ELITE LEGAL ADVOCATES
Meet Our Team
Our team consists of strategic litigators and human rights experts dedicated to systemic justice, framing our approach through masterful advocacy and legal rigor. Each member brings deep expertise and a commitment to legal excellence.
Manuela Londoño
Founder & Executive Director
Manuela Londoño is a lawyer specializing in human rights and both public and private international law.
Prior to founding International Justice Counsel, she worked as a Senior Strategic Litigation Officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), where she acted in different cases before international, regional, and domestic fora.
Before OSJI, Manuela worked in Big Law as an international arbitration associate, first at Shearman & Sterling LLP (now A&O Shearman) and later at White & Case LLP. During her time in private practice, she focused on investor-state arbitration, international commercial arbitration, anti-corruption, and did extensive pro bono work on international human rights cases before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and U.S. domestic courts.
As a young lawyer, she interned at the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and collaborated with the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT).
Before studying law, Manuela worked as a Producer for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Manuela holds a Juris Doctor from the American University Washington College of Law (Washington, D.C.); a Master I in Comparative Law from the École Normale Supérieure & Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (Paris); a Master II in International Economic Law from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (Paris); and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Theater from the University of Miami.
She speaks English, Spanish, and French.
New York, USA / Paris, France
Fannie Bruneau
Co-Founder & Deputy Executive Director
Fannie Bruneau is the founder of FCA Avocat, a law firm based in Paris, France. She specializes in commercial litigation and international arbitration, with a focus on resolving disputes for companies and individuals in France and internationally. Her practice spans sectors including international trade, construction, banking and finance, life sciences, and sports.
Before FCA Avocat, Fannie gained over seven years of experience in both French and U.S. law firms, where she worked with a range of international legal networks, bringing a strategic, personalized, and rigorous approach to her clients' needs.
Fannie holds law degrees from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (Paris), University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles), and Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economía (Madrid), which gives her a unique comparative law perspective.
During her time at UCLA, she participated in projects with the Promise Institute for Human Rights, a leading academic center focused on advancing human rights through research, advocacy, and education.
Fannie works fluently in French, Spanish, and English.
Paris, France
Jayalakshmi Ragiri
Associate Lawyer
Jayalakshmi Itla Ragiri is a human rights practitioner focused on advancing legal accountability and justice for historically oppressed and marginalized communities. Her work spans a range of human rights issues across national and international contexts with a particular interest in border regimes, displacement, and refugee rights.
As a Project Manager for a Rohingya accountability program, she facilitated survivor-centered engagement with Rohingya women, supported community-led advocacy initiatives, and worked with affected groups to explore legal pathways for accountability and justice. Her work has included submissions to United Nations Special Rapporteurs and support for international justice processes.
In the UK, she was a caseworker at a legal charity, conducting legal surgeries in detention centers and supporting individuals with bail applications, housing, and legal advice. She has also worked as a Legal Researcher with Lawyers for Justice in Libya, contributing to submissions before the United Nations Committee Against Torture.
In India, her work has focused on constitutional and anti-discrimination law. As an Equality Fellow at the Centre for Law and Policy Research funded by the European Union, she supported litigation and policy advocacy on gender identity, affirmative action, and caste-based discrimination.
Jaya is an avid writer, and often publishes for The Diplomat and The Wire. She has also helped train human rights defenders and developed tools to strengthen rights-based responses to caste, gender, and sexuality-based discrimination.
Jayalakshmi holds an LL.M. in Rights, Conflict and Justice from SOAS, University of London (Chevening Scholar), and a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) from National Law School of India University, Bangalore.
Jaya works in English, Telugu, and Hindi.
Bangalore, India
Legal Advisory Board
Adriana Villegas Arango
Carlos Felipe Llinás
Aly Eissa
Chelsea Gunter
legal expert - Pan american development Foundation
PARTNER - NELSON & FRAENKEL LLP
International Lawyer
Principal - Boreal Energy advisors
Adriana Villegas Arango is a distinguished Colombian legal expert with more than two decades of experience in criminal justice, procedural law, and institutional strengthening.
She is a lawyer from Universidad de Caldas and holds a Master’s in Law from Universidad Sergio Arboleda.
Her career has spanned senior roles across Colombia’s justice sector, including service as a criminal judge, public defender, prosecutor, and Regional Director of Prosecutions, alongside advisory and programmatic work with the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF/FUPAD) Colombia.
She has also taught for more than 15 years in postgraduate criminal law programs and has been an international speaker on criminal procedure and the accusatory system.
Mr. Llinás is a distinguished attorney with deep expertise in maritime and aviation law, bringing decades of experience in complex, high-stakes litigation. A Partner at Nelson & Fraenkel LLP, he is Board Certified in Admiralty and Maritime Law by The Florida Bar Board of Legal Specialization and Education, a distinction that reflects his recognized leadership in the field.
His practice has focused extensively on sophisticated maritime matters, including seafarers’ rights, Jones Act claims, passenger injury and wrongful death cases, wage disputes, vessel arrests, limitation of liability proceedings, and other claims involving major cruise operators and commercial vessels. He has also played a prominent role in advancing the rights of seafarers and was featured in the investigative documentary Cruises Undercover: The Truth Below Deck, which brought international attention to labor conditions affecting cruise ship crews.
In addition to his maritime practice, Mr. Llinás has substantial experience in complex aviation matters, including claims involving domestic and international airlines and general aviation crashes.
Fluent in Spanish and admitted to practice in California, Florida, Washington State, and the District of Columbia, he brings to the Advisory Board a strong combination of trial experience, subject-matter depth, and cross-border legal insight.
Aly Eissa is an independent attorney specializing in international disputes, trained in both civil and common law, with a practice often involving matters connected to the Middle East and Africa.
He previously spent six years at elite law firms in Paris, where he represented parties in a wide range of disputes across sectors including mining, renewable energy, maritime transport, and construction.
His work addresses complex issues such as international economic sanctions, the enforcement of foreign judgments, and corruption allegations. He is consistently recognized as "One to Watch" by Best Lawyers for his work.
Alongside his private practice, Aly is engaged in public-interest and academic work. He provides legal assistance and representation to asylum seekers and refugees in connection with the refugee status determination process and teaches private international law at Sorbonne Law School.
Aly is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and divides his time between Cairo and Paris.
Chelsea Gunter is an energy and infrastructure attorney based in the U.S. and Canada.
She focuses on representing project sponsors, investors, and governments on nuclear, transmission, and renewable energy transactional and regulatory matters.
Her work spans markets in North America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and she has served as an expert to the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In addition to her private practice, Chelsea maintains a robust pro bono practice representing refugees and asylum seekers, veterans, and indigenous rights organizations.
She is licensed in New York and Washington, D.C. and provisionally admitted in New Brunswick, Canada.
Chelsea holds degrees from Cornell Law School, New York University, and the University of Washington.
Bogotá, Colombia
Washington, D.C., USA / Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Cairo, Egypt / Paris, France
Los Angeles, California, USA