James A. Goldston

James A. Goldston

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James A. Goldston is the founding Executive Director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, an operational arm of the Soros foundations network that promotes rights-based law reform worldwide. The Justice Initiative pursues international litigation, advocacy and research to address a wide range of problems, including mass atrocity crimes, statelessness, barriers to free expression, excessive pre-trial detention, and corruption linked to exploitation of natural resources.

In 2007-08, Goldston served as Coordinator of Prosecutions and Senior Trial Attorney at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he oversaw litigation in all cases involving the Office of the Prosecutor, and helped prepare the arrest warrant application for President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan.

Previously, as Legal Director of the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center, Goldston spearheaded the development of ground-breaking civil rights cases before the European Court of Human Rights, United Nations treaty bodies, and domestic courts in 15 European countries. He was lead counsel in the decade-long litigation culminating in the landmark 2007 judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in DH v. Czech Republic, which for the first time found a nationwide systemic practice of discrimination in breach of the European Convention.

Goldston has also served as Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Director General for Human Rights of the Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, researcher for Human Rights Watch, and Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School.