Celia Ouellette

Celia founded the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice in 2017. Prior to this, Celia was a human rights lawyer, dedicating her career to representing and fighting for those most disadvantaged by broken criminal justice systems. She experienced first-hand the staggering inequality and unfairness that exists and has made it her continuing mission to change it.

Celia started her legal career in 2006 working in private practice in the US. In 2015, she founded The Powell Project, an organization dedicated to empowering and equipping capital defense teams with the knowledge and skills to level the playing field in death penalty cases. Prior to that Celia was a Staff Attorney at the UK human rights charity Reprieve. She fused her experience of direct representation and engaging foreign governments to pioneer a new way of using trade and economic diplomacy to conduct advocacy in death penalty cases. The success of this model gave her the drive to set up RBIJ.

Celia’s experience, deep commitment for change and expert knowledge of justice systems has led her to be a regular key speaker at a number of conferences and events including Smart on Crime, Innovation Forum and Reuters’ Responsible Business Summit. She is an established media commentator and contributor, for both print and radio, including the BBC World Service ”Business Daily” Program, the Economist, the Financial Times, Conscious Company and Triple Pundit.

Celia was made a Meaningful Business Ambassador in March 2020, joining a global community of leaders working to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Her expertise means she is frequently called upon to advise foreign governments and agencies on human rights and justice issues.

Celia holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oxford. She is licensed to practice law in New York, California and several federal jurisdictions. Celia is also a qualified UK Solicitor. She speaks English, French and Spanish and is a dual British and US national.