Eva Jefferson Paterson
Eva
Jefferson Paterson is the Executive Director, and a founder,
of the Equal Justice Society, a national organization
dedicated to changing the law through progressive legal
theory, public policy and practice. Prior to taking the
helm of the Equal Justice Society in 2003, Paterson worked
at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights for twenty-six
years, thirteen of them as Executive Director. Paterson
led the organization's work providing free legal services
to low-income individuals, litigating class action civil
rights cases, and advocating for social justice. At the
Lawyers' Committee, she was part of a broad coalition
that filed the groundbreaking anti-discrimination suit
against race and gender discrimination by the San Francisco
Fire Department. That lawsuit successfully desegregated
the department, winning new opportunities for women and
minority firefighters.
Paterson
co-founded and chaired the California Coalition for Civil
Rights for 18 years, and was a leading spokesperson in
the campaigns against Proposition 187 (anti-immigrant)
and Proposition 209 (anti-affirmative action) and numerous
other statewide campaigns against the death penalty, juvenile
incarceration and discrimination against lesbians and
gay men.
Following
her graduation from U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall School
of Law, she worked for the Legal Aid Society of Alameda
County and co-founded A Safe Place, a shelter for battered
women in Oakland, California. She served as Vice President
of the ACLU National Board for eight years, and chaired
the boards of Equal Rights Advocates and the San Francisco
Bar Association. Paterson has received more than 50 awards,
including the Fay Stender Award from the California Women
Lawyers, Woman of the Year from the Black Leadership Forum,
the Earl Warren Civil Liberties Award from the ACLU of
Northern California, and the Alumni Award of Merit from
Northwestern University where she received her B.A. in
political science and served as the first African American
president of student government.
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