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Leonardo A. Crippa serves as a Senior Attorney at the Indian Law Resource Center in Washington, D.C., with over two decades of litigation and policy advocacy experience, specializes in legal issues arising at the intersection of environmental and social governance (ESG) and the rights of Indigenous peoples. At the Indian Law Resource Center, Crippa has engaged in the development of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States in 2016. He is also the Director of the Center’s Indigenous Land Initiative and leads the Center’s policy advocacy work to improve international financial institutions’ environmental and social safeguard policies. He is the lead attorney in all cases before the bodies of the Inter-American Human Rights System.
In Argentina, Crippa did private law practice and founded the Human Rights Commission of the Jujuy Province’s Bar Association. In Costa Rica, he served as Staff Attorney at the Center for Justice and International Law for the Guatemala and Panama case-docket. Crippa served as external advisor at the International Finance Corporation to help develop the Guide to Human Rights Impact Assessment and Management, and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism. He won prestigious international moot court competitions and contests of papers in both English and Spanish, received honors and awards for academic achievements, and authored several book chapters and law review articles on international law, multilateral development banks, and the rights of Indigenous peoples.
He holds law (J.D. equivalent) and notary degrees from Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, Argentina, and a LL.M. degree from American University.