Sofia Murillo

Sofia Murillo is the Furgason Visiting Fellow in the Marine Policy & Law program at HRI.

Sofia was born in the United States to a Mexican family and raised in China and Germany. After earning her BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law) from University College Dublin in Ireland, Sofia interned at the Ecosystems Program of the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense. She subsequently joined Defensa Ambiental del Noroeste in Ensenada, Mexico, where she worked to protect the Gulf of California and the Pacific Central-American Coastal Ecosystems from LNG development, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, and ineffective marine park governance.

During her time at HRI, Sofia will be analyzing and comparing the legal frameworks of countries in the Gulf related to the creation of Marine Protected Areas for the preparation of a bilingual (Spanish and English) policy report for stakeholders.

When Sofia is not using the law for ocean protection, Sofia is out enjoying nature through scuba diving, hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing.

In the future, Sofia hopes to continue her education in international law of the sea and environmental law, pursue further scuba diving certifications and progress in her career as an international environmental lawyer dedicated to ocean protection.