Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes
Deputy Public Defender
Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender
Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes is a Deputy Public Defender at the Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender, where she has worked for the past twenty-four years. She launched the office’s Racial Justice Unit, where she litigated claims involving racism and bias on behalf of clients throughout Los Angeles County.
Elizabeth also helped develop and lead a statewide Public Defender Racial Justice Act working group with representatives from twenty-three California counties and frequently trains attorneys and community partners on the Racial Justice Act. She graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in Sociology and African American Studies and studied colonialism, oppression, and emancipation in southern Africa.