Southern Poverty Law Center Announces Managing Attorney for Alabama Office

Attorney Maria Morris has joined the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as managing attorney of its Alabama office.

As managing attorney, Morris will guide both the education and juvenile justice reform efforts in the state from the Montgomery, Ala., office.  Her work also will include a wide range of constitutional issues.

“We are thrilled to welcome Maria to the team. Her wealth of knowledge and experience adds considerable firepower to our growing education and juvenile justice reform efforts in Alabama,” said Mary Bauer, SPLC legal director. “We are honored to have Maria join the Southern Poverty Law Center’s mission of seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.”  
 
Before joining the SPLC, Morris worked for a San Francisco law firm where her work included representing juvenile parolees in a class action lawsuit regarding their due process rights. She also represented adult prisoners in a case regarding prison overcrowding in California.

She is a graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University. Morris also holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia and graduated from Emory University School of Law. She previously served as a law clerk to Judge William Canby of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.