Linda Lakhdhir has over 25 years of experience as a human rights lawyer, NGO director and activist, professor of law, criminal prosecutor, and lawyer in private practice. From 2014-2022, Linda was Legal Advisor in the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, during which time she authored or co-authored reports on human rights abuses in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and India, and scores of shorter statements and press releases on human rights in the region.
While residing in Japan earlier in her career, she taught law at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, co-headed an organization that provided legal advice to foreign workers in Japan, and was President of an organization of foreign lawyers. Before that she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, including as Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force and as Coordinator of Civil Rights Prosecutions.
A graduate of the Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, Linda began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Monroe McKay of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th federal Circuit, and then as a litigator at a large New York law firm.
