LIZ BUDNITZ

Liz Budnitz is absolutely thrilled to join this incredible organization, the Last Prisoner Project. For LPP, she files compassionate release motions and clemency petitions on behalf of individuals who have been sentenced to marijuana crimes, and coordinates pro bono attorneys to file them as well. She has had a varied career in international criminal law, criminal justice, and public defense. She worked for several years at international criminal courts in The Hague, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia. She was also a state public defender in New York for two years, and worked at the Brennan Center for Justice on felony disenfranchisement. Most recently she worked for a small plaintiff'-side employment discrimination law firm filing cases against employers who discriminated against individuals on the basis of race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, and pregnancy. She has a BA from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a JD from Brooklyn Law School, and following law school she clerked for Judge Joan M. Azrack in the Eastern District of New York.