Brad Adams is an American lawyer and the founder and executive director at Climate Rights International. Prior to that, he was the executive director of the Asia Division of

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

from 2002–2022. Adams established what would become the East Bay Community Law Center, where he worked as a legal aid attorney.

Early life and education

Adams was an All- CIF baseball and basketball player in high school at Montclair Prep in Van Nuys, California. He was CIF basketball Player of the Year in 1977. Adams later played basketball professionally for London Docklands. Adams has a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in European Studies from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and a bachelor of arts in Economics from

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

, where he played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Career

Adams spent five years in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

as the senior lawyer for the Cambodian field office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and as legal advisor to the Cambodian parliament’s human rights committee. Then, Adams was the executive director of the Asia Division of

from 2002–2022, overseeing investigations, advocacy and media work in twenty countries. Adams has worked on issues including the protection of civil society, human rights defenders, and environmental activists; freedom of expression, association, assembly, and information; media freedom; political prisoners; women’s rights; children’s rights; land rights; labor rights; refugees and migrants; international justice; and armed conflict. Adams founded Climate Rights International, where he is executive director. Adams founded the Berkeley Community Law Center (now the East Bay Community Law Center), where he worked as a legal aid lawyer, focusing on housing, homelessness, and public benefits. He received a grant from the Berkeley Law Foundation to start the law center. He occasionally teaches

international human rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley, School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

References

American human rights activists Human Rights Watch people Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) UC Berkeley School of Law alumni American expatriates in Cambodia {{US-activist-stub