Jessica Morreale Therkelsen, Esq. (Global Policy Director): Jessica Therkelsen is a US lawyer who specializes in international refugee and human rights law. She first began working with Asylum Access as a USF Public Interest Law Foundation grantee in 2009, returned as a postgraduate law fellow in September 2010, and now leads the Asylum Access global policy advocacy team. In this position, Jessica is developing Asylum Access’s long-term policy goals while engaging with the US Congress, State Department and UNHCR.
Previous to her work with Asylum Access, Jessica has conducted research for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti on both international trade law and human rights law, and has published a paper on labor rights for Haitians in the Dominican Republic in Spring 2010. Additionally, Jessica has legal experience with international nuclear non-proliferation standards and US domestic labor and employment law.
Jessica obtained her J.D. and honors certificate of international law from the University of San Francisco School of Law, where she now teaches a course in international legal advocacy. While at USF, Jessica also edited on the USF Law Review and served as team captain of USF’s Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team – winning eighth place oral advocate, best brief in the Pacific Region, and fifteenth place brief at the Jessup World Cup.
