MEET the DEFENDERS

Legal Practice Lead | Joined in 2021

Assistant Legal Officer | Joined in 2011

Finance & Admin Officer | Joined in 2022

Finance & HR Lead | Joined in 2021

Assistant Legal Officer | Joined in 2018

Advocate | Joined in 2025

Legal officer, Luzira Murchison Bay & Upper | Joined in 2018

M&E officer | Joined in 2018

Office Assistant | Joined in 2016

Operations Assistant | Joined in 2016

Legal Officer (Naivasha & Nakuru) | Joined in 2014

Acting Advocate/Legal officer, Nyeri | Joined in 2016

Finance Lead | Joined in 2022

Communications Officer | Joined in 2021

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer | Joined in 2018

Legal Officer Muranga | Joined in 2019

Acting Legal Practice Lead | Joined in 2014

Legal Clerk | Joined in 2018

Legal Officer Machakos | Joined in 2014

Acting Advocate | Joined in 2014

Bio

IT Officer | Joined in 2021

Legal Officer Thika | Joined in 2016

Legal Officer | Joined in 2019

Director of Fundraising and Communications | Joined in 2015

Matteo Cassini is the Director of Development and Communications at Justice Defenders, leading global fundraising, communications, partnerships, and expansion. He holds a Master’s Degree in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics, where he won the 2018 Titmuss Prize for Best Dissertation. Over the past decade, Matteo’s work in academia, across Africa, and inside prisons has been integral to Justice Defenders’ journey, combining deep organisational knowledge with strategic vision. His leadership has secured transformative funding, built powerful alliances, and elevated the organisation’s global voice, driving forward its mission to equip the defenceless to become defenders of justice.

Head of Internal Operations and Planning | Joined in 2018

Adebisi Desalu-Odiase brings over 10 years of experience in C-suite support, specialising in governance, project management, HR, and administration. A seasoned senior executive assistant to CEOs, directors, trustees, and founders, Adebisi focuses on developing simple, reliable systems that transform strategy into daily operations. Of Nigerian and Irish heritage, Adebisi is married with two children and enjoys swimming, cinema visits, wildlife documentaries, and road trips. At Justice Defenders, Adebisi collaborates with colleagues across the organisation to understand operational challenges and co-create processes that boost efficiency and impact. She is passionate about continuous improvement, lifelong learning, child development, and supporting stroke survivors.

Legal Education Lead | Joined in 2015

Morris Kaberia is the Global Education Lead at Justice Defenders, guiding legal education and practice across Kenya and Uganda to ensure high-quality services in all legal offices. A former police officer, he was arrested in 2005, sentenced to death in 2013, and during his incarceration joined Justice Defenders’ paralegal program while pursuing a University of London law degree. Using his legal training, he successfully appealed his conviction and was released in 2018. Since then, he has served as a legal officer, advanced to Global Education Lead, and engaged in public interest litigation that has shaped criminal justice jurisprudence in Kenya. Having completed the Advocates’ Training Program at the Kenya School of Law in 2023, Morris is now undertaking his pupillage, aspiring to qualify as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya—a journey from defenceless prisoner to defender of justice.

Country Lead and IT Director | Joined in 2022

Anthony Makumbi serves as Countries Leadership Lead for Uganda and Kenya, as well as Director of Information Technology and a member of Justice Defenders’ Servant Leadership Team. He provides strategic oversight across our country programmes, working closely with the Country Servant Management Teams to implement our global strategy in ways that reflect our values and bring justice to clients in prison. With extensive global operational experience, he combines leadership with technology to enhance governance, drive digital transformation, and build sustainable systems that improve access to justice. Collaborating with prison authorities, staff, and partners, he ensures our mission to train prisoners and prison officers as paralegals is carried out with integrity and compassion. Passionate about helping people break free from prison bars, Anthony envisions a future where those once silenced not only defend the defenceless but also influence legal systems that perpetuate injustice, advancing justice through servant leadership.

