Tricia Jefferson

Tricia Jefferson is Senior Counsel in the Educational Opportunities Project, which addresses discrimination and inequality in education through litigation, public policy advocacy, legislative advocacy, and cooperative undertakings with researchers, educators and parent advocates. Ms. Jefferson is principally involved in school desegregation cases, challenges to segregated and unequal educational practices, and fostering racial diversity in higher and K-12 education. Pursuant to a Ford Foundation grant to the Lawyers' Committee, Ms. Jefferson also supervised the Minority Business Project, an initiative to promote equal opportunities for minority business enterprises (MBEs). Her responsibilities included litigating cases on behalf of MBEs, counseling Congress on relevant legislation and providing technical assistance to local jurisdictions with affirmative action programs for MBEs.

Immediately prior to joining the Lawyers' Committee, Ms. Jefferson was a trial attorney at the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, where she enforced voting rights laws. While working at the Department of Justice, she litigated United States v. Alamosa County, Colorado, a case which challenged the method of election for the county’s board of commission on the grounds that it diluted the voting strength of the Latino electorate. In addition to examining fact and expert witnesses at trial, Ms. Jefferson successfully argued a Daubert motion which excluded an expert’s testimony from the record.

Prior to working at the Department of Justice, Ms. Jefferson was an attorney advisor with the United States Commission on Civil Rights where she investigated and reported on numerous civil rights issues to the Clinton Administration and Congress. She served as the Project Team Leader for the Commission’s report, Sharing the Dream: Is the ADA Accommodating All?, which examined the effectiveness of the Americans with Disabilities Act ten years after its passage.

Ms. Jefferson is a graduate of the Washington & Lee School of Law and received her undergraduate degree from the College of William & Mary. She is licensed to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as in the District Court for Minnesota and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ms. Jefferson is a graduate of the Washington & Lee School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree from the College of William & Mary. She is licensed to practice in Maryland and the U.S. Supreme Court.

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