Lynn Wu is a Staff Attorney and Juvenile Justice Policy and Projects Manager at the Prison Law Office. She manages multiyear projects, providing technical assistance to county stakeholders to improve outcomes for justice-involved girls, LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming youth, and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the youth-serving systems. Lynn also conducts trainings for people incarcerated in California state prisons regarding the parole process for young people tried as adults. She helped pass legislation to establish a parole process that considers youth factors, monitors the implementation of that process, and challenges improper parole denials and reversals by the Governor. Lynn advocates with and on behalf of incarcerated people and their families in legislative and regulatory proceedings.
Prior to law school, Lynn taught middle school in East Oakland before serving as a new teacher coach and family liaison, supporting families with students who were not yet academically successful. She also worked as a consultant to the Oakland Unified School District to develop more effective systems for agencies to coordinate services for young people.
Lynn was awarded the Tim Fitzharris Award by the Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) for making a very significant contribution to the field of corrections. She is also a recipient of the Legal Services for Children Child Advocate Award and was awarded an Honorable Mention for the Thomas I. Yamashita Prize by the Institute for the Study of Social Change. Lynn has published and presented her work on meeting the needs of girls in the juvenile justice system, addressing the housing, educational, and financial competency needs of transitional aged youth in foster care, advocating for the educational rights of foster youth, and promoting youth activism to increase academic success. She has been a fellow with the Women’s Policy Institute, the Youth Justice Leadership Initiative, the Class Action Training Institute, the PLUS Leadership Initiative, Education Pioneers, and the Child Advocacy Law Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School.
Education
B.A., University of Pennsylvania (2002)
M.A.T., Center for Teaching Excellence and Social Justice, University of San Francisco (2005)
J.D., UC Berkeley School of Law (2008)
M.P.P., UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy (2009)