Maxine Marcus and Kathleen Roberts founded Partners in Justice International (PJI) in 2020 to make access to justice for victims of atrocity crimes a reality in the countries where they live.
Ms. Marcus began partnering with national practitioners in their own jurisdictions in 2014, seeking specifically to meet their technical needs in investigation, preparation and prosecution of cases involving conflict-related sexual violence and other international crimes within their own countries’ courts. She and Dr. Roberts started collaborating the following year, providing practical and respectful support to local justice practitioners together.
In 2017, they started using the name “Transitional Justice Clinic” and in 2019 established Marcus & Roberts, LLP, a public interest law firm (with the Transitional Justice Clinic as its project).
Marcus and Roberts have partnered with local practitioners through case-based mentoring in Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya, Kosovo, the Philippines, South Korea, and Tunisia. This sustained investment in peer-to-peer capacity building in the justice sector demonstrated the broad applicability of the project and the critical need for it in each of these locations.
PJI began operations in 2020 and formally launched in 2021 at an event attended by friends and colleagues from around the world.
Partners in Justice International is a 501(c)3 non-profit tax-exempt corporation (Tax ID:85-1376659).