Lia Epperson

Visiting Fellow

Lia Epperson is a Senior Fellow at American Progress focusing on federal civil rights enforcement of educational policies and practices. She is an assistant professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, and will also join the University of  Maryland School of Law as a visiting assistant professor of law for the 2009-10 academic year. 

Professor Epperson teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, civil rights, and education. Prior to joining the Santa Clara faculty in 2005, Epperson directed the education law and policy group of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.  While there she litigated in federal and state courts, advocated for federal administrative and legislative reforms, and co-authored multiple amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court in the areas of education and affirmative action. 

Prior to her time at LDF, Professor Epperson was an attorney with Morrison & Foerster in Palo Alto, CA, and a law clerk to the Honorable Timothy K. Lewis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She received her law degree from Stanford University, where she served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review as well as the Stanford Law and Policy Review. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.