Sara Darehshori

PRINCIPAL

Darehshori has decades of experience tackling sexual abuse in organizations in the United States and abroad.

While at Human Rights Watch, Darehshori conducted an in-depth investigation into widespread retaliation against US military service members who report sexual assault. In the military, as in civilian settings, fear of retaliation is a key factor discouraging victims from coming forward. Underreporting makes it difficult to understand the prevalence of the problem and to address it effectively. Darehshori worked closely with military officials and external advocates to develop targeted policies to increase protections for service members who had been sexually assaulted and prevent retaliation against them after they report. Her efforts resulted in numerous legislative and policy changes to address this long-overlooked aspect of the complex problem of sexual assault in the military.

Darehshori also conducted extensive investigations into the District of Columbia police department’s failure to respond appropriately to sexual assault complaints. Her inquiries led her to formulate recommendations to improve the department’s approach to sexual assault victims, many of which were adopted by the police department. Her work also led to the Sexual Assault Victims Rights Amendment Act of 2014, landmark legislation improving police response to sexual assault in the District of Columbia.

Recently, Darehshori researched immigration policies pertaining to violence against undocumented women in the United States, another vulnerable population often reluctant to report crimes. Her work, based on detailed accounts from survivors and interviews with members of law enforcement, includes suggestions for feasible policy changes to improve existing practices.   

In addition to her work in the United States, Darehshori has extensive experience internationally. Darehshori worked as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda where she prosecuted the first case establishing rape as a war crime and an act of genocide, the Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu. Darehshori’s work was featured in the award-winning documentary, “The Uncondemned.” Darehshori also investigated gender violence committed in Bosnia during the Yugoslav war. Early in her career at Human Rights Watch, Darehshori worked on improving justice mechanisms intended to hold perpetrators to account for war crimes in Darfur and Serbia, and at the International Criminal Court.

During her time at Human Rights Watch, Darehshori published numerous reports, news releases, op-eds and policy papers based on her interviews with hundreds of sexual assault and harassment survivors and stakeholders.  She has spoken on this topic before a wide range of audiences and has appeared extensively in major media including USA TODAY, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, NBC, NPR, and Time magazine. 

Darehshori began her professional career as a litigator in New York at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. She is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School.

In 2016 she was appointed by President Obama as a Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, where she served on its Committee on Conscience until her term ended in 2019. 

Silda Palerm

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Palerm has had a distinguished legal career in New York City, having served as Vice President and Global Head of Litigation at Warner Music Group and Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.  She was a litigation associate at the law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel.

Palerm uses her legal background to champion women’s and victims’ rights in a variety of areas.  In her role as Executive Vice President and Legal Director of Legal Momentum ­­­­- The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund (formerly the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund) she conducted and supervised numerous investigations and litigations dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace.

Palerm is the Co-Chair of the Mayor’s Commission on Gender Equity (CGE), an advisory body that supports City agencies in dismantling institutional barriers for women, girls, and New Yorkers of all gender identities and expressions. CGE develops and supports policies that promote opportunities for cisgender and transgender women and girls in all areas including employment, housing, childcare, education, health and reproductive justice, criminal justice, and public safety.

Since 2014, Palerm has been the Chair of the Board of Directors of Violence Intervention Program Inc. (VIP), a grassroots organization providing services to Latinx survivors of domestic and intimate partner abuse. 

She serves on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood NYC, where she is part of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Board Development and Governance Committee.

From 2001 to 2007, Palerm was a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Women’s Foundation. She has also served on the board of directors of the John Jay College Foundation and MFY Legal Services.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Palerm obtained her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.  She studied law at the University of Puerto Rico (J.D.) and at Harvard Law School (LL.M.).  Palerm clerked in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico for the Honorable Federico Hernandez Denton and in the First Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable Stephen Breyer, now Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 

Brande Stellings

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A leading expert on workplace inclusion and women’s advancement, Stellings combines her experience a a litigator, diversity and inclusion consultant and lifelong advocate for women’s equity to help build organizations that work for everybody. She has partnered with companies across entertainment, sports, technology and finance to strengthen culture and HR policies and practices. Stellings helps boards and executives turn crises into opportunities — rebuilding trust with their employees and other stakeholders — usually in the aftermath of a public reckoning around sexual harassment and discrimination. For organizations undergoing a transformation, she brings innovative, culture change practices from across multiple industries to strengthen both business performance and the employee experience.

At Vestry Laight, she has served as an independent monitor and auditor in the aftermath of litigation, including as an appointed member of the Fox News Workplace Professionalism and Inclusion Council, reporting to the company’s Board of Directors. In these roles, she works with organizations to build safer and more inclusive workplaces. Stellings also serves as a consulting expert in high-stakes discrimination and sexual misconduct litigation and provides executive coaching in the context of post-investigation remediation.

Prior to founding Vestry Laight, she served as Senior Vice President, Advisory Services at Catalyst. She led Catalyst’s consulting and corporate board departments, partnering with CEOs, senior executives and board directors in Fortune 500 corporations and leading professional services firms on strategies to advance women and promote inclusion in the workplace and the boardroom. Earlier in her career, Stellings practiced law at NBC Universal (where she co-led the GE Women’s Network) and at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. She previously chaired the NYC Bar’s Women in the Profession Committee as well as the Conference Board’s Leadership Council on Advancing Women, served on the board of DirectWomen (accelerating corporate board opportunities for women lawyers) and is a founding member of Beyond #MeToo: A Working Group on Corporate Governance, Compliance and Risk.

Stellings received her JD cum laude from Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Yale College.