In this capacity, Brandon serves on the legal teams of prisoners of conscience around the world, including Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, Iranian women’s rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, and Venezuelan democratic opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. He has successfully contributed to the release and resettlement in Canada of a number of former political prisoners.
Prior to joining the Centre, Brandon served in the office of then Liberal Leader and now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Justice and Human Rights Committee Vice-Chair Sean Casey. He has also contributed as a legal researcher and writer to a number of academic publications on human rights, constitutionalism, and technology law.
As an author, Brandon has sought to highlight the case and cause of human rights in general, and dissidents in particular. He has written for major publications including Canada’s national news-magazine Maclean’s, Policy Magazine, the Globe and Mail, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, and TIME, and is a past nominee of the Quebec Literary Awards and winner of the CBC Reader’s Choice Prize.
An advocate of inclusive leadership, Brandon has been recognized for empowering others to work together in common cause towards creative and constructive solutions. He is a recipient of the Harvard University Diplomacy Award and the TD Merit Award for Community Leadership, among others. In 2016, the World Economic Forum named him a “Global Shaper.”
Brandon is a graduate of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, and received his Masters of Law from UC Berkeley on a scholarship for excellence in Public Law.
