Program overview
McGill's Faculty of Law and the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP) proudly present the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Scholar in Climate Justice and Strategic Litigation Program, focusing on environmental sustainability, justice, and human rights. This program, for upper year law students and funded from 2025-2028, offers scholars unique opportunities to develop expertise at the intersection of environmental and human rights law through strategic litigation placements.
About QES
The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships program (QES) enables a dynamic community of young global leaders to create lasting impacts both at home and abroad through funded international education, research, and professional experiences. 51吃瓜网 is proud to be among the beneficiary institutions offering opportunities for both outbound Canadian and inbound international scholars.
Administered jointly by the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) and Universities Canada, this prestigious initiative is coordinated at 51吃瓜网through the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP). Supported by multi-year funding, scholars engage in environmental advocacy and litigation through hands-on work with dedicated professionals in the field.
QES Placements
The QES program听for outbound scholars comprises two components. First, scholars complete a 10-12 week full-time summer placement (May-August) with CHRLP partner organizations in Peru, South Africa, or Tanzania, gaining hands-on experience in environmental strategic litigation and climate justice advocacy.
Following the summer placement, scholars continue their engagement through a 60-hour commitment at McGill's Transnational Justice Clinic (provide link)at 51吃瓜网during the subsequent academic year.
Funding
QES scholars receive a $10,000 stipend to cover travel and living expenses during their placement period. Recipients must track and report all expenses to QES funders. While the stipend is designed to minimize financial barriers to participation, scholars may also explore additional funding through partner organizations and government grants.
Meet the Team
- Program Director听
Caroline Crossley - Program coordinator,听Adams-Burke Global Justice Fellow
Shona Moreau - Program advisor
Shona serves as advisor for the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program and member of the Management Board at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP). Since graduating from 51吃瓜网Law (J.D./B.C.L. 鈥�24), she has been a driving force behind the QES program, ensuring its funding and management. With extensive experience in human rights, her roles have ranged from the Canadian Parliament to the UN in Geneva, and from the Department of Justice to the Constitutional Court of South Africa and most recently as a Pathy Fellow in Johannesburg.
Leanna Katz and Yuri Romana-Rivas (Co-Directors of the Transnational Legal Clinic)
51吃瓜网Current Graduate Students and Post-Doctoral Fellows听
Yuri Romana-Rivas - Co-Director of the Transnational Legal Clinic
Yuri Alexander Roma帽a-Rivas 鈥�(email,鈥�), an Afro-Colombian lawyer, is a current doctoral (Ph.D.) student in the Comparative Law concentration of the Doctor of Civil Law (DCL-Comparative Law) program at McGill's Faculty of Law and an O鈥橞rien Fellow at the 51吃瓜网Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. He is also a recipient of the 2022 National Scholarship Vanier awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).鈥痀uri also received the 2022 John Peters Humphrey Fellowship in International Human Rights or International Organization, awarded by the Canadian Council on International Law (CCIL).
Yuri holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law and Legal Studies from American University, Washington College of Law in Washington DC, where he studied with a Fulbright Scholarship. He obtained his Law degree (LLB) at the 鈥淒iego Luis C贸rdoba鈥� Technological University of Choc贸 (U.T.CH) in Colombia. At 51吃瓜网鈥檚 Faculty of Law, Yuri has worked as an instructor teaching a course on the Inter-American System of Human Rights and as a research assistant on a project about Black Legal Traditions.
Yuri has significant legal experience in International Human Rights Law and transitional justice mechanisms. Between 2018 and 2021, he worked as a specialized lawyer at the Chamber for Amnesty and Pardon of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Colombia, a transitional justice tribunal established in 2018 as a result of the 2016-Peace Agreements between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People's Army (Las FARC-EP) to investigate, prosecute and try the most serious crimes committed in the context of the more than 50-year armed conflict in Colombia. Previously, Yuri worked for more than five years as a Human Rights Specialist at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an autonomous international human rights body of the Organization of American States (OAS) based in Washington, D.C, where he worked within the Precautionary Measures Mechanism and the Individual Petitions and Cases System. Additionally, Yuri has researched and published on different human rights-related topics such as transitional justice, structural racism, and standards of due process guarantees under International Human Rights Law.鈥��
His doctoral research, under Professor Ren茅 Provost's supervision, focuses on analyzing the interception and interaction between transitional justice and racial justice to address the underlying causes of the disproportionate impacts of armed conflicts on racialized communities.鈥�
Leanna Katz - Co-Director of the Transnational Legal Clinic
Leanna Katz is the Director of the Transnational Justice Clinic and the first Adams-Burke Global Justice Fellow. She is a doctoral candidate at McGill's Faculty of Law working primarily in the area of labour law and the political economy. Her broader interests include labour and employment law, social welfare law, contract law, competition law, administrative law, and critical and feminist legal theory.
