Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, leads one of the country’s most important national civil rights organizations in the pursuit of equal justice for all.

Clarke formerly served as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, where she led broad civil rights enforcement on matters including criminal justice issues, education and housing discrimination, fair lending, barriers to reentry, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, gender inequality, disability rights, reproductive access and LGBT issues.

Clarke spent several years at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and she worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division.

She has written numerous articles and books including “Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black America’s New Leadership,” (co-edited with Dr. Manning Marable).  She received her A.B. from Harvard University and her J.D. from Columbia Law School

She is the recipient of the New York Law Journal’s 2015 Rising Stars, the 2012 Best Brief Award for the 2012 Supreme Court term from the National Association of Attorneys General, the 2012 Network Journal’s Top 40 Under 40, the 2011 National Bar Association’s Top 40 Under 40, and the 2010 Paul Robeson Distinguished Alumni Award from Columbia Law School.