Donna Wright ’92, USAID Regional Democracy Advisor for Central Asia, addressed law students

USAID Regional Democracy Advisor for Central Asia Donna Wright, who graduated from MCSOL in 1992, shared with students her experiences building democracies and promoting the rule of law.  Wright, who after practicing 10 years as a civil defense litigator at McNamara & Bailey, took a leave of absence and volunteered with the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA-CEELI), a pro bono program that sends American lawyers abroad for one year to work with the legal profession in emerging democracies.  Her year-long sabbatical has turned into a new career in international development, and her task is all-consuming with important global ramifications. 

“I feel like I’m making a difference in the world,” she says. “I’m planting seeds of democracy.”

Wright currently lives in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the largest of the five Central Asian republics, where the per person income is only $1,200 a year.  She travels extensively throughout Central Asia, actively promoting judicial reform, legal reform, anti-trafficking in persons, and legal education reform.

Wright’s lecture is part of Mississippi College’s International Law Speaker Series, created by Professor Gregory Bowman to provide a platform for international law and human rights issues.