Mytili Bala

As Democracy Counsel, Mytili will build on PANA's recent achievements by driving policy and legal campaigns to secure equal access and full civic participation among refugee and BAMEMSA communities.  She has over a decade of experience advancing human rights in post-war Sri Lanka, advising the Women's Action Network in victim-centered advocacy on enforced disappearances, minority rights, and war crimes accountability.  From 2015 to 2023, Mytili worked as a senior research attorney at the California Court of Appeal in San Diego.  She joined the court after human rights fellowships at the Centre for Human Rights & Development in Sri Lanka and the Center for Justice & Accountability in San Francisco.

In 2022, as president of the South Asian Bar Association (SABA) of San Diego, Mytili launched the Afghan Outreach Project to help resettled Afghan lawyers and judges find jobs and build connections.  This work gave her a sense of purpose, expanded her chosen family, and helped her better understand her family's journey from India.  The San Diego County Bar Association recognized Mytili's work with the 2023 Community Service Award.  Currently, she serves on SABA San Diego's board and on the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Southern District of California.  She received her law degree from Yale Law School and bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago.