It’s our great pleasure today to welcome Cochav Elkayam-Levy as an IntLawGrrls contributor. Cochav joined the Penn Law S.J.D. program at 2014. Prior to that, Cochav served as Penn Law Rule of Law and Human Rights Fellow. She graduated with distinction from the Penn Law LL.M program, where she also joined as a Human Rights Scholar, and was the recipient of several exemplary awards. Cochav holds a joint LL.B degree in Law and Political Science from Bar-Ilan University (Magna cum Laude). As a result of her work for the rights of unaccompanied minors and undocumented migrants, Cochav was awarded the Toll Public Interest Center’s 2013 Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Leadership, the Exemplary Pro Bono Service Award and the LLM Public Service Award. In 2012, Cochav was awarded the Philadelphia Bar Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Human Rights.

Previously, Cochav served as a legal counsel for the Human Rights Division in the International Agreements and Litigation Department of the Israeli Ministry of Justice. It that capacity, she was responsible to consult on and promote human rights issues at the State level. Cochav also served as an associate with the Supreme Court Department of the Israeli Attorney General’s Office and worked as an associate at a Tel Aviv law firm.  Currently, Cochav works with Prof. William Burke-White, Inaugural Director of Perry World House, Penn’s new institution for international and global affairs.

Cochav’s first post will discuss her article on the European Court of Human Rights’ and its failure to fully engage in the legal complexity of women’s religious freedoms and gender equality principles, which was recently published in the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law. Heartfelt welcome!