ACS Presents: A Conversation with Alec Karakatsanis

Defenders, ACLU, ACS, NLG, and PILS are excited to welcome Alec Karakatsanis to discuss his career as a public defender, the work of his nonprofit, Civil Rights Corps, and movement lawyering broadly. 

Alec Karakatsanis is the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps. Before founding Civil Rights Corps, Alec was a civil rights lawyer and public defender with the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia; a federal public defender in Alabama, representing impoverished people accused of federal crimes; and co-founder of the non-profit organization Equal Justice Under Law. Alec was awarded the 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Public Justice for his role in designing and bringing constitutional civil rights cases to challenge various aspects of the punishment bureaucracy across the United States and the 2016 Stephen B. Bright Award for contributions to indigent defense in the South by Gideon’s Promise. Alec’s work at Civil Rights Corps challenging the money bail system in California was honored with the 2018 Champion of Public Defense Award by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Alec’s writing has been published in multiple law reviews, the New York Times, and the Guardian. Most recently, he is the author of the book Usual Cruelty.