It’s our great pleasure today to introduce Nani Jansen as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Nani is a Dutch-qualified attorney who graduated in civil law and public international law from the University of Amsterdam and specialised in human rights at Columbia Law School and the European University Institute. She currently is the Legal Director of the Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI), an organisation that works worldwide to help journalists and bloggers defend their rights. Nani oversees MLDI’s regular and strategic litigation. She has acted in freedom of expression cases before national and international courts and human rights tribunals, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the East African Court of Justice, the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Prior to joining MLDI, Nani worked as a litigation and arbitration attorney with De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, a large law firm in the Netherlands. She also worked as a researcher on international peace and security for a non-profit organisation in New York and has experience working in the United Nations system. Nani was admitted to the bar in The Netherlands in 2007 and is registered on the list of Pro Bono counsel at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Nani’s first post will discuss an ECtHR case in the context of bias against women telling stories about their relationships with public figures. Heartfelt welcome!