Our Advisory Board

Aslı Ü. Bâli

Professor of Law, Yale Law School

Aslı Ü. Bâli is the Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Prior to joining Yale, she was Professor of Law at UCLA, founding faculty director of The Promise Institute for Human Rights, and director of the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies.

Her teaching and research focus on public international law — particularly human rights law — and comparative constitutional law, with a focus on the Middle East. She is widely published in leading law journals, peer-reviewed social science journals and is co-editor of two volumes on comparative law published by Cambridge University Press.

Professor Bâli currently serves as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, co-chair of the Advisory Board for the Middle East Division of Human Rights Watch, non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute, and on the board of the American Journal of International Law.

Deborah David

Deborah David practiced law as litigator from 1975 to 2000, specializing in civil litigation involving a wide variety of subjects including tort and business matters. Eventually, she formed a partnership with her classmate, Moses Lebovits. In 2000, Ms. David joined JAMS, the largest provider of alternative dispute resolution services in the United States, as an arbitrator, mediator and referee. In 2002, Ms. David moved to the United Kingdom where she continued to work in the ADR space through the Centre for Dispute Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). As a member of CEDR’s faculty, she has taught dispute resolution techniques in Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia and the US. In 2016, Ms. David returned to the US and resumed her ADR work with JAMS.

She has maintained close ties with the UCLA School of Law, serving as Co-Chair of the Alumni Fund-Raising Committee for the Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library and on the Law School Board of Advisors before moving to the UK. Over the years, Ms. David has developed an interest in human rights issues, and from 2010 to 2016 she served as Chair of the Board of Women for Women International in the UK and as a member of the Board of Women for Women International in the US. She returned to serve on the US Board from 2019 to 2023. Currently, she serves on a Board Committee for Direct Relief and on the Board of Trustees for Scripps College.

Richard Dicker

Richard Dicker, Former Director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program since it was founded in 2001, began working at Human Rights Watch in 1990. He started to focus on accountability for the most serious international crimes in 1994. Mr. Dicker led Human Rights Watch’s multi-year campaign to establish the International Criminal Court (ICC). He continues to be closely involved on issues of importance to the ICC.

Mr. Dicker has also led research and advocacy efforts for the creation of effective accountability mechanisms in Sierra Leone, Iraq, Bosnia and Democratic Republic of the Congo. He monitored segments of the Slobodan Milosevic trial in The Hague and made several trips to Baghdad before and at the start of Saddam Hussein’s trial there. He has been deeply involved in pressing for accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria. A former civil rights attorney in New York, Mr. Dicker graduated from New York University Law School and received his LLM from Columbia University.

Eric Esrailian

Chief, Vatche & Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
Director, Melvin and Bren Simon Digestive Diseases Center
Lincy Foundation Chair in Clinical Gastroenterology
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Eric Esrailian is a physician, Emmy-nominated film producer, philanthropist, investor, and entrepreneur. He is actively involved in philanthropic efforts connecting health, human rights, education, and the arts. He is a board member and co-founder of the next chapter of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, and he is the chief of the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and graduated with a major in integrative biology and a minor in English. He subsequently graduated from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Southern California. He was named intern, junior resident, and senior resident of the year during all three years of his residency training. He completed his gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA where he also obtained a masters of public health degree. He is also a graduate of the Executive Program in Management from the UCLA Anderson School of Management

Dr. Esrailian was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Medical Board of California and served from 2010 to 2011. In 2017, UCLA designated Dr. Esrailian as one of its UCLA Optimists and notable alumni, leading faculty, visionary partners, and advanced scholars. He has also produced films with a focus on human rights issues. Most notably, he produced The Promise by Terry George, starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale. He also produced the educational companion documentary Intent to Destroy with Joe Berlinger, which was nominated for an Outstanding Historical Documentary Emmy. These films, and the accompanying social impact campaigns, drew unprecedented attention to the Armenian Genocide, contributed to U.S. government recognition of the historical facts, and led to the creation of The Promise Institute for Human Rights and The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA. Dr. Esrailian is also one of the co-founders of the recently announced California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at the UCLA Research Park. In 2021, he was also honored by Pope Francis at the Vatican with the Benemerenti Medal for his humanitarian activities around the world. In 2025, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Leslie Gilbert-Lurie

