Building key skills as a human rights attorney

During her time at Fordham, Akosua was the Vice-President of the Black Law Students’ Association and was a member of both the Crowley Scholars Program in International Human Rights and the Stein Scholars Program in Public Interest Law & Ethics. She worked as a researcher in the Leitner Center of International Law and Justice’s International Human Rights Clinic, where she helped, in partnership with the A project, to draft and edit a sex workers’ rights resource guide for activists in Lebanon. Akosua was also a competitor in the 2022  Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot and is a Senior Online Articles Editor of the Fordham Law Voting Rights Journal. Additionally, throughout her time at Fordham, Akosua worked at the New York City Commission on Human Rights, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and as a summer associate at Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, LLP working on civil rights claims such as wrongful convictions, police shootings, and jail and prison suits.

Akosua credits the Leitner Center as a highlight of law school “As a law student with an interest in international law, having the Leitner Center with its knowledgeable and experienced professors was a major benefit to me. I was able to participate in the international human rights clinic with Professor Mgbako, be a member of the Crowley Scholars program with Professor Wickeri, and take international human rights with Professor Galizzi.”

Now, Akosua is based at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, working on a wide range of compliance issues. “Through the Center I became a better writer, researcher, advocate, and critical thinker. I highly recommend every law student to take at least one course through the Leitner Center as it truly made my law school experience well rounded and thoughtful.”