Allison Perlin L’20

Allison Perlin advocates for human rights on behalf of vulnerable communities. Prior to law school, she served as the Theodore W. Zillman Fellow at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court in 2015. From 2015 to 2017, Allison ensured accountability for genocide committed by governments by working at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. There, she focused on addressing violent crimes disproportionately perpetrated based on religion, ethnicity, and gender.

Originally from Kildeer, Illinois, Allison received her B.A. with Highest Honors from the University of Wisconsin. She created and piloted the International Human Rights major while also majoring in Political Science and minoring in Modern Dance. Her honors thesis analyzed peacebuilding after genocide. While in Wisconsin, Allison organized mental health advocacy in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the University Health System focused on the interaction between chronic mental illness and incarceration. While studying at the University of Cape Town, Allison’s field work included advising refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa on their rights.

At Penn Law, Allison serves as Director of the International Human Rights Advocates (IHRA), Litigation Manager for the Criminal Records Expungement Project (C-REP), and National Next Generation Leader of the American Constitution Society. She is also an Articles Editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law. Allison currently serves as a research assistant for Professor Ayodele Gansallo and Judith Bernstein-Baker’s book, Understanding Immigration Law and Practice. In her 2L summer, Allison worked with individuals seeking asylum after fleeing repressive states, pursued impact litigation on the base of systemic mistreatment of detained migrants with chronic health disabilities, and assisted plaintiffs in 28 U.S.C. § 1350 cases holding war crime perpetrators civilly liable for violations of the ‘laws of nations’. As a student legal representative in the Transnational Legal Clinic, Allison advocated on behalf of clients in asylum and immigration proceedings. During her 1L year she served as a Perry World House Graduate Associate. During her 1L summer, Allison worked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York as a Leo Model Fellow focusing on criminal litigation. She is dedicated to using her law degree and field experience to continue addressing injustices in the United States and globally.