Georgetown Law

Melysa Sperber is an Adjunct Professor of Law and the Director of Public Policy and Government Relations at Humanity United, a foundation focused on building and supporting new approaches to some of the most persistent human problems. As Director of Policy & Government Relations, Professor Sperber leads the foundation’s efforts to influence and invest in efforts to strengthen public policy on human trafficking and violent conflict.

Previously Professor Sperber served as Director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), a US-based coalition that advocates for solutions to prevent and end all forms of human trafficking and modern slavery in the United States and overseas. Prior to joining ATEST, Professor Sperber was Director of Human Rights at Vital Voices Global Partnership, where she implemented programs in more than 20 countries to combat violence against women, including human trafficking, domestic violence, and sexual violence. Professor Sperber also previously served as a Staff Attorney at the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit legal services agency that provides services to women fleeing gender-based persecution. Professor Sperber handled a caseload of more than 80 immigration matters involving domestic violence survivors, human trafficking victims, asylum seekers, and victims of violent crime.

Professor Sperber earned two Equal Justice Fellowships during law school for her work with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and with Public Citizen Litigation Group. She also served as a law clerk for the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights and worked under Dr. Francis M. Deng at the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement. Professor Sperber has served as an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School, teaching Refugee & Asylum Law and Public Interest Lawyering. Prior to law school Professor Sperber worked with runaway and homeless youth in New York and for the D.C. Public Defender Service where she investigated cases of youth accused of violent crimes.

Professor Sperber graduated cum laude from Georgetown Law, where she was a research assistant to Professors David Scheffer and Susan Dellar Ross, worked in the Center for Applied Legal Studies, and served as Assistant Articles and Notes Editor on the American Criminal Law Review. She graduated with a masters of public policy from Georgetown Public Policy Institute, where she received a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies, and graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service with a B.S.F.S. in International Politics and a Certificate in Justice and Peace.