Our Team
International Bridges to Justice is led by a group of over 65 employees, interns and volunteers throughout the world. Browse through the staff working at our headquarters office in Geneva and our seven regional offices situated in Asia and Africa.
Read More about the Geneva team
Read More about the Cambodia team
Singapore Justice Training Centre
Tanglin International Centre 354 Tanglin Rd #03-15 Singapore 247672
Maureen Essex - Managing and Training Director
Maureen Essex joined IBJ in 2012. She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with degrees in history and sociology. Following her graduation from Georgetown University Law Center, Maureen became an assistant public defender for the state of Maryland. She worked for the Office of the Public Defender for more than 25 years, representing thousands of indigent clients in criminal trials and training hundreds of colleagues in her role as training director for the agency. Maureen helped to draft the first piece of legislation submitted by the Office of the Public Defender which resulted in the passage of a law ensuring that all children involved in delinquency matters in Maryland have access to counsel. Maureen's interest and experience in training attorneys and law students is longstanding and far reaching. She has taught students at both the University of Maryland School of Law and the Georgetown University Law Center. In 1998, she participated as a lecturer and workshop facilitator at the Conference on Domestic Violence held in various locations in Uzbekistan and sponsored by the United States Information Service. Maureen is a past president of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys' Association. She has held leadership roles in various entities of the American Bar Association. She is a founding member of the Maryland Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Jennifer Anderson - Development Officer
Since moving to Singapore from Sydney at the start of 2009, Jennifer Anderson has been exploring the exciting island of Singapore as much as possible, while completing a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Social Welfare and International Studies from Southern Cross University. Jennifer acted as event management consultant for the Singapore Justice Training Centre's Inaugural Gala Dinner in 2010. She has vast experience in the fields of event and project management, working for some of Sydney, Australia's premier event management companies. She has been able to utilize her skills in concept design and execution of large scale events for prestigious international brands, movie premieres, awards ceremonies, corporate events, and support for non-profit fundraising events. Inspired by her travels throughout the South East Asian region, Jennifer plans to pursue further studies in the fields of social justice and conservation. Jennifer spends many weekends fulfilling her passion for conservation education as a volunteer ranger in the Reptile Realm at the Singapore Zoo.
Clara Feng - Legal and Development Officer
Clara Feng is dually qualified as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore and as a solicitor in England & Wales. A former litigator and corporate lawyer in Singapore, Clara also taught law at the tertiary level prior to joining IBJ. She has extensive experience in human rights research, advocacy, education, and training in Southeast Asia. She has designed and facilitated training programs in Asia, Europe and the United States. She has a keen interest in citizen participation and cross-sector collaboration. She received an LLB with honors from the National University of Singapore and an MS in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded the Ann Nolan Reese NPL/NGO Leadership Scholarship. She is currently pursuing a certificate in program evaluation at Tufts University.
Lara Gallagher - Legal Research and Training Associate
Lara Gallagher is an Australian lawyer who also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in Sociology and Women’s Studies. After working as an insurance litigator with a Sydney law firm, she served as a prosecutor with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for eleven years, including five years as a Principal Lawyer. She conducted complex prosecutions involving allegations of money laundering, tax fraud, drug importation and other violations of Australian federal law. She regularly appeared as an advocate for the Crown at various stages of the criminal process, including hearing, sentencing and appeal. She trained criminal investigators in such areas as the law of evidence and the Crown’s duty of disclosure to the defence. As a prosecutor, she was passionately committed to ensuring accused persons a fair trial during all stages of the prosecution.
In 2008 Lara moved to Warsaw with her husband and young children. She lived there for three years, during which time she studied Polish and commenced her Masters of Law in Public International Law at the University of London. In 2011 she moved to Singapore where she continues her Master’s Program, currently studying Comparative Criminal Law Policy. Lara’s work with IBJ enables her to continue working to guarantee everyone a fair trial.
