Cort Carlson

Cort Carlson is a Public Interest Fellow in the Oakland, California office. Mr. Carlson received his J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2022. During law school, Mr. Carlson immersed himself in public interest scholarship and advocacy. Mr. Carlson completed a judicial externship with the Honorable Kimberly J. Mueller, Chief United States District Judge for the Eastern District of California, worked on whistleblower cases as a law clerk for a public interest plaintiff-side law firm in the Bay Area, and worked on cases involving unsafe and unfair housing conditions as an extern at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. Mr. Carlson was twice elected to editor positions on the Ecology Law Quarterly, one of the nation’s leading environmental law reviews, and served on the Berkeley Technology and Law Journal. Outside of school, Mr. Carlson served as a student advocate for incarcerated youth in collaboration with the Contra Costa County Public Defender and was a student researcher for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Mr. Carlson also participated in a state and local impact litigation practicum in which he worked alongside current and former government attorneys on justice-oriented affirmative litigation projects.

Mr. Carlson received his B.A. Summa Cum Laude in Anthropology and English with a minor in Political Science from The George Washington University in 2019. Mr. Carlson traces his passion for public interest advocacy to early experiences working on issues that uniquely affect vulnerable communities, including poverty, incarceration, environmental harm, and personal data protection. Prior to law school, Mr. Carlson served as an academic tutor to persons pursuing higher education while incarcerated at Prince George’s County Correctional Center in Maryland. Mr. Carlson also conducted research on people’s perceptions and management of privacy on their cellular devices in collaboration with the GW Anthropology Department and the Smithsonian Institution.