The Team

Attorneys

GAVRIEL MAIRONE

Founder of MM~LAW LLC, a law firm dedicated to advancing private human rights law by representation of victims of international terrorism, crimes against humanity, and genocide in civil lawsuits to force accountability upon the financiers and aiders and abettors of the perpetrators of such crimes. Mairone has created a counterterrorism research group to support such litigation that conducts legal operational research on international money laundering and finance of jihadi terrorist organizations in Arabic, Farsi, English, French, German, Kurdish, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Hebrew. He has over 35 years of legal experience specializing in international taxation and business planning and specializing over the last two decades in international human rights and humanitarian law, counterterrorism, transnational, and tort law.

Mairone serves on the International Human Rights Committee of the American Bar Association and the Subcommittees on Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility.  From 2012-2018, he volunteered as an ECOSOC delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He is also a member the American Association for Justice, the American Society of International Law, and the International Legal Team of the Kurdish Regional Government Group for the Recognition of the Kurdish Genocide, in Washington D.C. and London.

Admitted to practice: Illinois, Florida, New York and District of Columbia. 

Education: LL.M. Taxation, New York University Graduate School of Law; Juris Doctor Summa Cum Laude, Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, B.A. Philosophy, Hebrew University and Spertus College of Judaica. Mairone is an expert in international money laundering and terrorist financing and a pioneer in the development of legal remedies available to victims of violations of international human rights law. 

Awards and Publications:

  • Top 25 Mass Tort Lawyers – The National Trial Lawyers

  • Top 100 Trial Lawyers – The National Trial Lawyers

  • Trial Lawyer of the Year (2016) by Public Justice

  • Universal Jurisdiction in Civil Cases: The Netherlands Joins the United States in Granting Victims a Forum, Justice, No. 51, Fall 2012

  • A Grotian Moment: Corporations Are Required to Respect Human Rights, Justice, No. 54, Summer 2014

ADORA SAUER

Attorney, has over 20 years trial experience.  Ms. Sauer specializes in complex civil litigation advancing the rights and seeking compensation for survivors of international terrorism and human rights violations.  

In particular, she is proud to have served as co-lead counsel in Christie, et. al  v. Iran, et. al, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that held the Islamic Republic of Iran responsible for the Khobar Towers bombing, resulting in a judgment for survivors of compensatory and punitive damages as well as prejudgment interest in the amount of $879,120,000.

Adora was elected to co-chair the Antiterrorism Litigation Group of the  American Association for Justice (AAJ), which is the preeminent organization for plaintiffs’ trial lawyers in the United States.  This group assists attorneys effectively utilize the justice system for accountability for international terrorism, and improved protection of Americans at home and abroad. 

Prior to joining MM~LAW, Adora served as Assistant State’s Attorney in Chicago, Illinois for 3 years, and thereafter in private practice specializing in criminal and civil litigation. 

From 2011 to 2017, Adora served as General Counsel and Chief Operations Officer of Spatz Holdings, LLC, a company she co-founded dedicated to helping develop new businesses which provide a legacy benefit for military veterans, the environment, the practice of medicine, and philanthropy.  Among the companies founded by Spatz Holding is Enabled Enterprises, LLC, (www.enabled.vet).  Enabled Enterprises creates employment and income opportunities supporting veteran independent businesses with veteran oriented products and services.  The company is a majority-owned veteran company. 

Admitted to practice: Illinois.

Education: J.D., Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law; B.A. Emory University.

Languages: English.

Philanthropic Affiliations:

  • Board of Directors, Children of Heroes Foundation, 2004 – present

    • Foundation dedicated to supporting children who lost military parents.

  • Board of Directors, Spatz Foundation, 2004 – present

    • Foundation contributes to organizations dedicated to improving peoples’ lives

Bena N. Ochs

Of Counsel, specializes in human rights and counterterrorism litigation. Prior to joining MM~LAW, Bena served as an in-house attorney at AIG; Countrywide Insurance and Empire/Allcity Insurance as well practicing litigation at other general liability law firms.

Admitted to practice: New Jersey and New York, New York’s Southern and Eastern Districts.

Education: J.D. Brooklyn Law School; B.A. Queens College of the City of New York.

Languages: English, Hebrew. 

Deborah R. Srour

Special Counsel, specializes in representation of major international banks compliance and implementation of fraud/money laundering/terror financing prevention programs. Her areas of expertise include money laundering prevention, terror financing and bank fraud, international commercial agreements, cross-border transactions, and commercial law. Srour is a visiting professor at the University of Sao Paulo Law School-International Law Graduate Course in comparative law and litigation in the US. She also teaches courses in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and is a speaker on Corporate and Banking Compliance at the Practicing Law Institute in New York. Srour has written extensively about money laundering, bank fraud, the Patriot Act, and the Sarbanes-Oxely Act. She is a frequent legal commentator on Brazilian, French and Spanish Bloomberg television. Admitted to practice in Brazil, New York. Education: Master's Degree (lato sensu) from the University of Sao Paulo in International Law and a LL.B from the University of Sao Paulo Law School. Languages: English, French, Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish.

