Sherrilyn Ifill ’87, a nationally recognized civil rights attorney and professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, will become the next president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, among the leading racial justice organizations in the country. She will be the LDF’s seventh director-counsel and the second woman at its helm.
An advocate for voting rights, judicial diversity, and judicial decision-making, Ifill was an assistant counsel litigating voting rights cases in LDF’s New York office before joining the Maryland faculty in 1993. She is the author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century, and has discussed race and its related legal issues in a variety of print, radio, and television outlets.
"I am looking forward to working with the LDF team, allies and partners to advance an innovative 21-century civil rights practice that confronts the barriers to equality and justice in the lives of the most marginalized members of our community," said Ifill in a statement. As head of the organization, she will focus on expanding political participation, combatting injustice in the criminal-justice system, creating educational opportunity, defending economic freedom, and promoting greater diversity on the bench.
Posted on November 19, 2012