THOMAS A. SAENZ, MALDEF President & General Counsel
Thomas A. Saenz serves as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s (MALDEF) President and General Counsel. Before 2009, he worked as Counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Saenz had also previously practiced civil rights litigation at MALDEF for 12 years. During that time, he was MALDEF’s lead counsel in the successful challenge to California’s anti-immigrant Prop 187, and he led numerous civil rights cases in the areas of education, immigrant rights, employment, and voting rights. He also served as MALDEF’s lead counsel in two court challenges to Prop 227, a California English-only education initiative. Saenz was also the lead drafter of the amicus brief on behalf of Latino organizations supporting affirmative action in the Supreme Court case, Grutter v. Bollinger.
Saenz was born and raised in southern California. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, and he received his law degree from Yale Law School. Saenz served as a law clerk to the Honorable Harry L. Hupp of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. For eight years, Saenz taught Civil Rights Litigation as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Southern California (USC) Law School. His board service includes the Los Angeles County Board of Education, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Rights, ENCOMPASS, and the Impact Fund.
We hope that you are able to join us on October 19, 2012 for our Annual Gala and Awards Dinner at the Hard Rock Hotel. Sponsorships Available Now.