Deborah N. Archer is an American civil rights lawyer and law professor. She is Margaret B. Hoppin Professor of Clinical Law at

New York University School of Law The New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest survivin ...

. She also directs and founded th
Community Equity Initiative
at NYU Law and directs the Law School's Civil Rights Clinic. In January 2021, she was elected president of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

, becoming the first African American to hold the position in the organization’s history.

Early life and education

The daughter of immigrants from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, Archer was raised in

Windsor, Connecticut Windsor is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The town is part of ...

. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

in 1993 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

in 1996. At Yale, she won the Charles G. Albom Prize.

Career

After graduating from Yale, Archer clerked for Judge Alvin Thompson of the

United States District Court for the District of Connecticut The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeal ...

, and the following year (1997 to 1998) was a Marvin M. Karpatkin legal fellow at the ACLU. Archer was assistant counsel at the

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is an American civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Although LDF ca ...

from 1998 to 2000, and then an associate at the law firm

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is a white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm specializes in litigation and corporate practices, particularly mergers and acquisitions and private equity, with approximately 1,500 attorneys in 1 ...

from 2000 to 2003. In 2003, Archer joined the faculty of

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...

(NYLS), where she was the first dean of

diversity and inclusion Diversity, in a business context, is hiring and promoting employees from a variety of different backgrounds and identities. Those characteristics may include various legally protected groups, such as people of different religions or races, or ...

and chief diversity officer, and associate dean for academic affairs and student engagement. She led the school’s Racial Justice Project and the Impact Center for Public Interest Law, which she co-founded. 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. She is also a member of the boards of the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Aid Society, and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. In 2016 and again in 2017, Archer served as acting chair of the

New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board The NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) is a civilian oversight agency with jurisdiction over the New York City Police Department (NYPD), the largest police force in the United States. A board of the Government of New York City, the CCR ...

, the body that investigates allegations of

police misconduct Police misconduct is inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: sexual offences, false confession, coerced false confession, intimidation, ...

. After 15 years at NYLS, Archer moved to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in July 2018. 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

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. As its eighth president, she chairs the board of directors, setting the direction the organization takes in civil litigation policies. Archer succeeded Susan N. Herman, a professor at

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a Private university, private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and adjunct faculty. ...

and ACLU president since 2008, who oversaw a period of growth with increased donations following the election of President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and extensive litigation during his administration. 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.

Honors

In 2016, Archer was honored by the ''

New York Law Journal The ''New York Law Journal'', founded in 1888, is a legal periodical covering the legal profession in New York, United States. Background The newspaper, published Monday through Friday, provides daily coverage of civil and criminal cases from ...

'' which cited her as one of its Top Women in Law. In 2021, the Law and Society Association awarded Archer the John Hope Franklin Prize, Honorable Mention for her article "'White Men's Roads Through Black Men's Homes': Advancing Racial Equity Through Highway Reconstruction", which appeared in the ''Vanderbilt Law Review''. She also received the 2021 Stephen Ellmann Memorial Clinical Scholarship Award from the American Association of Law Schools, and the Haywood Burns/Shanara Guilbert Award from the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference.

Personal life

Archer is married to Richard Buery, a former deputy mayor of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. They live in Brooklyn with their two sons.

Selected works

* Archer, Deborah N
Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality.
W.W. Norton & Company (forthcoming). * Archer, Deborah N.; Schottenfeld, Joseph (2024)
"Defending Home: Toward a Theory of Community Equity"
University of Chicago Law Review, forthcoming. * Archer, Deborah N. (2021)
"Transportation Policy and the Underdevelopment of Black Communities"
Iowa Law Review 106: 2125. * Archer, Deborah N. (2020)
“‘White Men’s Roads Through Black Men’s Homes’: Advancing Racial Equity Through Highway Reconstruction”
Vanderbilt Law Review. 73: 1259. *Archer, Deborah N. (2019–20)
“Exile From Main Street”
Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. 55: 788. *Archer, Deborah N. (2019)
The New Housing Segregation: The Jim Crow Effects of Crime-Free Housing Ordinances
Michigan Law Review. 118: 173. * * *

References

External links

“Where Do We Go From Here?: A Conversation About the Future of Race and Inequality in America”
– discussion with Anthony Thompson at NYU Law’s Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, September 25, 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Deborah Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers American people of Jamaican descent New York Law School faculty New York University faculty New York University School of Law faculty People associated with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund People from Windsor, Connecticut Presidents of the American Civil Liberties Union Smith College alumni Yale Law School alumni