Jared Genser

Jared Genser is Founder of Freedom Now, a non-governmental organization that works to free prisoners of conscience worldwide, and Managing Director of Perseus Strategies, a law and consulting firm focused on human rights and corporate social responsibility. Dubbed "The Extractor" by the New York Times, Genser has built Freedom Now into a powerful force for justice, working in 30 countries and freeing more than 100 prisoners of conscience by selecting cases that represent broader patterns of abuse to create long-lasting policy impact. His pro bono clients have included former Czech President Václav Havel and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Liu Xiaobo, Aung San Suu Kyi, Desmond Tutu, and Elie Wiesel, while current clients include imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López and former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed. In 2017 alone, Freedom Now worked in 16 countries, representing 48 people and helped free 8 of them.

A former partner at DLA Piper LLP and management consultant with McKinsey & Company, Genser holds degrees from Cornell University, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. He has authored or co-edited multiple books including The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and The UN Security Council in the Age of Human Rights. His exceptional work has earned him the American Bar Association's International Human Rights Award, the Charles Bronfman Prize, and the 2020 Tallberg/Eliasson Global Leadership Prize. Genser serves as US Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect to the Organization of American States, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is qualified to practice law in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and as a Solicitor of England & Wales.