Alec Karakatsanis (born November 7, 1983) is an American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

lawyer. He is the co-founder of

Equal Justice Under Law Equal justice under law is a phrase engraved on the West Pediment, above the front entrance of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington D.C. It is also a societal ideal that has influenced the American legal system. The phrase w ...

. Karakatsanis' legal work has targeted the American money bail system. He also opposes

copaganda Copaganda (a portmanteau of '' cop'' and ''propaganda)'' is propaganda efforts to shape public opinion about police or counter criticism of police and anti-police sentiment. The term is mostly used in the United States, though also in other c ...

, publishing a book on the topic in 2025. In 2016, Karakatsanis was awarded the Stephen B. Bright Award by

Gideon's Promise Gideon's Promise, named after the landmark case '' Gideon v. Wainright'' and formerly the Southern Public Defender Training Center, is a non-profit organization founded in 2007 with a fellowship from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. The o ...

and the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award by Public Justice.

Education and career

Karakatsanis graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 2005 with a degree in Ethics, Politics, & Economics. He enrolled immediately at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, where he was a Supreme Court Chair of the ''Harvard Law Review'', and graduated with a J.D. in 2008. After law school, Karakatsanis worked as a

federal public defender In the United States, federal Public defender (United States), public defender organizations are entities in the Federal government of the United States, United States Federal Government, and their staffs are federal employees. Federal public defe ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

and then in the Special Litigation Division of the

Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia The Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia provides legal defense to individuals on a court-appointed basis for criminal (at the trial and appellate levels) and delinquency cases indigent adult and juvenile defendants/ respond ...

for several years. Karakatsanis founded

with Harvard Law School classmate Phil Telfeyan in 2014, but later split to found Civil Rights Corps in 2016. Numerous U.S. media outlets have featured Karakatsanis' work, including ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'',

The Marshall Project The Marshall Project is an American nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. The organization's mission is to impact the system through journalism, and states that its goal is to create and sustain a sense of nation ...

, and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. In 2016, Karakatsanis challenged the use of money bail in

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, and was estimated to be 5,009,302 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, most populous cou ...

as lead attorney of Civil Rights Corps, in a federal lawsuit supported by the

Harris County Sheriff's Office The Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is a local law enforcement agency serving the over four million citizens of Harris County, Texas, United States. It is headquartered on the first and second floors in the 1200 Baker Street Jail in Downt ...

. A year earlier, in July 2016, Civil Rights Corps and ArchCity Defenders received a landmark settlement when the city of Jennings, Missouri agreed to pay $4.7 million to 2,000 people incarcerated in its jail for inability to pay

traffic tickets A traffic ticket is a notice issued by a law enforcement official to a Driving, motorist or other road user, indicating that the user has violated Traffic, traffic laws. Traffic tickets generally come in two forms, citing a moving violation, suc ...

and other minor fees. In 2025, he has published a book "Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News" which breaks down all the ways that our news ecosystem is polluted with pro-police PR.

Selected publications

* * * * * * *

Awards

* 2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year (Public Justice) * 2016 Stephen B. Bright Award (Gideon's Promise) * 2016 Emerging Leader Award (Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karakatsanis, Alec 21st-century American lawyers American civil rights lawyers Public defenders American prison reformers Lawyers from Pittsburgh Yale College alumni Harvard Law School alumni 1983 births Living people