Lauren Jones, Esq.

About The Lecturer

Lauren Jones is the Legal & Policy Director of the National Center for Access to Justice, a non-profit based in Fordham University School of Law that uses research, data, and analysis to expose how the civil and legal criminal systems fail to achieve equal justice and advocate for change. In that role, Lauren helps to guide all of NCAJ’s activities, including its work partnering with communities to support adoption of best policies for access to justice in states across the country. She also co-teaches the Access to Justice Seminar at Fordham Law School.

Before joining NCAJ, Lauren was the Program Manager of the Greater Justice New York Project at the Vera Institute of Justice, where her work spanned all areas of criminal legal reform, from pretrial justice to parole. During her time at the Vera Institute, Lauren designed what has become Manhattan Justice Opportunities, an alternative to incarceration program that seeks to provide stability in people's lives instead of punishment. Lauren was the Civil Rights National Counsel at the Anti-Defamation League, where she drove its work on a wide range of issues, from voting rights to education equity, immigration reform to women’s rights. For her work there, she received the Milton A. Senn Award.

Lauren began her legal career at the Center for Family Representation, where she defended parents in child welfare and parental rights termination cases. Before law school, she worked at the Brennan Center for Justice, where her work was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, The Daily News, The Huffington Post, and more. A graduate of NYU and NYU School of Law, Lauren received the Anne Petluck Poses Memorial Prize for excellence in clinical work.