Founder and CEO | Joined in 2004

Alexander is the Founder and CEO of Justice Defenders. He is passionate about justice, having trained as a barrister and magistrate. During gap year travels to East Africa, McLean fundraised to provide better health facilities and educate Ugandan incarcerated people about the law. After graduating from the University of Nottingham in 2007, he moved to Kampala, where he created a team of local and international staff and volunteers to develop the work of the African Prisons Project, now Justice Defenders. In the latter part of 2022, he spent time teaching at Grinnell College as well as in men’s and women’s prisons in Iowa.
‍
He is a Senior TED Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, and UK Young Philanthropist of the Year. He appears in TIME’s 30 Under 30 Changing the World and ‘The Power List’, featuring Britain's most influential people of African and African-Caribbean heritage.

Chief Operations Officer | Joined in 2014

Peter Tibigambwa is Chief Operations Officer at Justice Defenders, where he drives the integration of vision with practical interventions to ensure our work meets the needs of the defenceless while challenging systemic injustices. He previously led road safety reforms in Uganda with Safe Way Right Way, shaping legislation, convening the first African ministerial meeting on road safety, and rolling out an award-winning safe schools initiative across 130 schools. Earlier, his work in prison justice reform earned recognition from the Duke of Sussex as an innovator. A collaborative leader, Peter is committed to community empowerment and amplifying the voices of the defenceless.

USA Ambassador for Justice Defenders | Joined in 2024

Bruce Bryan is a nationally recognized Human Justice Advocate and the U.S. Ambassador for Justice Defenders, a global legal empowerment nonprofit dedicated to ensuring fair and equal access to justice. At just 23, Bruce was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in a New York State maximum-security prison for a crime he did not commit. Over the next 29 years, he transformed incarceration into a mission of liberation, education, and systemic change, becoming a powerful force for human dignity and criminal legal reform.

While incarcerated, Bruce earned an A.A. in Liberal Arts (Sullivan County Community College), a B.S. in Behavioral Science (Mercy College), and completed reentry and business training at Columbia Business School and The New School’s Institute for Transformational Mentoring. He added certifications in legal research, conflict resolution, and peer education. He co-founded the Civic-Duty Initiative, launched New York’s first prison-based gun buyback program, and championed dyslexia screening and education reform for incarcerated students. He also delivered a historic TEDx Talk at Sing-Sing Correctional Facility in 2020.

Bruce is also a member of Voices From Within, a nonprofit founded inside Sing Sing prison that supports reentry, crime prevention, and authentic criminal legal reform. Through multimedia projects like Letters from Sing Sing and CHOICES youth workshops, the group amplifies unheard voices and drives lasting change, work that reflects Bruce’s belief that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution.

His relentless commitment to justice inspired a broad clemency campaign supported by CUNY School of Law, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, and the Shawn Carter Foundation. In December 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul granted Bruce executive clemency, leading to his release in April 2023. He continues to pursue full exoneration.

Since returning home, Bruce has served as a Senior Client Advocate, partnering with legal teams to support individuals navigating the criminal legal system. His approach is client-centered, advocating alternatives to incarceration and providing resources for housing, employment, and mental health to advance decarceration efforts and long-term reintegration.

In 2024, Bruce founded Bryan Innovative Consulting, a strategic platform that builds partnerships, shapes advocacy campaigns, and elevates public awareness on wrongful convictions, reentry, and restorative justice. He serves in leadership and advisory positions at Friends and Families of the Wrongfully Convicted, 300 Letters, and Community Capacity Development.

An influential speaker and storyteller, Bruce has addressed audiences at the French Embassy, National Criminal Defense College, and UCLA, and at numerous global forums. He has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience and numerous panels and podcasts focused on justice reform and the human cost of incarceration.

Bruce Bryan’s life is a testament to resilience, transformation, and hope. He calls on communities to reimagine justice through dignity, equity, and redemption, proving that even decades of wrongful imprisonment cannot silence the pursuit of human justice.

Governing Board Chair | Joined our community in 2015

Prof. Luis Gabriel Franceschi LLB, LL.M, LL.D is the Assistant Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, serving an intergovernmental family of 56 countries and 2.7 billion people. In this role, he leads the Commonwealth’s work across political affairs, democracy, elections, public sector governance, peace, the rule of law, judicial transformation, human rights, and efforts to counter violence and extremism. He also serves as the Conference Secretary for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

A Kenyan advocate and highly respected legal scholar, Prof. Franceschi was the founding Dean of Strathmore University Law School in Nairobi. His expertise spans innovation in legal education, judicial reform, peace negotiations and comparative constitutional law. He has served as a legal adviser to governments, international organisations, and global institutions including regional courts, the United Nations and the World Bank, and co-drafted the UN Nairobi Declaration while serving as Legal Advisor to the President of the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme.

