Nicole C. Lee ’02

Lee grew up in North Buffalo and went to Buffalo Seminary and then UB as a history major with a women’s studies minor, before graduating from UB School of Law. Although interested in theater, she always wanted to work abroad, in international human rights. To accomplish that, she became a lawyer. She chose UB in the hope of becoming a mentee of Professor Makau Mutua, who was renowned in the field of international human rights law.

Her first-year summer internship was spent in Washington, D.C., in the deputy speaker’s office and with Arthur Eve’s office. For her second-year summer, she interned in South Africa, suing De Beers on a toxic tort. Her favorite classes were Public International Law and International Business Transactions. Her favorite professors were Bert and Amy Westbrook and Makau and Athena Mutua.

She began her third year without an offer from a firm. Irwin Stotzky, a visiting professor from Miami Law School, helped her find a job in Haiti. After graduation, she moved to Port-au-Prince, where she worked on military and paramilitary massacre cases. Rape and sexual assault were frequently used as a weapon of war against political activists. She spoke out against that heinous practice. Though she was doing work she loved, she missed life in the States. Her UB classmates thought she was crazy. After a coup in Haiti, her work was undone there and she returned to the States, where she counseled Congress on Haiti’s issues.

The prestigious TransAfrica organization appointed her as president in 2006, her proudest personal accomplishment. She led investigations and missions documenting violations of human rights and dignity of the world’s vulnerable populations. She testified before Congress and served as a resource to government officials and media members on international policy issues affecting Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and racial minorities worldwide.

After serving for nine years, she took a sabbatical to be with her children, but that interlude ended with the fatal shootings of Michael Brown and other people of color in Ferguson, Mo. She considered the days of civil unrest and protest as violations of global human rights by the police. She documented police violations and provided the information to Congress. The Department of Justice reinforced the report.

Soon after Ferguson, she taught a UB School of Law bridge class in Washington, D.C., to introduce and connect law students interested in human rights to the issues. Her advice to students? Don’t go with the flow! Follow your hopes and dreams. Don’t be bored!