Melvin Huang

Melvin is currently in the Legal Department at Targa Resources, a midstream company based in Houston. He was previously an associate in the Houston office of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, where he focused his practice on project development and finance matters and corporate transactions in the traditional and renewable energy industries. He was previously an associate in the Houston office of Vinson & Elkins LLP, where he counseled clients on a variety of finance and transactional matters in the energy industry, including mergers and acquisitions, commodity swaps, syndicated loans, joint ventures and upstream projects. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Melvin also previously served as the China Program Director for Justice Ventures International, a Christian NGO focused on securing freedom, justice and restoration for the poor and oppressed in Beijing. Melvin received his JD, cum laude, from The University of Texas School of Law and his BA in history from Yale University.

How has your experience with the Rapoport Center impacted you?

"It helped open my eyes to the real need of those who are unaware or unable to exercise their rights, and also to the real impact that lawyers can have on the lives of those in less privileged positions. My Rapoport Center experience also motivated me to take Professor Dulitzky's human rights clinic, which sent me to Ghana for investigative legal work. That experience was probably the highlight of my law school and helped forge a heart for international public interest work (hence my willingness to go to Beijing for JVI as explained above)."

Read more about Melvin's experience as a Rapoport Human Rights Scholar and about his clinic project in Ghana in our 2009-2010 Annual Review.