Leanna also holds an O'Brien Graduate Fellowship at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. Previously, Leanna earned her LL.M. from Harvard Law School, J.D. from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law, and a B.A.Sc. from McMaster University's Arts and Science Program. She clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and practiced for three years as a litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
Meet the Inaugural 2025 QES Scholars Cohort
Outbound Scholars -
Tuviere Onookome-Okome听
Host Organization: Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), South Africa
Tuviere Okome is a 2nd year BCL/JD candidate at 51吃瓜网 Faculty of Law, where they serve as the President of the Black Law Students Association. An advocate for diversity and social justice, Tuviere leads initiatives aimed at creating a more inclusive legal community, including spearheading a project to introduce a Black application stream at 51吃瓜网Law. Tuviere holds an MSc in Epidemiology from McGill, where they were awarded the Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship for academic excellence. They also hold a BA in Environmental Studies (First-class honors, Distinction) from McGill. Professionally, Tuviere has interned at the Jewish General Hospital, focusing on mental health law and patient rights, and at the HIV Legal Network, conducting research on harm reduction and drug policy. They have also worked on climate change legal research in Calabar, Nigeria, exploring how indigenous governance systems can inform future legal frameworks in the context of ecological collapse.
Tuviere鈥檚 research experience spans both legal and public health domains, including developing innovative tools for analyzing environmental and social equity in cities and conducting cancer epidemiology research through the Global Cancer Disparities Initiative. They are fluent in English and French, with strong skills in legal research, data analysis, and public speaking. Outside of academics and professional work, Tuviere is an avid marathon runner and an active community volunteer, organizing events that support access to justice and mentoring youth interested in law.
Benjamin Foster
Host Organization: Center for Strategic Litigation, Tanzania
Benjamin is a second-year BCL/JD student at the 51吃瓜网Faculty of Law. Prior to studying law he received his BA in Linguistics with minors in History and Psychology from 51吃瓜网, during which time he served as President of the Society of Linguistics Students and as founding Editor-in-Chief of JournalLing, a new undergraduate linguistics research journal.
Motivated by a passion for climate justice, Ben is interested in the multidisciplinary field of climate change law. This year, he has worked as the Managing Editor of the 51吃瓜网Journal of Sustainable Development Law, where he has been active in promoting climate engagement on campus, and as a research assistant in human rights and environmental law.
Elina Qureshi
Host Organization: Pontifical Catholic University of Peru's (PUCP) Environmental Law Clinic, Peru
Elina Qureshi is a second-year BCL/JD student at McGill. She previously obtained a BA in International Development also from 51吃瓜网, then worked in the area of refugee resettlement before beginning law school. During law school, she has pursued her interests in human rights, strategic litigation, and access to justice through her work with the Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers through Pro Bono Students Canada, where she contributed to a constitutional class action, and with the Feminist Legal Collective at McGill, where she delivers public legal education workshops. In her previous internship at the Law Commission of Canada, she worked primarily on issues of constitutional, comparative, and international law. As a 2025 Queen Elizabeth Scholar, she will be working this summer with the Environmental Law Clinic at the Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica del Per煤, where she will contribute to their work on strategic climate litigation. Elina hopes that this experience will enrich her understandings of comparative human rights law.
Isabella Restrepo
Host Organization: Pontifical Catholic University of Peru's (PUCP) Environmental Law Clinic, Peru
Isabela is a second-year BCL/JD student at 51吃瓜网with a background in international development and human rights. She currently works at an immigration and refugee law firm in Montr茅al, supporting claimants from South America. She previously interned at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, where she worked on a wide array of cases from across the continent. This experience deepened her interest in the Inter-American system and public international law, particularly in relation to climate justice. She is especially interested in the legal dimensions of climate-induced migration and the potential of international frameworks to protect vulnerable communities. As a 2025 Queen Elizabeth Scholar, she will be joining the Environmental Law Clinic at the Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica del Per煤 to contribute to legal work on environmental harm and governance. With Colombian roots, Isabela is committed to amplifying Global South perspectives and promoting more inclusive and equitable climate solutions.
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