Perseus Strategies

Legal Services. International Human Rights. Government Affairs.

Team

Jared Genser (Español)

Jared Genser is Managing Director of Perseus Strategies, Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect to the Organization of American States, and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Referred to by the New York Times as “The Extractor” for his work freeing political prisoners, he is also co-Executive Producer of a dramatic TV series based on his life being developed with actor and producer Orlando Bloom by Amazon Studios for Prime Video, which has 175 million viewers worldwide. Genser was previously a partner in the government affairs practice of DLA Piper LLP and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Genser has taught semester-long seminars about the UN Security Council at Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania law schools. He was an Associate of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University from 2014-2016, a Visiting Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy from 2006-2007, and was previously named by the National Law Journal as one of “40 Under 40: Washington’s Rising Stars.” His past clients have included former Czech Republic President Václav Havel, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Desmond Tutu, Liu Xiaobo, and Elie Wiesel. Coming from his experience freeing his first client as a law student, in 2001 he founded Freedom Now, a non-governmental organization that works to free prisoners of conscience worldwide.

He holds a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.P.P. from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was an Alumni Public Service Fellow, and a J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School.

Genser is author of The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Commentary and Guide to Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2019). In addition, he is co-editor of The UN Security Council in the Age of Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and The Responsibility to Protect: The Promise of Stopping Mass Atrocities in Our Times (Oxford University Press, 2011). In 2020, Genser was selected as one of three winners of the Tällberg Eliasson Global Leadership Prize from among 2,165 nominees from 135 countries. He is also the recipient of the American Bar Association’s International Human Rights Award, Liberty in North Korea’s Freedom Fighter Award, and the Charles Bronfman Prize. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. And he was selected as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (Class of 2008).

Profiles – Print

Profiles – Television and Radio

Admissions and Memberships

Admissions

  • Supreme Court of Maryland
  • District of Columbia Court of Appeals
  • Supreme Court of England and Wales

Memberships

  • Council on Foreign Relations, Member (Elected 2013)
  • World Economic Forum, Young Global Leader (2008-2013)
  • World Economic Forum, Member of Global Agenda Council for Human Rights (2010-2011)
  • British American Project Fellow (Elected 2008)
  • French-American Foundation Young Leaders Program (Elected 2011)
  • Asia Society’s Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit Delegate (Elected 2009)
  • U.S.-Japan Young Leadership Fellow (Elected 2009)

Brian TronicBrian Tronic Photo

Brian Tronic is Counsel at Perseus Strategies. He is a graduate of Penn Law School and holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia, where he​ double-majored in Math and Philosophy. After law school, he clerked for two years in the Vermont Superior Court, and then moved to South India to work at a human rights organization through the William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India. He then served as the Crowley Fellow in International Human Rights at Fordham Law School, an Assistant Professor at Jindal Global Law School (India), and the Supervising Attorney and Teaching Fellow at the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at the Georgetown Law Center. He is a member of the Massachusetts bar and the District of Columbia bar.

Michael RussoMichael Russo

Michael Russo is the Václav Havel Human Rights Fellow at Perseus Strategies. He graduated with highest honors from the University of Michigan with degrees in History and Spanish and a minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. During college, he helped to lead a free English tutoring clinic serving the Latinx community of Ann Arbor, and he worked with the U-M Law School’s Immigrant Justice Lab to compose asylum petitions on behalf of migrants facing deportation. His honors thesis examining how United States foreign policy in Central America affects human rights received one of the Arthur Fondiler Awards for Best Undergraduate Thesis. Michael also received the University’s Raoul Wallenberg Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Studies. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese.​

Michael RussoStephanie Herrmann

Stephanie Herrmann is a Staff Attorney* at Perseus Strategies. She previously worked for the Anti-Torture Initiative and as the Inaugural Research Fellow at Perry World House. She received her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law, where she was a Kovler Scholar and served as a Special Assistant at the United Nations Committee Against Torture. During law school, Stephanie worked at the ACLU National Prison Project, SPLC Immigrant Justice Project, the Center for Justice and International Law, and the Civil Advocacy Clinic, where she received the Highest Grade designation. Stephanie also holds an MSc. from the London School of Economics and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She speaks Spanish and intermediate Mandarin. *Candidate for July 2021 D.C. Bar Exam (results pending).

Skylar GleasonSkylar Gleason Photo

Skylar Gleason is a Consultant at Perseus Strategies. She graduated with highest distinction from the University of Michigan with majors in Political Science and International Studies, as well as minors in Spanish and Law, Justice, and Social Change. Skylar has served as an intern for the Washtenaw County Office of Public Defender, Perseus Strategies, and the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice. She studied abroad in Argentina and completed an honors thesis on the lingering effects of the 1976 Argentine military dictatorship. Additionally, Skylar is the self-published author and illustrator of the children’s book Finding the Monster Called Love, which benefits children with congenital heart defects. She speaks Spanish.

Fred HolkerHolker Photo

Fred Holker is an intern at Perseus Strategies, working from London. He recently graduated from the University of Cambridge with a First Class with a Distinction in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, with a focus on Farsi and German. Fred is committed to refugee advocacy in West London and has experience campaigning for disability rights in Tajikistan. He speaks Farsi, German, and Spanish and maintains some fluency in other languages. He is working towards the Bar of England and Wales through a Graduate Law Diploma.

Lindsay MitnikHolker Photo

Lindsay Mitnik is a legal intern at Perseus Strategies. She is currently in her third year at Northeastern University School of Law where she is concentrating in International Law and Human Rights. Her previous legal experience includes internships at Brady United where she worked on gun violence prevention policy, and Green Advocates International where she addressed human rights and environmental law violations across West Africa. Prior to law school, Lindsay worked as a grassroots organizer on public interest issues. She received her undergraduate degree from Brandeis University.