OPBP Committee
The OPBP student Executive Committee for the year 2024/25
Isabella Ruiz Dos Santos Miguel
Chair
Isabella is a Brazilian lawyer with experience in human rights, migration, and refugee law. She holds an LLB degree from the University of São Paulo (USP) and is pursuing an MSc in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. Her research examines the international obligation of states to realise Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of non-nationals. She has experience practising law in different sectors in Brazil, having worked at law firms, as a self-employed lawyer and, more recently, as a protection lawyer for Caritas Arquidiocesana de São Paulo, an NGO that assists refugees and asylum seekers. Isabella joined Oxford Pro Bono Publico's Student Executive Committee as Communications and Research Officer (2023/2024) and acts now as the Chairperson (2024/2025).
Melanie Schneider
Deputy Chair
Melanie Schneider is a DPhil candidate in Law at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on international law’s regulation of energy security. She holds a master’s degree (LL.M.) in International and European Law with distinction from the University of Amsterdam. Before coming to Oxford, Melanieworked as a research trainee at the T.M.C. Asser Institute and assistant to the coordinator of a law clinic at the University of Amsterdam. She has international experience working in research institutes, non-profit organisations and as a legal advisor to international clients. Melanie is a Lab Fellow at the Oxford SDG Impact Lab and a Graduate Research Resident at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights.
Maisy Bentley
Deputy Chair
Maisy is currently completing the MPhil in law as a Rhodes Scholar. Her research focuses on women’s rights in the context of human rights climate change litigation. Maisy holds an MSt (Merit) (Oxford), LLB(Hons, first class) and BA (Victoria University of Wellington). She started her career at the UNHCR’s Pacific Regional Office (2022) and then at a top-tier New Zealand law firm (2023) and was a teaching fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (2023-2024). She is an enrolled Barrister and Solicitor (New Zealand). At Oxford, she has led the Oxford Climate Society’s Climate in the Curriculum Programme, is a researcher assisting with the Oxford Handbook of Algorithmic Governance and the Law, the co-deputy chair of Oxford Pro-Bono Publico, and a co-convenor of the Feminist Jurisprudence Discussion Group.
She has been published in the New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law, the New Zealand Public Interest Law Journal, the Victoria University of Wellington Law Review and the New Zealand Women's Law Journal. Her research on expedited lawmaking during Covid-19 was cited by the New Zealand Parliament's Regulations Review Committee in its inquiry into COVID-19 Secondary Legislation.
She has received several academic, professional and personal accolades including Most Inspirational Young Person of the Year by the Pride Award Trust (2016), Outstanding Youth Champion by the New Zealand Youth Awards/Minister for Youth (2018), Thomson Reuters Prize for Top Student in Contract Law (2019), named Young Leader of the Year – World Federation of United Nations Associations (2021), Sir John McGrath Distinguished Prize in Public Law (2022), Australia New Zealand Society of International Law internship award grant (2022), and the Rhodes Scholarship (2023).
Her interests are primarily in public law, public international law, climate change, strategic litigation, human rights, feminist jurisprudence, indigenous rights, law & technology and socio-legal research.
Mahek Bhatia
Treasurer
Mahek Bhatia is reading for the MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice. She holds a first-class law degree from the University of Warwick and is particularly interested in the intersections of feminist legal theories and criminal justice, with a focus on marital sexual violence in India. She has consistently undertaken various research assistant roles, focusing on human rights, policing, sexual harassment, domestic violence, feminist criminology, and protest jurisprudence.
Nikhil Kothakota
Internship and Research Officer
Nikhil is pursuing an MPhil in Law. His research aims to tackle the dual challenges of development-induced displacement and environmental deterioration resulting from land acquisition for infrastructure projects in India. Prior to pursuing the MPhil, Nikhil read for the Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford in subjects such as Advanced Administrative Law, Legal Concepts in Environmental Law, and Comparative Human Rights. Nikhil has also previously worked as a judicial clerk at the Supreme Court of India, dealing with a variety of constitutional and environmental matters.
Advait Tambe
Communication and Research Officer
Advait is an M.Phil (Law) candidate under the supervision of Prof. Nicholas Bamforth. His research focuses on the Supreme Court of India's power of judicial review and its remedial writ jurisprudence.
Before pursuing his M.Phil, Advait completed an LL.M. in International Legal Studies at NYU School of Law. During his time at NYU, he worked with the Centre for Human Rights & Global Justice, and thereafter had various stints within the United Nations system.
Advait holds a B.A., LL.B (Honours), from Symbiosis Law School, Pune, India. He has served as a Judicial Law Clerk at the Supreme Court of India. In 2023, he co-authored his debut book, ‘Hate Crime in India: Understanding Nuanced Discrimination against North-Eastern Population.’
Justin Winchester
Research Officer
Justin is a DPhil Law candidate researching the conceptualisation and enforcement of positive duties in South Africa and the United Kingdom under the supervision of Prof. Sandra Fredman, funded by a Rhodes Scholarship. Justin holds a BCom (2019) and an LLB (2021) from the University of Cape Town and a BCL (2022/23) from Oxford. Justin previously worked in research and strategic human-rights litigation whilst a Litigation Fellow at the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI). He has also published articles on equality, human rights, and administrative law (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4222-2085).
Madeleine McGregor
Research Officer
Madeleine McGregor is an Australian-qualified lawyer, currently studying the Bachelor of Civil Laws with a focus on international law and human rights. She is a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College.
Madeleine completed the Master of Public Policy, where she was a Bonavero Student Fellow at Reprieve and Research Assistant at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict. Prior to Oxford, Madeleine has worked in commercial litigation, volunteered with the Aborigianl Legal Service, and Refugee Advice and Casework Service.
Mashal Aamir
Research Officer
Mashal Aamir is a postgraduate student in International Law and Human Rights at the University of Oxford where her thesis focuses on the use of starvation by countries as a weapon against their own population.
She is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and trained as a barrister. Mashal has worked in a range of countries advocating for vulnerable communities and currently works for the Scottish Government. She is a recipient of the Diana Award, among others, and the International Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer for 2024.
Gabriel Apolloni
Research Officer
Gabriel is a BCL candidate with interests in criminal and public law, who is planning to practice at the Criminal bar.
Before pursuing his BCL, Gabriel completed his undergraduate law degree at the University of Liverpool, gaining a first class. He then went on to complete his bar studies with an Advanced Criminal specialism at City, University of London, achieving a Distinction.
Gabriel worked for three years as a Parliamentary Assistant at the UK Parliament. He was also the Director of the Vocalise scheme, which placed Bar students into prisons around London, where they taught prisoners debating skills.