Alisa Blair
Expertise:
Youth justice; racial trauma and adolescent brain development; criminal legal system reform; restorative justice; diversion policy; race and policing; community violence intervention; community-based public safety
Background:
Alisa Blair brings 20 years of experience as a practitioner in the criminal legal system with an emphasis on youth justice. Alisa began her legal career as public defender in Los Angeles County. During that time Professor Blair was trial counsel in jury trials for charges ranging from resisting arrest to first degree murder, as well as a supervisor in the office’s juvenile division. Her successes were instrumental in Alisa receiving the Judi Schecter Juvenile Lawyer of the Year award.
Alisa Blair frequently provides guest lectures at California universities on youth justice issues and the interplay between racial trauma and the adolescent brain. Professor Blair was a speaker at the at NACDL Conference, RACE MATTERS II, on Race & Adolescent Brain Development.
After a historic election, Alisa joined Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon’s administration as his youth justice, restorative justice, and diversion policy advisor. Currently, Alisa Blair is the policy and special projects director at The Community Based Public Safety Collective. She simultaneously held the position of interim policy director for the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center. Alisa Blair has the unique experience of practicing law as a defender and crafting policy for a prosecuting agency and non profit organizations.
Alisa Blair attended the University of California, Berkeley where she majored in Sociology with an emphasis in Race and Ethnic relations and a minor in African American Studies. Alisa went on to attend the University of Southern California school of law where she earned her Juris Doctorate and the Miller-Johnson Equal Justice Award. Professor Blair co-authored Race and Ethnicity as a Compound Risk Factor in Police Interrogation of Youth, as well as A Guide to Cash Bail, published in Chaos + Comrades.
(Log in to view full course descriptions in the UCI Law Course Catalog)
- Co-Author, Race and Ethnicity as a Compound Risk Factor in Police Interrogation of Youth
- Author, A Guide to Cash Bail, for digital magazine Chaos + Comrades
- Juvenile Justice Expert guest appearance on Dr. Phil show
- Speaker at Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit for National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC)
- Workshop Leader at Iowa Justice Summit discussing race and juvenile justice system
- Guest Lecturer, Southwestern Law School, Youth At Risk course
- Guest Lecturer, Marymount California University
- Guest Lecturer, University of Southern California School of Social Work, undergraduate and graduate programs on race and juvenile justice
- Guest Lecturer, University of California, Irvine Law School, Progressive Prosecution
- Guest Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles, Juvenile Justic
- Recipient of the Judi Schecter Juvenile Attorney Award for the Los Angeles County Public Defenders Office
- Recipient of the Miller-Johnson Equal Justice Award