Bernstein Institute team posing outside of the main entrance to Vanderbilt Hall at NYU Law

Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights

Human Rights Research, Advocacy, and Education

The Bernstein Institute for Human Rights is a center at NYU Law committed to challenging legal systems that exclude, marginalize, and oppress. We support and train community justice advocates, law students, and lawyers on legal empowerment methods as a way to actively challenge inequities here in the US and around the world. We believe that the practice of law can and should be rooted in dignity and care.

The work of the Institute is supported by Professor Margaret Satterthwaite ‘99 as Faculty Director and Sukti Dhital as Executive Director.

Our Focus Areas

Institute Updates

masiyiwa-bernstein past fellow reflection

Announcing Masiyiwa-Bernstein Fellowship Placements for 2026/2027 Calendar Year

2026-2027 fellowship placements will be at Human Rights First and Beyond Legal Aid.

Visit our How To Apply page to learn more about the about the organizations and the application process.

The application deadline is March 6, 2026.

Legal Empowerment Network Convening

“I felt safe. I felt seen. I felt inspired.”

These aren’t typical words for a legal conference. But last week’s Legal Empowerment National Convening in Chicago convened by the US Legal Empowerment Network (a project housed at the Bernstein Institute) proved that centering community agency is not just a moral imperative but a powerful strategy for building a more just world.

The US Legal Empowerment Network isn’t fixing the law. It is reshaping who the law belongs to. By fusing legal tools with grassroots organizing, we are building a scalable model for systems change nationwide.

This is what democracy looks like in practice. We’re so excited to build on it! Stay tuned as we share the stories, lessons and next steps.

a graphic of gold scales of justice on a brown table. The background is blue.

New Global Report

The Bernstein Institute for Human Rights is thrilled to share the launch of our global report, Exclusion in Practice: A Human Rights Analysis on the Legal Barriers to Advancing Community Justice. The report explores the power, promise, and struggles of community justice workers—human rights defenders who are key actors in the legal ecosystem. Missed the panel discussion? Watch it here.

graphic of a woman sitting at her desk, which has books on it. The wall above the desk is covered in notes and posters. The woman is on a video call.

Justice Power Relaunched

In 2018, the Bernstein Institute launched Justice Power, a documentation project that partners with directly affected community members, immigration advocates, and lawyers in the United States to highlight legal empowerment strategies that help immigrant communities to know, use, shape, and transform the laws that impact their lives. Our team has spent the past year building relationships with over a dozen new legal empowerment organizations, identifying new strategies, and co-developing how-to guides.

black and white graphic of a jailhouse lawyer sitting at a table studying law books

Jailhouse Lawyers Inititiative

The Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative (JLI), founded by former jailhouse lawyer Jhody Polk, invests in jailhouse lawyers as a core strategy in ending the cycle of incarceration. The JLI fuses legal education, movement building, participatory research, and advocacy to bring visibility to jailhouse lawyers and ensure they have the resources to know, use, and shape law.

illustration of six people in discussion at a table

Barefoot Law

We are excited to share this video featuring one of our partners in the Lab - Tim Kakuru and Barefoot Law in Uganda. Barefoot Law transforms communities and helps build power among the most underserved people in Uganda by using legal empowerment as a tool to expand access to justice.