Partner Leaves DLA to Launch Firm Focused on International Human Rights Issues
Washington-based governmental affairs lawyer Jared Genser last week left DLA Piper to start his own firm aimed at helping companies, nonprofits and governments establish humanitarian projects.
The firm, Perseus Strategies, will consult and provide public relations strategies relating to international development, global health advocacy and alleviating poverty, the Washington Post reports.
Genser tells the Post he’s starting off solo, but may expand later.
“After a long time at a large law firm, I realized it’s time to set up my own shop to do this kind of work,” Genser is quoted saying. “I’m not aware of any other individual firm out there whose focus is to work at the intersection of nonprofit and private sector on human rights and humanitarian work. It’s a niche practice. The need is profound and will get more profound in years to come.”
Since joining DLA in 2003, Genser has cultivated this niche practice, advising individuals and foundations looking to create humanitarian projects in developing countries. But being at a large firm limited his ability to do humanitarian work for organizations with limited resources, he says.
Genser also heads Freedom Now, a boutique firm he founded in 2001 to advocate on behalf of imprisoned dissidents. In 2007, Genser helped free a former Harvard classmate, Yang Jianli, a Chinese dissident detained on charges of being a spy for Taiwan.
