Leila Hilal was a senior fellow for the International Security Program and the former director of the Middle East Task Force at New America. She focuses on Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and issues related to U.S. foreign policy, community-based change, constitution-making, and transitional justice in the broader Middle East and North Africa. Prior to joining New America Hilal served as Senior Policy Adviser to the Commissioner-General of the Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and as a legal adviser to Palestinian negotiators from 2002-2008. She has led numerous research missions on human rights and post-conflict scenario building and transitional justice in the Middle East, including for Chatham House, the International Center for Transitional Justice and the Euro-Med Human Rights Network for Human Rights. Hilal clerked for Justice Yvonne Mokgoro at the South African Constitutional Court in 2000. She received her J.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and her LL.M. from Harvard Law School.