in Quebec.

In 2018, Andrew started his own law firm to assist underrepresented people to navigate the legal system and defend their interests. He has since devoted part of his practice to prosecuting civil suits for migrant workers who have experienced wage theft, human trafficking, and forced labour.

Throughout his career, Andrew has worked with victims and communities dealing with the social and environmental impacts caused by the operations of Canadian companies overseas. He has counselled numerous NGOs on business and human rights and private international law, including the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability on its draft model human rights and environmental due diligence law.

Before beginning his career as an advocate in Quebec, Andrew worked for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Isabel Dávila Pereira

Isabel (she/her) is originally from Loja, Ecuador and currently lives in Treaty 3 territory in Kenora, Canada. She is a lawyer at Major Sobiski Moffatt LLP, a firm specializing in legal services relating to Indigenous law and policy and Aboriginal law. As part of the law firm, she works with First Nations, Indigenous individuals, organizations, and institutions in Treaty 3, 5, and 9, in matters relating to Aboriginal and Treaty rights, land claims, natural resources development, industry agreements, environmental stewardship, health and governance development, economic development and business transactions. She also chairs CLAIHR’s Education Committee.

Isabel works pro-bono with the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP), a volunteer legal clinic that cultivates expertise in supporting Indigenous and campesino communities in the Americas and communities in Africa. She is a law graduate from Osgoode Hall Law School, with a specialization in International, Transnational and Comparative Law. While at Osgoode, Isabel was part of the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic, and focused her research on environmental law and rights, particularly on the Rights of Nature framework.

Jeremy Greenberg

Jeremy Greenberg is an internationally trained human rights lawyer with experience across North America, Europe, and West and East Africa. With a passion for state accountability, corporate accountability, and Indigenous rights, Jeremy’s work encompasses negotiation, mediation, advocacy, and strategic litigation. He has represented individual clients (including victims and families of victims of state violence), communities (often in regions affected by extractives/mining activities), and institutional clients (First Nations, Tribal Councils) in a myriad of cases and contexts. He has appeared at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court level, and has supported the work of international organizations including the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing.

A published scholar, he holds a Master of Human Rights (Distinction) from the London School of Economics, a Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining the Ontario bar in 2019, he held a variety of positions in international NGOs, where his work focussed on sustainable development, corporate accountability, and child rights. In addition to serving on the CLAIHR Board of Directors, he is a proud member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada.

Henry Off

Henry is a lawyer based in Toronto who specializes in international human rights law, criminal justice, and state responsibility. Henry holds a JD, BCL, and BA from McGill University, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the McGill Journal of International Law & Legal Pluralism. During his studies, he assisted the prosecution team at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia and conducted research for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

After law school, Henry clerked at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where he provided legal services to judges presiding over inter-state, investor-state, and contract-based disputes. He also worked as a trial prosecutor for the Ministry of the Attorney General following his articles at the Crown Law Office – Criminal, where he supported appellate litigation before the Court of Appeal of Ontario and Supreme Court of Canada.

Vibhu Sharma

Vibhu Sharma is a Toronto based lawyer with a focus on civil litigation, public law and commercial law. Her work often includes cross-border and international law issues. She is actively involved in CLAIHR and the Law Union of Ontario.

Andrea Sobko

Andrea practises in the areas of labour, human rights, pay equity, and employment law with Goldblatt Partners in Toronto, Canada. She has represented both unionized and non-unionized employees on a range of matters including human rights accommodation, discrimination complaints, disciplinary issues, and termination matters. As part of her pay equity practice, Andrea regularly advises clients on how to ensure that their compensation is free from gender-based discrimination. Andrea loves to grapple with a complex legal research question, especially when it relates to a substantive equality or a human rights law issue. In addition to her domestic legal work, Andrea has extensive experience as a legal researcher in the areas of international human rights law and international criminal law. Before becoming a lawyer, Andrea worked in the non-profit sector for almost a decade on community-based justice education programming and developing plain language legal resources. Andrea is the first generation in her family to attend both university and law school. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School and also holds a Bachelor of Education and an Honours Bachelor of Arts (sociology/psychology) from the University of Toronto.

Garrett Zehr

Garrett practices criminal defence as a legal aid lawyer in Toronto. A proud union member, he co-led the successful effort to unionize his cohort of articling students and later was an elected delegate of the union’s local committee representing legal aid lawyers. He has also organized with the Law Union of Ontario, a bar of progressive legal professionals.

He was recently based in Berlin, completing an LL.M. in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. His master’s thesis explored the potential for prosecution of everyday human rights abuses as crimes against humanity. During this time he also worked with the Migration team at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.

Garrett has a journalism degree from Carleton University and did his undergraduate law studies at McGill University.

His artistic passion is theatre (especially musical theater), both in an audience and on stage.