Since 1985, Bryan Stevenson has represented capital defendants and death row inmates in the Deep South, beginning as a staff attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1989, he established the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a private nonprofit law organization dedicated to social justice and human rights within the realm of criminal justice reform in the United States. EJI advocates for condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders, wrongfully convicted or charged individuals, impoverished people denied adequate legal representation, and others whose trials have been tainted by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct.

Over the years, Stevenson and his team have prevented the execution of more than 130 death-row inmates who were wrongfully convicted, securing exonerations and freedom for some. On multiple occasions, Stevenson has presented cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, notably achieving a landmark 2012 decision that prohibited mandatory life-without-parole sentences for offenders aged 17 or younger.

Stevenson’s efforts have earned him national recognition and distinguished awards. He has authored several widely circulated guides on capital litigation and written extensively on topics such as criminal justice, capital punishment, and civil rights. Additionally, he has written several books, including The New York Times bestseller Just Mercy, which received the 2015 Carnegie Medal for Best Non-Fiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the NAACP Image Award for Best Non-Fiction. This book was adapted into a 2019 film featuring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx.

A 1985 Harvard graduate holding both a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government and a JD from Harvard Law School, Bryan Stevenson joined the clinical faculty at New York University School of Law in 1998, where he continues to teach.

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