Team Biographies
Alexander Goldberg, International Trustee and Advisor
Alexander Goldberg is the Chief Executive of the London Jewish Forum. Alex also works for as a consultant to an international humanitarian organisation in Paris. He was called to the Bar in 2001 and was formerly the Community Issues Director at the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Senior Policy Officer on Race Relations at the CRE.
He has an interest in interfaith and human rights issues. He addressed the inaugural session of the UN Human Rights Commission in 2006 as the chair of the CCJO - René Cassin group and is a national advisor to the Three Faiths Forum and the Center for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism. In 2010 he was elected the co-chair of the Faith Forum for London.
Caren Gestetner, Trustee
Keith Kahn Harris
Keith
Kahn-Harris is a sociologist and writer. He is an honorary research fellow and
associate lecturer at Birkbeck College, London. He also works as a freelance
researcher for Jewish communal organisations.
Laura Forster, Trustee and member of Strategy Committee
Laura is a solicitor at the Home Office, where she advises on immigration law. She has had a diverse legal career, previously working on sports and heritage issues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and, as a financing lawyer, at Slaughter and May. She joined RenéCassin in 2007.
Laura has a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and professional qualifications from the College of Law, London.
Maya Jaffe, Co-Chair and member of Executive Committee
Maya Jaffe works in international development with Crown Agents on public sector supply chain management, particularly in the health sector. She has previously worked with the World Health Organisation and the US Agency for International Development. Her expertise includes policy analysis, financial/project management and marketing.
Maya has a MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and a BA in Government and International Relations from Cornell University.
Shauna Leven, Programme Manager
Shauna has been volunteering with René Cassin since she moved to London at the end of 2010, and is very excited to joining in a full time capacity as Programme Manager. Shauna brings a variety of experiences to René Cassin, having worked as a Management Consultant with Egon Zehnder International, and a Litigation Associate with leading American law firm McGuireWoods LLP. Simone Abel, Director
Simone Abel was appointed director of René Cassin in 2009, and brings a wealth of legal experience and a passion for human rights to the role. Simone comes to us from the New York office of Human Rights Watch (‘HRW’). At HRW, Simone conducted research, drafted policies, wrote reports, prepared training sessions and provided advice on international law, human rights and corporate governance issues.
Prior to transitioning into human rights, Simone was an attorney at leading law firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, New York, and Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Sydney. She also worked as a journalist for the Australian Jewish News and as student editor for the Australian Journal of Human Rights.
Vicki Prais, member of Executive Committee
Vicki Prais is an International Human Rights lawyer. She works at the Department of Execution at the Council of Europe, where she is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of States' implementation of European Court of Human Rights judgments. Vicki previously worked at the Treasury Solicitor (TSol), the Government's largest legal department, where she specialised in Terrorism and National Security cases. She also has extensive experience in immigration and asylum law, having worked at the Immigration Advisory Service.
Vicki has been on mission to the Russian Federation and Armenia to train the judiciary on European Human Rights Law. She also lectures at the School of Social Science at Middlesex University where she gives an annual workshop on Terrorism, National Security and Human Rights.