Biography
Morgan Mentzer (she/her) co-founded the Lavender Rights Project, a by-and-for legal services and community organizing nonprofit. As a lead attorney, Morgan specializes in employment law and family law focusing on intersections of gender identity and racism. Prior to pursuing a career in law, Morgan was an auto mechanic. Rooted in the trades, she is the cofounder of the Reckoning Trade Project, an organization committed to increasing representation and retention of QTIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigious, and People of Color) tradesworkers. Community Lawyering is a critical element of Morgan's practice. In New York, she worked directly with homeowners facing foreclosure during the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in community clinics, while interrupting courthouse foreclosures through song. Morgan's legal practice and community organizing prioritizes introspection as to how her identity as a white, cis, queer femme intersects with her organizing, knowledge and pedagogy. As an adjunct faculty member, she holds the perspectives of her students as integral to critically analyzing legal public service, and she holds lived experiences of the most marginalized folks as the ultimate compass for social change.
