Eva Paterson

Eva Paterson is the President, and a founder, of the Equal Justice Society (EJS), a national organization dedicated to changing the law through progressive legal theory, public policy and practice. Prior to taking the helm of EJS in 2003, Paterson worked at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights for 26 years, 13 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. Ms. 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 Law School, she worked for the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County and co-founded A Safe Place, a shelter for battered women in Oakland, California.