She/Her/Hers
Prior to co-founding PFJ, Emily fought for clients inside the LA County Public Defender, Santa Clara County Public Defender, and Bronx Defenders, and also served as one of the first attorneys fighting for release of life-sentenced people with the Stanford Three Strikes Project. She believes that everyone is entitled not just to equal justice, but to equal mercy.
Emily is a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, where she earned the Deborah Rhode Prize for her work in the public interest. After her first year as a public defender, she clerked for the Honorable Thelton Henderson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She then returned to the Stanford Three Strikes Project, where she was one of the first attorneys bringing post-reform petitions for relief on behalf of individuals sentenced to life under California's Three Strikes law. After publishing articles on alternatives to incarceration and anti-recidivism strategies in Slate and The Atlantic, Emily was honored as one of the American Bar Association's Top 40 Young Lawyers in 2017. Now, she is excited to be bringing a new model of service to communities across the country.
