Kristen Clarke

Kristen Clarke, president & executive director of the national Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, leads one of the countrys 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 the New York State Attorney General's Office, 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 Americas 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 provides commentary for Democracy Now, CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo News, TV One and other outlets.