Ana Corina “Cori” Alonso-Yoder is an Associate Professor in the Fundamentals of Lawyering. Prior to joining the GW Law faculty, professor Alonso-Yoder was a visiting assistant professor at Howard University School of Law. She has also instructed students on lawyering skills in the Immigrant Justice Clinic at American University Washington College and as the former director of the Federal Legislation Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center.
Professor Alonso-Yoder is a nationally recognized scholar on immigration legislation and the impacts of state, local, and federal laws on immigrant communities. In her public interest legal practice, Professor Alonso-Yoder has worked on a variety of equal justice issues, with a special emphasis on advocacy for LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants. She is actively involved in board service with the immigrant advocacy organizations La Clínica del Pueblo and Centro de los Derechos del Migrante.
Professor Alonso-Yoder holds an AB magna cum laude from Georgetown University and a JD cum laude from American University Washington College of Law, where she was awarded a full-tuition public interest merit scholarship. Born in Mexico, she grew up in Denver, Colorado and speaks English, French, and Spanish.
Laurie Burgess
As a plaintiff-side labor and employment lawyer Laurie has litigated cases at the
state and federal level in areas including ERISA, First Amendment violations, the
ADA, FDCPA, FMLA, and Title VII employment discrimination an administrative law.
A tireless advocate for workers’ rights and civil liberties, she established her own
firm, Burgess Law Offices, P.C. in Chicago in 2008. In 2013, Laurie moved to San
Francisco and joined the California Teachers Association as in-house counsel, where
she addressed a broad variety of legal and legislative matters impacting teachers.
Laurie reverted back to private practice in 2018 and currently continues to provide
counsel to institutional public sector clients. Her practice includes advocacy and
representation of workers rights in industries ranging from factory work to high
tech. She also provides advice and counsel to individuals seeking assistance in
navigating through complex employment situations. Laurie is a sought-after public
speaker and guest lecturer and is very active in bar associations including the ABA.
Laurie is honored to serve on CDM’s Board and in particular relishes her experience
traveling with CDM staff to remote areas of Mexico to observe their training work in
action.
Rodolfo Cordova Alcaraz
EVP & Social Justice Co-lead, Metropolitan Group
Rodolfo brings more than a decade of experience in strategic communications, organizational development, fundraising, project implementation and advocacy to advance human rights in the Americas and Europe.
He currently serves as Vice President at Impacto Social Metropolitan Group, a communications agency that delivers strategies for social purpose organizations. Rodolfo was the first president of the Citizen Council of Mexico’s National Institute of Migration, in which he fostered initiatives to protect migrants and end child detention. He has also worked at the Foundation for Justice and the Rule of Law, Fundar, and the International Network on Migration and Development.
Agnieszka Frysman
Partner, Cohen MIlstein
Agnieszka is a Partner at Cohen Milstein, and is Chair of the firm’s Human Rights practice group. She has been recognized as leading one of the best private international human rights practices in the world. Agnieszka represents individuals who have been victims of torture, human trafficking, forced and slave labor and other violations of international law. A recognized expert and leader in the field of human rights law, Agnieszka was a member of the legal team that successfully represented survivors of Nazi-era forced and slave labor against the German and Austrian companies that allegedly profited from their labor. These cases were resolved by international negotiations that resulted in multi-billion dollar settlements. She also represented, pro bono, Holocaust survivors suing Swiss banks that collaborated with the Nazi regime during World War II. This litigation led academics to revise their assessment of Switzerland’s relationship with Nazi Germany and exposed the extent of business participation in the Holocaust. Agnieszka has litigated trafficking cases, and earned the National Law Journal Pro Bono Award for efforts on behalf of Nepali laborers injured or killed at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. As an immigrant herself, Agnieszka is proud to serve on the CDM board.
Liliana Giffen
Liliana brings more than 15 years of experience working with international organizations helping them advance social change through the use of strategic communications. Throughout her career she has provided communications leadership across numerous fields including philanthropy, global health, labor rights, and peacebuilding.
Liliana holds a master’s in global strategic communications from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Santa Clara University. She was born in Mexico City and speaks fluent Spanish.
