Pamela Merchant, Esq.
Executive Director
Pamela Merchant is an attorney with twenty years experience in the conduct and management of complex state and federal litigation. Ms. Merchant spent eight years as a federal prosecutor with the U. S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, where she specialized in white collar prosecutions. More recently, she was Special Counsel to the California Attorney General where she coordinated the affirmative litigation filed by the State in connection with the California energy crisis. She has also been a civil prosecutor for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in addition to representing clients in private practice. Immediately prior to joining CJA, Ms. Merchant represented the City and County of San Francisco in energy and telecommunications matters.

Ms. Merchant also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the Northern California Community Loan Fund, and Continuum (which provides innovative services to low income individuals living with HIV/AIDS), and recently concluded a three year term on the Board of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom. She was the founding President of a Massachusetts non-profit which provides financial services to low income elderly individuals and a member of the Expert Review Panel for the City of San Francisco’s Department on the Status of Women, Violence Against Women Grant Program. Ms. Merchant was also for many years a member of the Board of Directors of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and served as President of that organization.

Ms. Merchant graduated with honors from Georgetown University and Boston College School of Law. She is admitted to practice in California and Massachusetts.

Chris McKenna
Development & Outreach Director
Chris McKenna came back to CJA in February 2006 to help build CJA’s individual giving and foundation portfolios, and to enhance CJA’s presence among our key constituencies including refugee groups, law firms, and other human rights NGOs.  From June 2004 to February 2006, he was the Executive Director of Tibet Justice Center, a committee of lawyers that provides support to the Tibetan people at the United Nations and other international fora, and expertise on autonomous arrangements between states and minority groups.  From December 2001 to June 2004, he was the Outreach Coordinator at CJA.  He has also been a grant and communications writer for the American Civil Liberties Union, Vision Youthz, WITNESS and other social justice nonprofits. Chris serves on the Board of Directors of Bay Area International Development Organizations (BAIDO) and the Tibetan Community Center of Northern California. He received his B.A. in 1999 from Columbia University in Middle-Eastern & Asian Languages & Cultures (MEALAC).

Almudena Bernabeu
International Attorney
Almudena Bernabeu began working with CJA in early 2002 and played a key role in putting together the case against Honduran perpetrator Col. Juan López Grijalba. As International Attorney, Almudena focuses primarily on the investigation and preparation of our Latin American cases. These cases include our Salvadoran cases Doe v Saravia, Romagoza et al v. Garcia and Vides Casanova, and Chavez v. Carranza and our Honduran case Reyes et al v. Juan Evangelista López Grijalba.

Almudena is also a prosecutor in Spain in the criminal case against former Guatemalan officials responsible for atrocities committed against civilians during the 1970s and 1980s. Almudena, along with Spanish law professor Manuel Olle, represents two Spanish citizens who were tortured in Guatemala during those years. The case was filed by the Rigoberta Menchu Foundation in December of 1999.

Almudena is an attorney from Spain who has been working in the fields of human rights and private international law for the past decade. From 1995-99 in Southern Spain, she worked in private practice and with two, UNHCR-coordinated non-governmental organizations on asylum and refugee cases with a focus on clients from North and Central Africa and the Balkans. She also conducted numerous trainings for asylum lawyers and published several articles on reforms to Spanish asylum and refugee law after the Schengen agreements. Throughout the 1990s, Almudena worked pro bono on asylum and human rights cases for Amnesty International-Spain. She also researched and investigated cases heard by the European Court for Human Rights. She has a particular interest in the work of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. She is a graduate of the Faculty of International Law, Universidad de Valencia, Spain.

Neshemah Beanez - Blackwell
Operations Coordinator
As the Operations Coordinator, Neshemah manages CJA’s financial, administrative, and human resource systems, as well as assisting in development and fundraising efforts. 

Neshemah joined CJA in October 2006 after returning from Argentina where she volunteered with a Buenos Aires based film group documenting recuperated enterprises, the Asociación Madres movement, and other Argentine social issues.   She brings to CJA both nonprofit and foundation experience, having worked for The California Endowment in their San Francisco office for many years.  Currently, she volunteers as a Liberian Refugee Family Mentor for the International Rescue Committee.  Neshemah received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley and her M.A. in the History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Moira Feeney ESQ.
Staff Attorney/Media Coordinator
Moira is currently working as the lead attorney in CJA's lawsuit against former Haitian death squad leader Toto Constant. She also continues to work on CJA's Haiti case Jean v. Dorélien. Moira serves as the primary media contact for all CJA's current cases.

Moira has been involved in human rights work related to Haiti since 1998. She has worked under the supervision of Haiti's leading human rights attorneys to prepare criminal and civil litigation against perpetrators of politically motivated rape. Previously, she coordinated election observation delegations to Haiti for the international human rights organization, Global Exchange. She also led and organized educational travel focused on issues of global justice to Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Chiapas, Mexico. She has a law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law and a B. A. in international relations from Brown University. She is fluent in Haitian Creole, French, and Spanish.

Elizabeth Chertoff
Development and Outreach Associate
Elizabeth is the most recent addition to CJA’s staff, joining CJA in September 2007.  She brings to CJA development experience from varying organizations; she recently worked in development at the Institute on Aging, and currently volunteers on committees for San Francisco-based organizations including the Women’s Community Clinic, Huckleberry Youth Programs and the Institute on Aging’s Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention. Her role at CJA involves the growth of the organization through individual giving and foundation support and through organizing outreach and public education activities around CJA’s human rights work. Elizabeth received her B.A. in Anthropology and Jewish Studies from Colorado College.

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