Kelli M. Evans, Associate Director

Kelli M. Evans has become the Associate Director of the ACLU of Northern California. Ms. Evans has spent her career working to promote civil rights and civil liberties, most recently as a federal court‐appointed Monitor of the Oakland Police Department where she oversaw the department's implementation of a court order requiring a host of reforms. The reforms included significant changes to the manner in which the department responds to and investigates police misconduct and use of force incidents, including officer‐involved shootings. As a civil rights attorney in private practice, Ms. Evans has litigated a variety of civil rights issues, including employment discrimination, fair housing, and public accommodations. She has testified before both the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding civil rights and civil liberties.

Ms. Evans formerly served as a senior trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she specialized in prison and jail conditions cases and in police misconduct cases involving racial profiling and excessive force, including use of deadly force. Ms. Evans was one of the attorneys who brought DOJ's first racial profiling case, United States v. State of New Jersey. This case resulted in a landmark consent decree that has served as a model for civil rights advocates, community groups, and law enforcement agencies across the nation working to combat racial profiling. While at the Department of Justice, Ms. Evans also served as a lead attorney in several cases involving unconstitutional conditions in state and local correctional agencies, resulting in significant reforms in both adult and juvenile correctional facilities.

Before joining the Civil Rights Division, Ms. Evans worked as an attorney for the ACLU, where she specialized in criminal justice issues, race discrimination, and LGBT rights. Prior to joining the ACLU, Ms. Evans served as a Ruth Chance Law Fellow at Equal Rights Advocates.

Ms. Evans received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her law degree from the University of California at Davis, where she was the recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Public Service. Ms. Evans is a Harvard Law School Wasserstein Fellow and has served on a number of non‐profit boards and as a Vice Chair of the American Bar Association Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities.