Elisa Costadura

Elisa Costadura is a Staff Attorney with IRAP Europe based in the Berlin office. In her
position, Elisa is responsible for individual representation of refugees in their family
reunification processes to Germany, as well as for litigation and advocacy in family
reunification cases.

Prior to joining IRAP, Elisa worked in a research project on the various legal problems
refugees face when obliged to provide passports and identity papers. In her clerkship
she worked inter alia with a defense attorney and in the NS-documentation center
Cologne. In her position as research fellow at the International Institute on Peace and
Security Law Cologne she gained expertise in the field of international law, especially in
international criminal law and transitional justice.

Elisa holds a Second State Law Exam from the Higher Regional Court of Cologne and a
First State Law Exam from the University of Cologne. She built and led for many years
the legal assistance team of the Refugee Law Clinic Cologne e.V.. She is also co-founder
and co-host of the Podcast “Mal nach den Rechten schauen” on continuities of the NS-
era in the german legal system. She is fluent in German, Italian, English, French and
Spanish.