Dr. Jason McCue

Special UK Counsel, is internationally recognized as a leading expert in human rights, counterterrorism, conflict resolution, transitional justice international criminal law and victim class action litigation. McCue was awarded U.K. Law Society's Solicitor of the Year Award 2009-2010 for, among other things, his ground-breaking work in civil litigation against terrorist organizations and the successful litigation against leaders of the Real IRA on behalf of victims of the Omagh bombing. Dr. McCue also heads the Libyan United Kingdom Reconciliation Group (supported by HMG Foreign & Commonwealth Office), is Ambassador for Femmes Africa Solidarité, is Founder and Director of the GREAT Foundation (NGO fostering gender equality globally), and is Chief Advisor to Crisis Action (NGO which aims to help avert conflicts, prevent human rights abuses and ensure governments fulfill their obligations to protect civilians). He has acted as political, legal and foreign affairs adviser to numerous heads of state, governments, opposition groups, international bodies (UN and AU) and companies. Among other roles, he has acted as Presidential Envoy for Somaliland; as the appointed facilitator to the joint UN/AU Darfur Peace Process; as an adviser on transitional justice to the Transitional Government of Libya; as head of the Libya-UK Victims Reconciliation Group (supported by the U.K. FCO); as lead adviser to the Government of Somaliland on the development of the Berbera Port/Berbera Corridor; Advisor to leading stakeholders in the South Sudan peace process; Representative/delegate of several countries at the United Nations General Assembly; General Counsel to numerous campaigns including Omagh Bomb Campaign, Free Belarus, Libyan Semtex Victims, and Justice for Rohingya Minority; and as an adviser to numerous African, Asian, Middle East and EU Governments on human rights, asset recovery, counter-terrorism and anti-piracy.

Education: Doctor of Laws LL.D., honoris causa, University of Chester, England, for his work on counterterrorism, human rights, and conflict resolution around the globe; LS.F The College of Law SFE, Chancery Lane, London; LL.B., honors, Queen Mary's College, London University.

Admitted to practice: Solicitor, England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland. 

Professor Rizgar Mohammed Kadir

Professor Kadir teaches Criminal Law at Salahuddin University – Erbil, Kurdish Region of the Republic of Iraq. He earned a Ph.D. in public law in 2003 and was promoted to full professorship in 2011. His educational biography includes the Arabic Days Training Course on International Humanitarian Law in 2004, a Short Course in Human Rights Law at The University of Nottingham, School of Law – Human Rights Centre in 2005, an External Course at Paris Sorbonne University, Abu Dhabi in 2010 and an Advanced Seminar in IHL for Lecturers and Researchers, ICRC and Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, 2019. He has published more than 30 research papers in Kurdish, Arabic and English worldwide.

Publications:

Yael Vias Gvirsman

Of Counsel, has 20 years experience specializing in international criminal law, international human rights and international humanitarian law. Prior to joining MM~LAW, Ms. Vias Gvirsman worked as an Attorney in four different International Criminal Courts and Tribunals and mainly in litigation at the International Criminal Court based in The Hague. In 2014, she founded the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic at the Harry Radzyner Law School, Reichman University. Between 2008-2011, she was a researcher on mass atrocities and the effectiveness of international adjudication at the Law Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, She served as a prosecutor at the Department of International Affairs at the Israeli State Attorney Office, worked as an Eligibility and Legal Officer at UNHCR and is a member of the Israel Bar Association since 2006.  She completed her legal traineeship at the International Law Department at the Legal Advisor’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an internship a in New York at the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at the UN Secretariat in 2004.

Ms. Vias Gvirsman is a Lecturer in International Human Rights, International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, Transitional Justice, Business and Human Rights at Reichman University. She regularly participates as Guest Lecturer at international conferences and conducts workshops training judges, magistrates and prosecutors on international criminal law, international humanitarian law, human trafficking, etc. She is a member of the International Law Association (ILA) and a Member of the Committee on Complementarity. On October 7, she was with her family in Tel aviv and immediately after that provided pro bono, international legal representation for victims of October 7 atrocities. She designed a unique Strategic Litigation for Victims (survivors, murdered, hostages and their families) of October 7 atrocities. To this end, she founded October 7 Justice Without Borders (LtD) registered under Israel Law, available at october7justice.org/eng and partnering with MM~law.

Education: Maîtrise 'Droit des Affaires', Université de Robert Schuman (Strasbourg, France), DESS (Masters 2) in International, European and Diplomatic Careers (with honours) (Université d'Auvergne I, Clermont-Ferrand): Licence-ERASMUS-International Public Law, International Criminal Law, International Human Rights (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands- with honours).

Languages: English, French and Hebrew.

Publications:

Philanthropic Affiliations:

  • Board of Directors, Executive Secretary and co-Founder, ALMA- Association for the Promotion of International Humanitarian Law, since 2010.