September 2, 2025
WASHINGTON — Georgetown Law announced today that Agnieszka Fryszman, L’96, one of the nation’s preeminent human rights litigators and founder of the Human Rights practice at Cohen Milstein, has been appointed the 2025-2026 Robert F. Drinan, S.J, Chair in Human Rights.
“We are honored to welcome Agnieszka Fryszman back to Georgetown as this year’s Drinan Chair in Human Rights,” said Interim Dean Joshua C. Teitelbaum. “Agnieszka’s career is marked by both legal innovation and a tenacious commitment to amplifying the voices of survivors. Her work embodies Georgetown Law’s guiding principle that ‘law is but the means; justice is the end.’”
For more than two decades, Fryszman has been at the forefront of landmark litigation on behalf of survivors of grave human rights abuses. She has led cases against corporations, government contractors and other actors accused of complicity in forced labor, human trafficking, torture and other human rights violations.
Her groundbreaking victories include securing billions in compensation for Holocaust survivors from German and Austrian companies, and exposing Swiss banks’ role in laundering assets during the Nazi era. Most recently, Fryszman and her team at Cohen Milstein secured a landmark settlement from ExxonMobil for Indonesian villagers who alleged that soldiers retained to protect the company’s facilities in Aceh had tortured, raped or killed local residents.
Fryszman also filed one of the earliest civil suits under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and won the first successful U.S. judgment for men enslaved aboard fishing vessels, spotlighting abuses in the seafood supply chain. She has represented Nepali laborers trafficked onto U.S. military bases in Iraq, survivors of the Japanese military’s World War II-era sexual slavery system (“comfort women”) and former detainees seeking redress for abuse at Guantánamo Bay.
Her achievements have earned wide recognition, including the National Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Public Justice’s Trial Lawyer of the Year, Human Trafficking Advocate of the Year from the Human Trafficking Legal Center, recognition as a Lawdragon Legend and inclusion in Forbes’s “50 Over 50” list of changemakers improving the world.
Human Rights Institute Executive Director and 2019-2021 Drinan Chair Elisa Massimino expressed enthusiasm for Fryszman’s appointment. “Agnieszka is one of the most formidable human rights litigators of her generation. Her groundbreaking work has expanded the boundaries of accountability for corporations and governments alike, and her victories have delivered justice to survivors of some of the world’s gravest abuses. We are thrilled to welcome her to Georgetown this academic year. As our students prepare to enter the profession, I know Agnieszka will inspire them to pursue bold, creative strategies to uphold human dignity and the rule of law in the face of complex global challenges.”
As Drinan Chair, Fryszman will teach a course in the spring semester on human rights litigation in United States courts. She will also engage deeply with the Georgetown Law community by mentoring students and participating in the Human Rights Institute’s programs and events. She will deliver the annual Drinan Lecture on Human Rights on Thursday, November 13, 2025.
“I am excited to return to Georgetown Law where, as a night student, I was fortunate to take Father Drinan’s class,” said Fryszman. “He was a wonderful teacher and a great storyteller, and had an inspirational career fighting for human rights. Father Drinan became my faculty mentor, so it’s a huge honor to have the opportunity to carry on his legacy and help equip the next generation of lawyers to tackle the challenges ahead.”
The Drinan Chair was established in 2006 in honor of Professor Robert F. Drinan, S.J. Father Drinan was a professor at Georgetown Law for over 25 years, where he taught international human rights and constitutional law, among other topics. He was a priest, scholar, lawyer, politician, activist, ethicist and one of the nation’s leading advocates for international human rights. He dedicated his life to humanitarian causes and to improving the legal profession. The Human Rights Institute at Georgetown Law honors his legacy through its mission of being a premier training ground for future human rights lawyers and advocates.
Read Agnieszka Fryszman, L’96, Named Georgetown Law’s 2025-26 Drinan Chair in Human Rights.