Premal Dharia has spent the last twenty years dedicated to challenging injustice in the criminal system. She spent nearly 15 years as a public defender, serving in the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Baltimore, Maryland, and the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She has tried dozens of cases and supervised lawyers at various levels of practice. In 2014, Dharia was selected for a three-month fellowship to help build out and train three new public defender offices in Palestine.
After years as a public defender, Dharia shifted to impact litigation as the Director of Litigation for Civil Rights Corps. Prior to her current role, she founded and directed the Defender Impact Initiative, which has advanced the role of public defenders as systemic change agents.
Dharia is a nationally recognized expert in criminal law, policy, racial and carceral injustice, and the need for systemic change. She is an editor of Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change, published in July 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, has contributed to publications such as The Washington Post, Slate, and Salon, and has been interviewed as an expert for radio, podcasts, and in a variety of national and regional publications. She is regularly on the faculty of Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop and the Bronx Defenders’ Defenders Academy.
Dharia was awarded the 2024 Albert J. Krieger Champion of Liberty Award from the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association. She serves on the Boards of the Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, the Second Look Project, and the Law & Justice Journalism Project. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, serves on the Fellows Advisory Council of the International Legal Foundation and the Academic Advisory Board of the Family Justice Law Center, and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
