Aigerim’s interest in joining the IHRC stems from her experience moving to the United States from Kazakhstan when she was 10 years old, and from learning about human rights crises first-hand from two of her teachers who both sought asylum in the U.S. While attending Barnard for college, Aigerim participated in Model U.N., and spent her junior year abroad at the University of Oxford studying economics. She went on to receive her MPhil in Sociology and Demography from Oxford.
After Oxford, Aigerim worked as a litigation and antitrust paralegal at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in Washington, D.C., where she also assisted the Public International Law & Policy Group (PLIPG) project with researching and drafting a memorandum on the Iraqi High Tribunal and the Yemeni Crisis. This experience bolstered her decision to pursue a J.D., and inspired her to work in human rights in future.
Since starting at USC Gould, Aigerim has been involved with the Gold Honors Scholars Program, the Women’s Law Association, Phi Alpha Delta, and the International Law and Relations Organization. She spent her 1L summer as a volunteer intern with the International Section of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. During her 2L summer, Aigerim was a summer associate at Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider in Washington D.C.
“As someone who grew up in Washington, DC, and as someone whose family moved from Kazakhstan to the United States when she was ten years old, I have [always] been attuned to international issues.”