Maya Harris ’92, a statewide civil rights leader, was recently appointed executive director of the ACLU of Northern California. In 2003, Harris joined the ACLU-NC as director of its Racial Justice Project. Two years later she became the associate director of the organization, where she developed new campaigns in the areas of racial justice, police practices, and the death penalty. Harris, the first African-American to direct the ACLU-NC, is a prolific author whose works include “Community-Centered Policing: A Force for Change” and “Organized for Change: The Activist’s Guide to Police Reform.” She is also a contributing author to “Covenant with Black America.”
Previously, Harris served as dean of Lincoln Law School of San Jose, as an adjunct law professor at several Bay Area law schools, and worked in civil litigation at the San Francisco law firm of Jackson Tufts Cole & Black, LLP. She has been awarded the Junius W. Williams Young Lawyer of the Year Award from the National Bar Association and was named one of the “Top 20 Under 40” lawyers by the Daily Journal.