Dennis D. Parker
Executive Director
Dennis D. Parker is the executive director of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (“NCLEJ”).
Dennis joined NCLEJ in January 2019. Prior to joining NCLEJ, Dennis served as the director of the Racial Justice Program of the ACLU, leading its efforts in combating discrimination and addressing a range of issues which have a disproportionate negative impact upon communities of color, including the “School-to-Prison” Pipeline, racial bias in the criminal justice system, housing discrimination and related economic justice issues and digital discrimination.
Before his work at the ACLU, Dennis served as the Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the office of the New York Attorney General and, prior to that, worked for fourteen years litigating and directing the educational work of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Dennis began his legal career as a staff attorney in the Criminal Defense Division of the New York Legal Aid Society. He has co-authored or contributed chapters to books and articles dealing with civil rights and has lectured extensively on the subject across the country. He serves as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School/Teachers College and New York University Law School where he teaches courses about civil rights and education law.
Dennis is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and Middlebury College.
