Laura Faer is the Senior Program Manager and Staff Attorney at the Edley Center on Law and Democracy. Before joining the Edley Center, Ms. Faer served as co-supervisor of the Bureau of Children’s Justice and as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section. In these roles, she litigated and investigated complex civil and constitutional rights and Administrative Procedure Act matters on behalf of the Attorney General. She received Attorney General awards for excellence in 2020, 2023, and 2024 for her work on teams that protected California voting rights, prepared the historic California Reparations Task Force report, and safeguarded the rights of LGBTQ students.
Ms. Faer also directed the U.S. Department of Education’s San Francisco Office for Civil Rights, overseeing civil rights compliance and enforcement across California. As an Adjunct Professor at UC Law San Francisco, Ms. Faer taught civil rights legal theory and practice.
Previously, she was Directing Attorney of the Children’s Rights Project, Public Counsel’s largest program, which engaged more than 700 volunteers to advocate for over 28,000 children and youth each year. And she founded and directed the Statewide Education Rights Project. In these roles, Ms. Faer led Public Counsel’s sponsorship of groundbreaking legislation designed to improve outcomes for students of color, foster youth, and students with disabilities. In recognition of this work, she received the Children’s Advocacy Institute’s Legislative Advocate of the Year award in 2012.
She also successfully litigated systemic civil and constitutional rights cases, including to protect foster siblings unlawfully segregated from public schools and to preserve millions of dollars in funding for students with severe mental health disabilities. In 2011, Ms. Faer was named a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year for helping secure the landmark settlement in Casey A. v. Gundry, a class action alleging that youth detained at the nation’s largest probation camp complex were denied a constitutionally adequate education. Her representation of community-based organizations and advocacy for civil rights has earned her several additional honors, including the 2013 Next Generation Champion Award from Coleman Advocates for civil rights advocacy on behalf of San Francisco students.
Education
J.D., Columbia Law School (2003)
B.A., Syracuse University (1996)