# Rachel Rossi

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**Rachel Rossi** (born 1983) is an American lawyer and public official. She is the President of [Alliance for Justice](/source/Alliance_for_Justice) and formerly served as the Director of the Office for Access to Justice at the [United States Department of Justice](/source/United_States_Department_of_Justice). Rossi has worked as a [public defender](/source/Public_defender) in [Los Angeles County](/source/Los_Angeles_County), and as criminal justice counsel to [Democratic](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) Senator [Dick Durbin](/source/Dick_Durbin) and for the [United States House Committee on the Judiciary](/source/United_States_House_Committee_on_the_Judiciary), [Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security](/source/United_States_House_Judiciary_Subcommittee_on_Crime,_Terrorism_and_Homeland_Security). Rossi was the first former public defender to run for the nonpartisan seat of [Los Angeles District Attorney](/source/Los_Angeles_District_Attorney).

## Early life and education

Rossi grew up in the [San Gabriel Valley](/source/San_Gabriel_Valley) region of Southern California. She attended [Claremont High School](/source/Claremont_High_School_(California)) before earning her bachelor's degree from [Bethany University](/source/Bethany_University) and a [Juris Doctor](/source/Juris_Doctor) from the [Pepperdine University School of Law](/source/Pepperdine_University_School_of_Law). She has lived most of her adult life in [Los Angeles County, California](/source/Los_Angeles_County,_California) and is a daughter of immigrant parents born in the [Dominican Republic](/source/Dominican_Republic) and [Greece](/source/Greece).[1][2]

## Career

From 2011 to 2019, she was a county and federal public defender in Los Angeles;[3][4] she has said that defending clients who were generally low-income and people of color, many of whom had suffered [homelessness](/source/Homelessness), [mental illness](/source/Mental_illness) or drug abuse, gave her a passion for justice and reform.[1]

She then became criminal justice counsel to Dick Durbin, [Senate Democratic Whip](/source/Senate_Democratic_Whip) and Chairman of the [United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary](/source/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_the_Judiciary), working on [Supreme Court](/source/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States) nominations including those of [Neil Gorsuch](/source/Neil_Gorsuch) and [Brett Kavanaugh](/source/Brett_Kavanaugh_Supreme_Court_nomination). She served as lead staffer on the 2018 [First Step Act](/source/First_Step_Act), which seeks to reduce recidivism and established federal prison reform.[3][1]

Rossi was then recruited to be Counsel to the [United States House Committee on the Judiciary](/source/United_States_House_Committee_on_the_Judiciary), [Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security](/source/United_States_House_Judiciary_Subcommittee_on_Crime,_Terrorism_and_Homeland_Security).[5] She worked with Judiciary Chairman [Jerry Nadler](/source/Jerry_Nadler) and Crime Subcommittee Chair [Karen Bass](/source/Karen_Bass) on criminal justice reform legislation and congressional hearings.[5]

In November 2019, Rossi announced she was running as the first former public defender candidate for [Los Angeles County District Attorney](/source/Los_Angeles_County_District_Attorney).[3] Rossi faced incumbent [Jackie Lacey](/source/Jackie_Lacey) and former [San Francisco DA](/source/San_Francisco_District_Attorney's_Office), [George Gascón](/source/George_Gasc%C3%B3n).[6] During her campaign, she criticized the Los Angeles legal system, pointing out that 80% of prisoners there are black or Latino, and one in three suffers from some form of mental illness.[7][8] Rossi was five points shy of qualifying for the runoff election, receiving almost half a million votes.[9]

In November 2020, Rossi was named a member of the Agency Review Team for the [Presidential transition of Joe Biden](/source/Presidential_transition_of_Joe_Biden) to support transition efforts related to the [United States Department of Justice](/source/United_States_Department_of_Justice). [10] In 2021, Rossi was appointed Deputy Associate Attorney General in the Office of the [United States Associate Attorney General](/source/United_States_Associate_Attorney_General), Vanita Gupta. On May 20, 2023 President Biden and Attorney General Garland appointed Rossi as Director of the Office for Access to Justice in the [United States Department of Justice](/source/United_States_Department_of_Justice). [11]

In May of 2025, Rossi was named the President of [Alliance for Justice](/source/Alliance_for_Justice), a progressive judicial advocacy group in the United States. [12]

## Honors

In 2019 Rossi was recognized by the [National Bar Association](/source/National_Bar_Association) as one of the United States' top 40 lawyers aged under 40.[13] She has been recognized as a Lawyer of Color during the [Congressional Black Caucus Foundation](/source/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation) conference.[14]

## References

1. Martin, Brittany (January 22, 2020). ["Meet Rachel Rossi, the Progressive Ex-Public Defender Running for DA"](https://www.lamag.com/article/rachel-rossi-district-attorney-2020/). *Los Angeles magazine*

1. Stoltze, Frank (November 14, 2019). ["Rachel Rossi Wants To Be LA's Next DA. She's Promising To End 'Archaic' Approach To Justice"](https://laist.com/2019/11/13/former_public_defender_is_latest_reformer_to_challenge_la_da_lacey_rachel_rossi_promises_to_end_arch.php). *LAist*. Retrieved 2020-02-28.

1. Queally, James (November 12, 2019). ["Former public defender Rachel Rossi latest to enter crowded L.A. County D.A.'s race"](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-12/former-public-defender-rachel-rossi-latest-to-enter-crowded-los-angeles-da-race). *Los Angeles Times*. Retrieved January 30, 2020.

1. ["Judge Denies Challenge to Rachel Rossi's Ballot Designation as 'Public Defender' in Race for L.A. District Attorney"](https://lasentinel.net/judge-denies-challenge-to-rachel-rossis-ballot-designation-as-public-defender-in-race-for-l-a-district-attorney.html). January 3, 2020.

1. Martin, Brittany (January 22, 2020). ["Meet Rachel Rossi, the Progressive Ex-Public Defender Running for DA"](https://www.lamag.com/article/rachel-rossi-district-attorney-2020/)

1. ["Election 2020: Jackie Lacey, George Gascón, Rachel Rossi Vie For LA County District Attorney Seat"](https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/02/17/jackie-lacey-george-gascon-rachel-rossi-la-county-district-attorney-race/). 2020-02-17. Retrieved 2020-02-28.

1. ["Former public defender runs for LA County District Attorney"](https://abc7.com/5950324/). *ABC7 Los Angeles*. 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2020-02-28.

1. ["High-Stakes Los Angeles DA's Race: Status Quo vs. Reform"](https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/27/us/ap-us-election-2020-los-angeles-district-attorney.html). *The New York Times*. Associated Press. 2020-02-27. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2020-02-28.

1. ["Ballotpedia Rachel Rossi"](https://www.ballotpedia.org/Rachel_Rossi)

1. ["The White House"](https://www.whitehouse.gov/). *The White House*

1. ["Meet the Director"](https://www.justice.gov/atj/staff-profile/meet-director). *United States Department of Justice*. June 8, 2022.

1. ["Meet Our New President"](https://afj.org/meet-our-new-president-rachel-rossi/). *Alliance for Justice*

1. National Bar Association. ["2019 National Bar Association "40 Under 40" Award Recipients Announced"](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/2019-national-bar-association-40-under-40-award-recipients-announced-300867568.html). *www.prnewswire.com*. Retrieved January 30, 2020.

1. ["Of Counsel"](https://www.cohen-williams.com/people/rachel-rossi). *www.cohen-williams.com*

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rachel Rossi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Rossi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Rossi?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.