Laura A. Young is the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Legal Fellow at The Advocates for Human Rights.  Laura received her B.A. from the University of Virginia.  She received her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School and received her Master of Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.  Ms. Young also studied international law at Université Jean Moulin – Lyon III, in Lyon, France.  Upon completion of her law degree, Ms. Young clerked for the Hon. Wilhelmina Wright at the Minnesota Court of Appeals. 

Ms. Young has worked on international human rights issues throughout her professional career.  While working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and other public health consulting firms in Atlanta, Ms. Young focused on of HIV/AIDS education, refugee and immigrant access to the medical system, and statistical measurement of community empowerment.  Ms. Young was a domestic violence educator and trainer at the Women’s Center of Montgomery County in Pennsylvania and was employed by the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Project, where she assisted with bringing capital case appeals for Mexican nationals to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.  Ms. Young began her work with The Advocates as a volunteer on the death penalty project.  As the Wellstone Legal Fellow, Ms. Young has been part of the Liberian TRC Diaspora Project team at The Advocates, working with volunteer lawyers and Liberian groups around the U.S., the U.K. and in Ghana to empower Liberians in the Diaspora to participate in the truth & reconciliation process.