Mitchell O’Brien

Mitchell O’Brien holds a law degree with honors and BA in journalism from Griffith University. Prior to commencing his studies at Duke University he acted as Rapporteur for a Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative sponsored Fact Finding Mission that traveled to Fiji in the wake of the May 2000 coup. Mitchell was responsible for coordinating the delegation and drafting subsequent reports that were used to advocate for a return to democracy in Fiji. Simultaneously he worked as a litigation lawyer for Blake Dawson Waldron specializing in freedom of speech law and commissions of inquiry. Prior to this he worked in South Asian and Africa as a human rights lawyer for an international human rights organization. He is interested in civil and political rights, democracy and constitutionalism. Mitchell is currently a consultant working with the World Bank and a subject matter expert on a project with International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, researching constitution-building processes, particularly in post-conflict countries. He is also a resident Research Fellow with the Democracy Coalition Project (DCP) in Washington, DC.