Helen Kerwin is a clinical supervising attorney in the International Human Rights Law Clinic. Prior to joining the clinic, Helen was a staff attorney at the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), where she specialized in strategic litigation before the Inter-American Human Rights System, particularly on the rights of Indigenous communities, migrants and asylum-seekers, and human rights defenders. Before that, she was a staff attorney at the Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI), an NGO in Mexico City, where she engaged in advocacy, research, education, and strategic litigation on U.S.-Mexico border policy, access to asylum, and access to identity documents for dual nationals. She began her legal career as a fellow at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), where she worked in the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Migrants, the U.S. human rights monitoring section, and the merits/Court litigation section.
She has also consulted for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the IACHR, and human and migrants’ rights organizations based in Mexico and Colombia. She has published articles on international and domestic refugee law, international human rights law, and strategic litigation.
Helen received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. She also holds a B.A. in international studies from the University of Oklahoma, and a M.A. in global studies from the same university.
Education
J.D., University of Texas School of Law
M.A., Global Studies, University of Oklahoma
B.A., International Studies, University of Oklahoma