Trustee, California State University
International Board of Directors, Human Rights Watch
Board of Directors, UCLA Foundation
Founding Member, Alliance for Children’s Rights
Author, Bending Toward the Sun

Leslie Gilbert-Lurie is a community leader, philanthropist, author, lawyer, and former television executive. In 2022, she was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as a Trustee of the California State University system. Ms. Gilbert-Lurie also serves on the UCLA Foundation Board, the UCLA School of Law Board of Advisors, and the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Advisory Board.

A longtime advocate for youth, Ms. Gilbert-Lurie served over a decade on the L.A. County Board of Education and is a Founding Board Member and past Chair of the Alliance for Children’s Rights. She also serves on the boards of Human Rights Watch, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles.

Her memoir, Bending Toward the Sun, explores her mother’s Holocaust experience and the legacy of trauma. Earlier in her career, Ms. Gilbert-Lurie was a television executive at NBC, co-founded a production company, and wrote for shows like Alf and Saved by the Bell. As a lawyer, Ms. Gilbert-Lurie worked at the law firm of Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg, and Tunney, and she served as a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Law Clerk for Judge Harry Pregerson.

Paul Gulbenkian

Consultant Solicitor, Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors

Mr. Gulbenkian was educated at Kings College School Wimbledon and the London School of Economics. After obtaining a LL.B degree and being articled to Penningtons Solicitors, he qualified as a Solicitor in 1964. He joined Isadore Goldman Solicitors in 1966 and became a Partner in 1970. In 1985, he set up the specialist Immigration practice of Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors with Dr. Bernard Andonian. He was the Senior Partner of that firm from 1985 to 2010. In 1989, he was appointed as an Immigration Judge and in 1992 as a Crown Court Recorder.

Mr. Gulbenkian is now a Consultant Solicitor to Gulbenkian Andonian Solicitors and to other Firm of Solicitors (including OTS Solicitors). He practices solely as an Immigration Solicitor dealing with Asylum, Human Rights, Work and Family cases. He also served as President of the Holborn Law Society and of the European Immigration Lawyers Group and presently as a member of the International Association of Migration and Refugee Judges and of the Council of Immigration Judges UK. Outside of the law, Mr. Gulbenkian is (and has been) a Trustee and Chairman of a number of UK registered educational Charities as well the St. Sarkis Charity Trust (a sister Trust of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation with specific charitable objects). He is also actively involved with the English National Ballet and the Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioners, and is a a Freeman of the City of London.

Ary Hansen

Ary Hansen is an immigration attorney and a 2021 graduate of UCLA School of Law. As an attorney, Ms. Hansen has worked at The Resurrection Project, where she expanded access to representation for detained Illinois residents as part of the Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance; at Mariposa Legal, where she led a universal representation project for detained Indianapolis residents; and at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), where she supported litigation to defend refugees and displaced persons as a Nierenberg Fellow.

In law school, Ms. Hansen was involved with IRAP’s student chapter and was a yearlong participant in the Human Rights Litigation Clinic. Before law school, she was a paralegal at the National Immigrant Center’s Asylum Project.

Ida Levine

Principal, Two Rivers Associates Limited

Ida Levine is a Principal with Two Rivers Associates Limited consulting on policy, strategy and governance. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Impact Investing Institute and Creative UK Investments.  Ms. Levine is a member of the Financial Markets Law Committee (FMLC) and sits on the Advisory Boards of PRIME Finance Foundation and the UCLA Institute for Carbon Management.  Previously Ms. Levine was Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel for the Capital Group/American Funds where she founded the European Public Policy function. Before Capital, she was European General Counsel for JP Morgan Investment Management. Prior to this, she was a Partner at the international law firm Jones Day (London and New York) specialising in Corporate, M&A and International Securities Law. 
 
Ms. Levine is a Governor of the Royal Ballet Companies. She also is a Trustee of Dancers Career Development (DCD), and the Maria Bjornsen Memorial Fund.