SARAH GERSTEN
Executive Director and General Counsel
Sarah Gersten is the executive director and general counsel of the Last Prisoner Project (LPP), a national nonprofit dedicated to reforming our criminal justice system through progressive drug policy. Sarah was part of the founding team at LPP and after working to successfully launch the organization became the inaugural executive director.
During her time at LPP, Sarah has built and led advocacy campaigns aimed at ending criminal penalties for cannabis, releasing those incarcerated for cannabis, and clearing cannabis criminal convictions. Under Sarah’s leadership LPP has successfully passed numerous pieces of legislation across the country and helped to enact executive orders designed to automatically release individuals from unjust incarceration and provide for state-initiated expungement.
In addition to the organization’s policy and advocacy work, Sarah spearheaded the organization’s Cannabis Justice Initiative which has represented over 300 clients pro bono in their fight for freedom. During her tenure the organization has also pursued a radical model of direct, unrestricted grantmaking to constituents and their families, disbursing over $3 million to directly impacted individuals through reentry and commissary grants.
Before founding LPP, Sarah worked as an attorney at a congressional agency where she focused on legislative policy, Sarah co-founded a cannabis centric law firm where she led the firm's pro bono initiative, taking on expungement and record sealing cases. Sarah went on to co-found and serve as CEO for a legal tech startup that offers affordable legal solutions for small cannabis business owners, as well as free expungement services.
Sarah is a member of the National Cannabis Bar Association, the NORML Legal Committee and the National Lawyers Guild. She received her BA from Tulane University and her JD from Harvard Law School. She has been featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, BBC, and in USA Today, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, Forbes, Business Insider, Esquire, the Hill, the Appeal, and Law360.
