Deborah Archer

Deborah N. Archer is an American civil rights lawyer and law professor. She is the Jacob K. Javits Professor at New York University and Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law. She also directs the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law and the Civil Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law. In January 2021, she was elected president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), becoming the first African American to hold the position in the organization’s 101 years of operating.

Deborah N. Archer
President of the American Civil Liberties Union
Assumed office
February 1, 2021
Preceded bySusan Herman
Personal details
Spouse(s)Richard Buery
Children2
Alma materSmith College
Yale Law School
ProfessionLawyer
Law professor

Early life

Archer was born to immigrants from Jamaica, becoming a first-generation citizen of the United States as well as the first in her family to attend college.[1] Archer attended Smith College, graduating cum laude with a degree in government in 1993.[2] She graduated from Yale Law School in 1996.[2] At Yale, she won the Charles G. Albom Prize.[2]

Career

After graduating from Yale, Archer clerked for Judge Alvin Thompson on the US District Court for the District of Connecticut,[3] and the following year (1997 to 1998) was a Marvin M. Karpatkin legal fellow at the ACLU.[4] Archer was assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1998 to 2000, and then an associate at the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett from 2000 to 2003.[5]

In 2003, Archer joined the faculty of New York Law School (NYLS), where she was the first dean of diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, and associate dean for academic affairs and student engagement.[3] She led the school’s Racial Justice Project and the Impact Center for Public Interest Law, which she co-founded.[3]

Since 2009, she has been on the ACLU’s board, and since 2017 has been general counsel and a member of the board’s executive committee of the board.[6] She is also a member of the board of the New York Civil Liberties Union.[7] In 2016 and again in 2017, Archer served as acting chair of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, the body that investigates allegations of police misconduct.[8]

After 15 years at NYLS, Archer moved to New York University (NYU) in July 2018.[1] At NYU Archer is Jacob K. Javits Professor and Professor of Clinical Law, Co-Faculty Director of the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, and Director of the Civil Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law.[2]

ACLU president

On January 30, 2021, a remote meeting of the ACLU board elected Archer president of the organization, making her the first African American to hold the position in the organization’s 101-year history.[6][9] As its eighth president, she chairs the board of directors, setting the direction the organization takes in civil litigation policies.[4] (Day-to-day operations are the responsibility of ACLU executive director Anthony D. Romero.)[6] Archer succeeds Susan N. Herman, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and ACLU president since 2008, who oversaw a period of growth with increased donations following the election of President Donald Trump and extensive litigation during his administration.[6] In a statement on Archer’s election, Romero said that civil rights and racial justice were top priorities for the organization moving forward and noted Archer’s expertise in these fields.[6]

Honors

The Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference gave Archer the 2014 Haywood Burns/Shanara Guilbert Award and the Otto L. Walter Distinguished Writing Award.[2]

She was honored by the New York Law Journal which cited her as one of its Top Women in Law for 2016.[9]

Personal life

Archer is married to Richard Buery, former deputy mayor of New York City.[10] They live in Brooklyn with their two sons.[1]

Selected works
  • Archer, Deborah N. (2009–2010). "Introduction: Challenging the School-to-Prison Pipeline". New York Law School Law Review. 54: 867.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  • Archer, Deborah N.; Williams, Kele S. (2005–2006). "Making America the Land of Second Chances: Restoring Socioeconomic Rights for Ex-Offenders". New York University Review of Law & Social Change. 30: 527.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  • Archer, Deborah N. (2013). "There Is No Santa Claus: The Challenge of Teaching the Next Generation of Civil Rights Lawyers in a Post-Racial Society". Columbia Journal of Race and Law. 4: 55.

References
  1. Southgate, Martha (Spring 2019). "'I've Picked A Lane. It's Racial Justice.'". Smith Alumnae Quarterly. Archived from the original on 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  2. "Deborah N. Archer - Overview | NYU School of Law". its.law.nyu.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  3. "Civil rights and racial justice scholar Deborah Archer to join NYU Law faculty". NYU School of Law. March 1, 2018. Archived from the original on 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  4. Guzman, Joseph (1 February 2021). "ACLU elects Deborah Archer as first Black president". The Hill. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  5. Weiss, Debra Cassens (February 1, 2021). "NYU law prof Deborah Archer is ACLU's new board president; fight for racial justice expected to be a priority". ABA Journal. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  6. "Deborah Archer becomes first Black person elected to be ACLU's president". PBS NewsHour. 1 February 2021. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  7. Thornton, Cedric (1 February 2021). "Deborah Archer Becomes First Black President The ACLU". Black Enterprise. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  8. Mueller, Benjamin (August 3, 2017). "Chairwoman Steps Down at New York City Police Oversight Agency". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  9. "Civil Rights Attorney, Inclusion Expert Deborah Archer Elected as New ACLU National Board President". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  10. Gonen, Yoav (2018-04-12). "De Blasio appoints old allies to new city watchdog group". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
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