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Leila Hilal is co-director of the New America Foundation Middle East Task Force, which covers in-depth analysis and commentary on the Middle East and North Africa.

From 2002 to 2007, Ms. Hilal served as a legal adviser to the Palestinian Negotiations Department, during which time she participated extensively in Track II proceedings and supported civil society initiatives on representational and land and property issues. She also advised the Palestinian Constitutional Committee during the drafting of the Basic Law. She acted as an external adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team as part of the Annapolis bi-lateral peace talks of 2008. Ms. Hilal was a Senior Policy Adviser to the Commissioner-General of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), where her portfolio included strategic field assessment missions. She was a Visiting Fellow and Instructor at the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford.

Ms. Hilal has consulted widely and published on conflict mediation policies in the Middle East, including for the Chatham House, International Development Research Center, International Center for Transitional Justice, Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, and the Euro-Med Human Rights Network.

Ms. Hilal obtained her J.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School and LL.M. from Harvard Law School.