Liliane Loya
Founder, INNO
Liliane Loya is the Deputy Director of the MacArthur Foundation’s Mexico office, and is in charge of its human rights program. Since 2011, Liliane Loya has been working with the MacArthur Foundation on human rights and reproductive health programs, and was in charge of the migration program until 2015. She has worked with civil society organizations in Mexico and the United States in project coordination and liaison with regional agencies. Prior to working with the MacArthur Foundation, Liliane served as Labor Affairs Attaché at the Mexican Embassy in Ottawa, overseeing the implementation of the Canada-Mexico Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. At the beginning of her career she worked as coordinator of outreach and liaison at Sin Fronteras, a Mexican civil organization advocating for migrant workers’ rights. Liliane has a master’s degree in development and social change from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, D.C. and has collaborated with experts on topics including justice, human rights, and migration in research for academic publications.
Emiliano Martínez
General Counsel, Waverly Street Foundation
Emiliano is an attorney with deep experience working with innovative philanthropic organizations focused on making the world a better place. As General Counsel for Waverley Street Foundation, Emiliano leads its legal function and serves as the advisor to the team on a variety of legal, governance, compliance, and risk-management matters.
Before joining Waverley Street Foundation, Emiliano was a Director on the legal team at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), where he oversaw its exempt organizations and activities, while also supporting other legal matters and projects across CZI and its tax-exempt partners. Previously, Emiliano served as Senior Corporate Counsel at Omidyar Network, a global hybrid philanthropy based in the Bay Area as well as associate general counsel at Humanity United, a U.S.-based private foundation dedicated to building peace and advancing human freedom. Emiliano was also a founding executive and counsel of an angel-funded technology start-up company in the Bay Area, and he started his legal career as a litigation associate at Irell & Manella LLP in Los Angeles.
Emiliano received a J.D. with honors from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and a B.A. in American studies from Stanford University.
Juan J. Martínez-Hill
Attorney, Sedreddine & Whoriskey, LLP
Juan J. Martinez-Hill is an attorney at Sedreddine & Whoriskey, LLP and advises nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations on a range of issues including formation, exemption, corporate governance, fundraising, grantmaking, impact and charitable investing, and private foundation rules. Previously, Juan was served as an Associate with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP’s Tax-Exempt Organizations practice group and completed consecutive fellowships in nonprofit law in the general counsel’s offices of the Vera Institute of Justice and the Ford Foundation where he engaged with program, operations, and investment staff on a variety of initiatives and special projects. Juan received his J.D. from New York University School of Law where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar and is a graduate of Brown University where he studied Philosophy & Political Science.
Elizabeth O’Connor
Elizabeth O’Connor has spent nearly 18 years working with labor and social movements in the US, Mexico and Central America. Most recently, she worked with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), where she opened the union’s Mexico office and coordinated a campaign to improve working conditions for janitors and service sector workers in Mexico City. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Government and Public Policy at the Facultad Latino Americano de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO).
Sarah Paoletti
Practice Professor and Director of Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Sarah Paoletti founded and directs the Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. From 2003-2006, she was a Practitioner-in-Residence in the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Washington College of Law American University. Her areas of expertise include international human rights, immigrant and migrant rights, asylum law, and labor and employment law. She has presented on the intersection of migration and international human rights before Committees of the United Nations and the Organization of American States among many others. Sarah served as staff attorney at Friends of Farmworkers, Inc., a statewide legal services program serving migrant workers in Pennsylvania, and currently serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors for the organization. From 1999 to 2000, she was a law clerk for the Hon. Judge Anthony J. Scirica, U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit. She is a graduate of the Washington College of Law American University (summa cum laude) and Yale University.
Joseph Thurakal
Director, Quantitative Strategies Business Development, Schonfeld
Joseph has managed portfolios for the last decade with a focus on long/short equity and quantitative investment managers. He is also a seed and angel stage investor in political progressive technology and cleantech companies. Joseph graduated magna cum laude from Columbia College where he studied Mathematics and Physics; he earned his MA in Physics from University of California, Berkeley
Josephine Weinberg
Attorney, California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA)
Josephine Weinberg is an attorney working in Salinas, California with California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA), a non-profit law firm. She works in CRLA’s Agricultural Worker Program, representing individuals and groups of workers in administrative and court proceedings in a wide range of employment matters including wage and hour, retaliation, discrimination and sexual harassment.
She has served as chair of CRLA’s union, the Legal Services Workers of Rural California. Prior to joining CRLA, Josephine worked in Nicaragua advocating for sugarcane workers affected by the epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease of non-traditional causes (CKDnT). Her work included co-founding a legal services office providing free assistance to workers and their families. She also served as the Director of Law and Human Rights at La Isla Network investigating and documenting human rights abuses connected to the CKDnT epidemic.
Josephine holds a JD from New College of California School of Law and a Master’s in International Law and Human Rights from the University for Peace.