Sofia O'Connor

Sofia is a Senior Attorney and Director of the Ocean Program at ELI. Her areas of focus include ocean governance, marine spatial planning, marine protected areas, small-scale fisheries, fisheries co-management, marine tenure, marine litter, coastal resilience, and climate change adaptation.

Over the years, Sofia has worked in the United States, Africa, Asia, the Pacific region, and Latin America and the Caribbean. She has led projects, conducted research, prepared comparative legal analysis, and drafted guides, model law, and country-specific legislation. Sofia has extensive experience engaging in consultations with government officials and various stakeholders to identify needs, advise on international best practices, prepare legal and policy analysis, draft laws and regulations, and build capacity.

Prior to joining ELI, Sofia worked for several years at law firms in Washington, D.C., focusing on general litigation and civil rights law. Sofia holds a J.D. from Vermont Law School, where she received multiple academic excellence awards and served as a Dean's Fellow and Managing Editor of the Vermont Law Review. Sofia received a B.A. in Political Science (Honors Program) from SUNY Albany, graduating magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.