About

Mission Statement

The Rule of Law Institute (ROLI) aims to defend constitutional democracy wherever it is threatened. ROLI promotes principles of separated and balanced powers among government authorities, judicial independence, free and open media, and individual rights consistent with international norms, through policy and legal analysis, private diplomacy, investigative & fact-finding delegations, and public education efforts. ROLI also promotes economic opportunity for all and universal access to basic needs including shelter, food, health care and education, taking particular interest in countries where the international community has inhibited these principles.

Who We Are

Ryan Allen Hancock is a civil rights lawyer in Philadelphia, PA. Ryan received his law degree from Rutgers School of Law in 2003. Since then, Ryan clerked in Camden County Superior Court, Criminal Division for the Honorable David G. Eynon. Currently, Ryan is Assistant Chief Counsel with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission the Commonwealth’s civil rights agency, Vice President of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Lawyers Guild, Co-Founder of the Rule of Law Institute and a Advisory Board Member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Journal of Law and Social Change. Ryan is a frequent commentator on discrimination, civil liberties, and the rule of law in Pakistan in local and national news media, law schools, bar associations and organizations, including but not limited to: the Center for Strategic and International Studies, United States Institute for Peace and Amnesty International. Ryan was part of an 8-member NLG delegation who released Defending Dictatorship: U.S. Foreign Policy and Pakistan’s Struggle for Democracy following a two- week fact-finding mission to Pakistan in January 2008.

Shahid Buttar leads the Bill of Rights Defense Committee as Executive Director.  He previously directed a national program to combat racial and religious profiling, and served on the senior staff of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS).  Prior to joining ACS,Shahid was a litigator in the Washington, DC office of Heller Ehrman, where his practice included representing the campaign finance reform community in an ultimately successful appeal before the D.C.Circuit, as well as organizing the first contemporary litigation seeking marriage equality for same-sex couples in the State of New York. In 2003, Shahid earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he served as Executive Editor of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and Lawrence Lessig’s Teaching Assistant for Constitutional Law. In addition to his legal work, Shahid also records and performs as a vocal artist and writes an independent political column at Huffington Post.

Devin Theriot-Orr is an immigration and human rights lawyer presently working at Gibbs Houston Pauw in Seattle, Washington. Devin graduated with high honors from the University of Washington School of Law in 2003. As a law student, Devin worked as a student clerk for the Honorable Ronald Gould in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Honorable Zulema Hinojos-Fall at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Following graduation, Devin entered private practice in Seattle representing clients in complex civil appellate litigation before the Ninth Circuit, the Washington State Court of Appeals and Washington State Supreme Court. Devin spent two years living and working abroad in South Asia. Devin reported as a freelance journalist for Free Speech Radio News and worked as a research fellow at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Following then-President Musharraf’s coup d’etat in November 2007, Devin served as the Director of the Rule of Law Project at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan, where he supported grassroots response to Musharraf’s actions and coordinated the 2007 National Lawyers Guild factfinding delegation. Devin is presently a cooperating attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and is member of the Riseup Collective.