His achievements have been recognised internationally: he has been named a Chevalier of the Ordre National du Mérite by the President of Gabon, received the CB Madan Award for legal excellence (2019), and the Utumishi Bora Kenya National Award (2018). He has held visiting scholar positions at the University of Oxford and UC Berkeley School of Law. His publications and thought leadership continue to shape conversations on governance, justice and transformative public policy.

Beyond his professional commitments, Prof. Franceschi is an avid cyclist, runner, and mountaineer, having summited Mt Kenya’s Point Lenana five times, Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru Peak, and completed the Rwenzori Mountains circuit. He is currently based in London, home of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Prof. Franceschi brings to the Board a deep commitment to justice, democratic governance, and institutional transformation, along with extensive global leadership experience and a lifelong belief in positive, disruptive innovation.

Governing Board Treasurer | Joined our community in 2015

Janet Lintott is an experienced audit manager with more than a decade of expertise supporting charities with their financial governance, systems, and statutory reporting. A qualified accountant, she became a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 2014 and was awarded Fellowship (FCCA) in 2019.

Janet has spent her career working closely with a wide range of charitable organisations, developing a strong specialism in charity audit. She brings a deep understanding of the sector’s unique challenges, including governance, compliance, funding, risk and operational resilience. Her approach is grounded in partnership, enhancing systems and controls, improving transparency, and ensuring audits strengthen organisations rather than simply fulfil statutory requirements.

Over the past 10 years, she has built long-term, trust-based relationships with numerous charities and has recently broadened her contribution by serving as Treasurer for a local organisation. Her charity portfolio includes experience with CAYSH, The Garwood Foundation, Justice Defenders, ICVI, Mind, Age UK, and Emmaus.

Janet is committed to supporting charities to operate with clarity, accountability and financial confidence. She brings to the Board her extensive technical knowledge, frontline experience of the sector and a collaborative, solutions-focused approach developed during her many years at Bryden Johnson, where she has worked since 2012.

Governing Board | Joined our community in 2015

Philip Coulson is a senior partner in the Nairobi office of Bowmans and co-founded Coulson Harney LLP in 2008. He leads the firm’s Corporate and Commercial Department and is recognised as one of East Africa’s most accomplished commercial lawyers. His practice spans company and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, property development, finance, joint ventures, restructuring, tax, employment matters and land law. He also advises across the tourism, hospitality and conservation sectors.

A graduate of the University of Essex, Philip holds an LLB and a current practising certificate from the Law Society of England and Wales. He is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a member of the International Bar Association and the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association.

Philip has acted for a wide variety of leading organisations and investors across Kenya, East Africa and internationally. His experience includes advising on major private equity investments, cross-border acquisitions, public procurement, large-scale property development, significant financing transactions and complex corporate reorganisations. He has advised clients such as Naivas Limited, AfricInvest Fund III, Mawingu Networks, WPP Plc, The Nature Conservancy, Old Mutual, UAP Holdings, Dimension Data, Centum Investment Company and Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited on matters ranging from strategic investments to capital raising and sector-shaping transactions.

His work has been consistently recognised by global legal directories. Chambers and Partners ranks him as a Senior Statesman in Corporate and M&A, following eight consecutive years in Band 1. He is a Leading Partner in Real Estate and Construction in Legal 500 and is highly regarded by IFLR1000 in capital markets, restructuring, project finance and M&A. He has also been named Lawyer of the Year for corporate and M&A by Best Lawyers. His peers describe him as commercially astute, pragmatic, trusted by clients and adept at resolving complex transactional challenges.

Philip brings to the Board deep regional expertise, decades of high-level commercial and legal experience and a strong commitment to effective governance, transparency and sustainable development.

Governing Board | Joined our community in 2016

Xochi Birch OBE is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur based in San Francisco. A pioneering figure in early social media, she co-founded Bebo, one of the world’s first major social networking platforms, which became a cultural and technological landmark across the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand. Her work helped define how people build relationships and communities online.

