Perseus Strategies

Legal Services. International Human Rights. Government Affairs.

Team

Jared Genser (Español)

Jared Genser has been an international human rights lawyer for more than two decades. He is Managing Director of Perseus Strategies, a public interest law firm, Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect to the Organization of American States, Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School, and outside General Counsel to the Neurorights Foundation. Referred to by the New York Times as “The Extractor” for his work freeing political prisoners worldwide, he has served as pro bono counsel to five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including the last three Laureates who won their Prize while imprisoned — Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma, 2006-2010), Liu Xiaobo (China, 2010-2017), and Ales Bialiatski (Belarus, 2023-Present) — as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Elie Wiesel.

Genser was previously a partner in the government affairs practice of DLA Piper LLP and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and the University of Michigan Law School, across which he taught semester-long seminars about the UN Security Council seven times.

In addition, 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 earlier in his career was named by the National Law Journal as one of “40 Under 40: Washington’s Rising Stars.” Genser’s other past clients have included former Czech Republic President Václav Havel, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed. Over his career, he has also advised multilateral institutions, governments, companies, foundations, and civil society organizations on ensuring their work was consistent with international human rights, labor rights, and environmental rights standards. 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.

Genser 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.

He 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). His forthcoming book is a co-edited volume with former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein entitled The Oxford Handbook on the UN Human Rights System (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Genser was previously selected as one of three winners of the Tällberg Eliasson Global Leadership Prize from among 2,165 nominees from 135 countries. He has also received the American Bar Association’s International Human Rights Award, Liberty in North Korea’s Freedom Fighter Award, and the Charles Bronfman Prize. Finally, 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). Married with two children, Genser is an avid ice hockey player, a sport he took up in college.

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)

Hannah Pierce-CartyHannah Pierce-Carty

Hannah Pierce-Carty is the Archbishop Desmond Tutu International Policy Fellow. As such, she manages the firm’s advocacy efforts within the UN Human Rights Council to create international standards for the social reintegration of convicted persons, while also managing an ongoing political prisoner case. In her personal capacity, Hannah is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper in Denver, Colorado. She graduated with high distinction from the University of Michigan, holding B.A.s in Political Science and International Security, Cooperation, and Norms. Hannah focuses on racial and gender inequity in public policy, especially regarding poverty, incarceration, and health. She previously worked as a Case Manager for Health First Colorado (Medicaid), ensuring the health and dignity of low-income individuals with physical or mental disabilities. She has completed internships with her U.S. Congresswoman and the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. Inspiring her passion for criminal justice reform, Hannah was also a mentor for incarcerated at-risk youth in Detroit, MI, leading rehabilitative efforts for their successful social reintegration after release. Hannah lives in Colorado, where she enjoys backpacking, rock climbing, and reading.

Stephen DamianosStephen Damianos

Stephen Damianos is the Director of Technology and Human Rights at Perseus Strategies. In this capacity, he manages the firm’s neurorights portfolio while supporting ongoing political prisoner cases. Stephen holds a PhD (DPhil) in International Development from the University of Oxford. Stephen’s doctoral research investigated digitally mediated human rights abuses perpetrated against asylum seekers in Greece, with a focus on border technologies, corporate complicity, and novel forms of state violence. Prior to commencing his doctoral work, Stephen completed an MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge and a B.A in Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Stephen has taught courses on human rights and forced migration at the University of Oxford, worked in detention centers to provide legal aid to incarcerated migrants, contributed to mass atrocity prevention efforts in the United Kingdom, and supported displaced researchers around the world through mentorship and skills training at the Refugee-Led Research Hub. Stephen is a Truman Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar.

Zara SalmanZara Salman

Zara Salman is the International Human Rights Fellow. She graduated with honors from the University of Chicago with Bachelors of Arts in Human Rights and Law, Letters & Society. Zara’s cumulative thesis utilized original ethnographic research to discern the human rights implications of the climate crisis for vulnerable populations in Pakistan. She was awarded nationally competitive Stamps Scholars funding to conduct this research over two years. In her final year of university, she provided legal services to clients spearheading the clean energy transition with the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago law school. She has previously completed internships with a variety of human rights and civil society organizations, including the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment, United African Organization, Corporate Accountability Lab, and more.