Columbia Human Rights Graduate Fellowship: Corporate Legal Accountability Fellow

Columbia Human Rights Graduate Fellowship: Corporate Legal Accountability Fellow

This opportunity is specific to the Columbia Human Rights Graduate Fellowship Program. External applicants will not be considered.

About the opportunity

The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) team is seeking an enthusiastic, reliable lawyer committed to human rights to join its Corporate Legal Accountability (CLA) Programme for one year. This fellowship offers a unique opportunity to support communities, advocates and lawyers seeking access to remedy, contribute to cutting-edge research and advocacy on corporate accountability, and help expand the only global information hub on corporate legal accountability.

Through the CLA Programme, BHRC tracks strategic lawsuits against companies over alleged human rights abuses and monitors legislative developments that can help strengthen corporate accountability. The fellow will carry out research, develop advocacy tools, and contribute to influencing strategies aligned with BHRC’s strategic plan, helping lawyers and legal advocates enhance communities’ access to legal remedy.

What you will work on

• Just energy transition litigation: The fellow will support the development of BHRC’s flagship emerging just energy transition litigation portfolio, a subset of climate change litigation in which Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, or affected workers bring rights-based lawsuits concerning the “distribution of benefits and burdens” of the transition away from fossil fuels and towards net-zero emissions. This may include contributing to the strategic vision of the project, researching new cases for the Just Transition Litigation Tracking Tool, supporting the related yearly analysis, and liaising with partners.
  
  
• UN legally binding instrument: The fellow will support BHRC’s advocacy on the UN legally binding instrument to regulate transnational corporations and other companies with respect to human rights. This may include helping to organise webinars, liaising with experts and partners for the “Debate the treaty” blog series, monitoring the UN Intergovernmental Working Group session, and contributing to Daily Updates summarising key takeaways of the session.
  
  
• Strategic litigation database: The fellow will research legal information, draft or update lawsuit profiles for BHRC’s database of 300+ global cases brought against companies over alleged human rights abuses. This work supports lawyers, legal practitioners and affected people by tracking and analysing litigation trends that can strengthen cases and improve access to legal remedy.
  
  
• Strategic Litigation Network: The fellow will support the development of a Strategic Litigation Network in Africa, building on BHRC’s network in Latin America. The network brings together lawyers, NGOs, human rights defenders and other experts to share strategies, tools and good practices for corporate accountability.
• Regular programme outputs: The fellow will draft and develop CLA Programme publications, including the Quarterly Update, BHRC’s newsletter highlighting timely topics and key developments in corporate legal accountability.

Learning opportunities and professional development

As a fellow, you will gain practical experience in an international NGO and become an integral member of a diverse and international team. You will strengthen your legal research and analytical skills while supporting lawyers and communities seeking greater accountability for business-related human rights abuses. You will also learn from colleagues across the world, deepen your knowledge of the business and human rights field, and have opportunities to liaise with civil society, lawyers and other key stakeholders working on corporate legal accountability globally.

Throughout the fellowship, you will have the opportunity to publish research on BHRC’s website, access BHRC’s data, and gain experience using internet-based publication tools such as Mailchimp and the Wagtail content management system.

Working environment

BHRC offers a fully remote working environment, with regular contact via Microsoft Teams. As a global organisation, BHRC works with colleagues around the world on a daily basis, creating a truly international workplace. If you are already based in London or Berlin and have the right to work in the UK or Germany, there may be opportunities to work from one of BHRC’s offices.

You will work closely with your direct supervisor based in France, and with the Director of International Programmes based in South Africa as well as colleagues across BHRC's global network.

Eligibility criteria

• Currently enrolled in, or recently completed (class of 2025 or 2026, depending on the fellowship), a postgraduate legal degree (LLM/JD or similar) from Columbia Law School.
• Secure funding from the Columbia Fellowship Program.
• Demonstrated academic or professional experience carrying out international and/or multi-jurisdictional legal research, analysis and summarising information.
• Interest in and commitment to promoting human rights, especially business and human rights.
• Excellent English language skills, including reading, writing and speaking. Fluency in another language, such as French, Spanish, Arabic or Russian, is a plus.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, work independently and exercise sound judgement in a remote working environment.

Application timeline

Application deadline: 15 November 2026, close of business EST. Interviews are planned for mid to late November.

About BHRC

The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) is a global non-profit organisation that works with communities, civil society, companies and governments to put human rights at the heart of business, deliver a just economy, climate justice, and end abuse. BHRC tracks the human rights policies and practices of more than 10,000 companies worldwide to push for stronger human rights protections. Its website is a global business and human rights knowledge hub, delivering daily news in 11 languages to more than 150,000 active users per month. BHRC’s weekly e-newsletter has over 16,000 subscribers globally, including advocates, business people, governments, investors and the UN.

BHRC’s Corporate Legal Accountability (CLA) Programme aims to strengthen the legal accountability of business actors so that rightsholders can exercise their rights and access justice when abuses occur. We view strategic litigation as a critical tool for challenging impunity. Through networks, analysis and information, we equip lawyers, legal practitioners and affected people around the world to build stronger cases against companies implicated in human rights abuses, support novel legal strategies, establish effective legal precedent and improve access to legal remedy.

In practice, the CLA Programme contributes to BHRC’s strategic goals of shared prosperity for society, corporate duty of care for human rights and environmental justice, and a safe and enabling environment for communities and workers through the following activities:

• Advancing corporate accountability through legal analysis and strategic insights: we analyse timely topics and share key legal developments through our CLA Quarterly Update, providing concise and accessible information on corporate legal accountability legislative developments and landmark lawsuits for grassroots and community practitioners.
• Monitoring legal and legislative developments related to business and human rights, including the UN Binding Treaty. Given BHRC’s current thematic priorities, the CLA Programme tracks legal news linked to natural resources and the just energy transition, tech and human rights, and labour rights.
• Strengthening strategic litigation against corporate abuse: we maintain and expand our lawsuit profiles database, which documents 300+ cases brought against companies over allegations of human rights abuses. The database is one of the world's most comprehensive freely accessible repository of corporate legal accountability cases and judgments, providing legal advocates with insight into trends, challenges and emerging jurisprudence on strategic litigation for corporate accountability.
• Building networks for peer learning and collective action: Through BHRC’s Strategic Litigation Network in Latin America, Legal Assistance Directory and convenings, we foster collaboration and peer-to-peer learning by connecting communities, legal practitioners and other experts from around the world working to address corporate-related harms.

How to apply

Please submit your CV, cover letter and writing sample via the Bamboo HR portal. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate how their academic, professional or lived experience has informed their commitment to corporate accountability and human rights. If you need additional support, please contact Asha Gill at gill@business-humanrights.org.