Tuttleman Legal Empowerment Fellowship

Tuttleman Legal Empowerment Fellowship Graphic

The Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law is committed to the advancement of legal empowerment through innovative research, education, and advocacy. Legal Empowerment is a growing field of human rights practice dedicated to strengthening the capacity of affected communities to use the law to achieve justice. The Institute is thrilled to announce the Tuttleman Fellowship, a generous gift from the Tuttleman Foundation to deepen and expand our legal empowerment work.  The fellowship is for a one year period, with the possibility for extension to two. 

About the position

The inaugural Tuttleman Fellow will build upon the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights’ cutting-edge legal empowerment work, playing a central role in developing and consolidating an evidence base to demonstrate the effectiveness of legal empowerment in advancing human rights. 

Meet the 2019-2020 Tuttleman Fellow

Tyler Walton

Tyler Walton '18 

Tyler Walton is the inaugural Tuttleman Legal Empowerment Fellow at the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law. As a fellow, he works on legal empowerment, researching and co-developing strategies with affected community members to access and exercise their rights and shift power paradigms back towards communities and individuals. Prior to joining the Bernstein Institute, Tyler was a fellow at the Southern Africa Litigation Centre where he led the program on freedom of expression, working to combat closing civic spaces in southern Africa and address new human rights issues caused by the rise of the Internet and digital technologies. He also served two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi developing participatory community health programs to advance gender equality, access to safe drinking water, and HIV prevention and mitigation. Tyler received his BA from the University of Missouri and his JD from NYU School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest scholar.

Check out Tyler's blog on legal empowerment during COVID-19 among Immigrants Rights organizations.