The Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity (Warren Institute) announces the appointment of Maria Blanco ’84 as its new executive director.
Blanco, currently executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, will join Boalt this July. She brings more than 20 years of experience as a litigator and advocate for immigrant rights, women’s rights, and racial justice.
As executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee, Blanco launched initiatives to increase minority access to higher education, provide legal counsel for students in substandard schools, and convene African-American and Latino community leaders to discuss the impact of immigration reform.
Blanco regularly contributes to national and local media on school integration, the importance of an independent judiciary, and civil rights challenges in today’s security climate. Blanco is also the co-chair of the California Coalition for Civil Rights, a group dedicated to building a progressive national agenda for civil and human rights.