Since 1999, Xochi has played a central role in creating and scaling multiple technology companies, combining strong technical skill with a distinctive product vision and a deep understanding of user behaviour. Her entrepreneurial career reflects a long-standing commitment to innovation, creative problem solving and building platforms that bring people together.

Alongside her work in technology, Xochi has contributed extensively to philanthropy, the arts and community-focused initiatives in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She is known for championing organisations that nurture creativity, social connection and civic engagement, including through her leadership in establishing The Battery in San Francisco as a hub for cultural and community life.

Xochi brings to the Board significant expertise in digital innovation, community-building and organisational leadership, along with a proven track record of supporting mission driven work that strengthens society.

Patron | Joined our community in 2012

The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Lord Rowan Williams is a theologian, scholar and former Archbishop of Canterbury. He served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, leading the Anglican Communion and representing the Church of England nationally and internationally. Prior to this he was Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Monmouth.

A distinguished academic, Lord Williams has held senior posts at Cambridge and Oxford, written extensively on theology, ethics and public life, and continues to contribute to national debates on social justice, faith and reconciliation. He was created a life peer in 2013 and sits in the House of Lords as a crossbench member.

Lord Williams brings deep moral leadership, intellectual insight and a lifelong commitment to promoting human dignity and strengthening communities.

Patron | Joined our community in 2015

The Rt Hon Lord Boateng is a British barrister, diplomat and former Cabinet minister. In 2002 he became the United Kingdom’s first Black Cabinet minister, serving as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He later served as British High Commissioner to South Africa. Earlier in his career he was Member of Parliament for Brent South for 18 years and played a leading role in social justice, youth policy, policing and community engagement.

A King’s Counsel with significant experience in public law and governance, Lord Boateng has long championed equality, international development and access to justice. He has held senior roles across charitable, cultural and community organisations, contributing to national and global conversations on fairness and human rights.

Lord Boateng brings extensive legal expertise, diplomatic experience and a deep commitment to empowering communities.

Patron | Joined our community in 2007

The Hon Dame Linda Dobbs DBE is a distinguished barrister and former High Court judge. Appointed to the High Court in 2004, she became the first non-white person to serve as a judge of the High Court of England and Wales. Before her appointment to the Bench she enjoyed a successful career as a barrister specialising in criminal law, fraud and regulatory matters.

Dame Linda has held leadership positions in numerous professional and public bodies, championing judicial diversity, legal education and high standards in justice. She has advised governments, international organisations and regulatory bodies, and continues to play an important role in strengthening accountability and fairness within legal systems.

She brings to her Patron role deep legal expertise, judicial experience and a strong track record of advancing equality and justice.

Patron | Joined our community in 2020

The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin is the Bishop of Dover and one of the most recognisable leaders in the Church of England. Before this appointment she served as Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, a role in which she supported MPs and staff and provided pastoral leadership at the heart of British public life. She was also Priest Vicar at Westminster Abbey and is currently Chaplain to the King.

Born in Jamaica, she has been a powerful advocate for inclusion, youth empowerment and community cohesion throughout her ministry. Her work has focused on supporting underrepresented communities, strengthening civic life and ensuring that the Church plays an active role in addressing contemporary social challenges.

Bishop Rose brings compassionate leadership, public service experience and a strong commitment to building hopeful and resilient communities.

Patron | Joined our community in 2015

Jon Snow is one of Britain’s most recognisable and respected broadcasters. For more than three decades he was the face of Channel 4 News, anchoring the programme from 1989 to 2021 and establishing a reputation for fearless journalism, humanity, and a distinctive presence at the heart of national life.

He joined ITN in 1976 and went on to report many of the defining events of the modern era, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, and conflicts and political upheavals across the Middle East and Africa. His reporting, marked by deep curiosity and moral clarity, has shaped public understanding of global events for nearly half a century.

Jon has received some of broadcasting’s highest honours, including a BAFTA Fellowship and multiple Royal Television Society awards. Beyond the newsroom, he has fronted acclaimed documentaries and hosted major national debates.

His public service extends beyond journalism. He has served on the boards of the National Gallery and Tate Gallery and chaired the New Horizon Youth Centre for more than thirty years, supporting homeless and vulnerable young people in London. His work reflects a lifelong commitment to amplifying unheard voices and strengthening civic life.