Education: 2009: J.D., The University of Michigan Law School; 2002: B.A., Pomona College.

Career in Brief: 2019–present: Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF); 2017–2019: The Lawyering Project, Director and Senior Counsel; 2011–2017: Center for Reproductive Rights, Staff Attorney; 2009–2011: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Associate.

Organization’s Mission: TLDEF’s mission is to end discrimination and achieve equality for transgender people, particularly those in the most vulnerable communities. Our strategies include pathbreaking transgender rights litigation and amicus briefs regarding the key issues of employment, health care, education, and public accommodations. We also engage in public education on transgender rights.

Our Name Change Project provides pro bono legal name change services to community members through partnerships with law firms and corporate law departments.

What attracted you to this organization? Transgender and non-binary people face significant barriers to living life as their authentic selves and to real equality. Due to discrimination and violence, transgender peoples’ very lives are constantly at risk. These barriers to equality are imposed or permitted by law and, in part because the community is so marginalized, legal resources for breaking them down are scarce. We are trying to help fill the need for those resources and end the suffering in the community.

Because the barriers that we are challenging are based on outmoded stereotypes and notions of gender, our work also undermines these stereotypes as the basis for any law, which has benefits that extend to everyone. I am attracted to work that is both urgently needed and far-reaching in effect.

I took the position of Legal Director at TLDEF because it presented the opportunity to do this work under the leadership of a dynamic transgender activist, whose vision entails a multi-pronged approach to full legal and lived equality for transgender people, with a focus on the most vulnerable. It is exciting to work at a trans-led organization that lives its values and is growing and taking on new projects.

What is your typical day like? No two days are the same. I work with pro bono and organizational partners on impact litigation, alternative dispute resolution, and policy advocacy. I supervise a team of attorneys, currently all of whom are transgender, undertaking pioneering legal work. I also work closely with colleagues on public education initiatives to raise awareness about transgender issues.

This means that on any given day I might be writing a brief, meeting with elected officials and policymakers, negotiating with opposing counsel, arguing in court, teaching a CLE course, listening to a trans advocate, or doing any of a hundred other things.

How have current societal crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and recent civil unrest highlighting racial injustice and inequality, impacted your work? Both COVID-19 and the recent civil unrest have surfaced what we have always seen in our communities — Black and Brown people and poor people are hurt the most when times get tough. That is why TLDEF’s work focuses on the most marginalized and vulnerable members of the communities we serve.

Our legal work is guided by the input of grassroots trans organizations, most of which are led by Black and Brown people. These organizations, in effect, set our priorities. We also provide free legal services through our Name Change Project, which is by far the largest single piece of our work, as well as aim to uplift the voices of Black and Brown trans and non-binary people through our public education work.

What is unique about working for a non-profit compared to other types of employers? For better or worse, people working at non-profits are very passionate about what they do!

Most non-profits also have very limited resources. We learn to do our best with what we have, and sometimes need to make difficult decisions about where to invest resources. We are immensely grateful for our many pro bono partners, who make it possible to serve exponentially more people than we ever could serve on our own.

In addition, accountability is very different at a non-profit, at least at one like ours, whose objective is law and policy change. All attorneys have to be accountable to their clients, but we also have to be accountable to an entire community. We take our cues from community leaders and wisely use the limited resources with which we have been entrusted on the community’s behalf.

What do you enjoy most about your role? What are the greatest challenges? I work with an amazing team. The community we serve is vibrant and highly diverse. Our partners and clients around the country keep me going. And I am always grateful to our pro bono partners who enable us to do our work.

The greatest challenge is deciding how to strategically invest our resources. Opponents of equality are constantly testing new ways to harm transgender people, and there is always more work that needs to be done than there are resources to do it.

What are some things that have surprised you since becoming involved with your organization? I am continually moved by the resilience of our clients and partners. The people I get to work with every day are often folks who have survived terrible discrimination. Rather than hide away to protect themselves, they put themselves out there to fight for their community.

What advice would you give to an attorney considering becoming involved in this type of work? Do it!

Who or what inspires you? I am inspired by the activists who have fought and continue to fight for trans and non-binary rights and who have lived out and proud against struggles that are hard to fathom — struggles that we are working to ensure future generations will not have to face. There are too many to list here.

In addition, I would single out some former colleagues of mine during the years I lived and worked as a human rights advocate in Honduras before law school, including Bertha Cáceres, may her memory be a blessing, and Donny Reyes, as people who particularly inspired me to undertake a career as a civil rights attorney.

Does your organization have a pro bono legal program? We could not do this work without our pro bono partners. We work closely with pro bono counsel on everything we do, from our Name Change Project to our impact litigation work. In any given year, hundreds of attorneys from over 50 law firms and corporate legal departments participate in our work. If you would like to get involved, send an email to [email protected] and a team member will be in touch with you.