Julia Spiegel

Julia Spiegel is an impact litigator and human rights advocate with nearly a decade of experience in some of the highest levels of federal, state, and local government.  She currently serves as a Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary and Senior Advisor on Reproductive Rights to California Governor Gavin Newsom, where she advises the Governor, directs litigations, and helps oversee the state’s consumer protection, privacy, immigration, and health and human services work.  She also teaches foreign relations and constitutional law and U.S. foreign policy at Stanford Law School and the Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy Program.

Julia previously served as a deputy county counsel in the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office, where she litigated high-impact lawsuits on immigration, voting rights, and other social justice matters.  Julia was named a California Lawyer ‘Attorney of the Year’ and received an award from the County Counsels’ Association of California for her work to secure a nationwide injunction barring federal defunding of sanctuary jurisdictions.  She also served as a senior advisor to the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and as a law clerk to Judge M. Margaret McKeown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Before graduate school, Julia researched armed conflict in eastern Africa for the Center for American Progress and the International Crisis Group.

Julia serves on the Boards of Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service, the Stanford International Policy Review, the UNICEF NextGen Steering Committee, and the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation.  She is a member of the Truman Center for National Policy City and State Diplomacy Task Force.

Julia writes for Just Security in her personal capacity; all views expressed are her own. She is also on LinkedIn.