Marbré Stahly-Butts

Marbré Stahly-Butts (she/her), is an Associate Professor of Law at CUNY Law School. Before joining the faculty at CUNY she was co-founder and former Executive Director of Law for Black Lives, has worked closely with organizers and communities across the country to advance and actualize radical policy. She co-founded and served on the Leadership Team of the Movement for Black Lives Policy Table and was one of the chief architects of the Vision for Black Lives Policy Platform. Since graduating from Yale Law School, Marbré has supported local and national organizations from across the country in their policy development and advocacy. She was a co-founder of the National Bail Out Collective and the People’s Coalition for Safety and Freedom. Before her role at Law for Black Lives, Marbré worked as Deputy Director of Racial Justice at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD). She joined CPD as a Soros Justice Fellow in Fall 2013. Her Soros Justice work focused on organizing and working with families affected by aggressive policing and criminal justice policies in New York City in order to develop meaningful bottom-up policy reforms. While in law school, Marbré focused on the intersection of criminal justice and civil rights and gained legal experience with the Bronx Defenders, the Equal Justice Initiative, and the Prison Policy Initiative. Before law school, Marbré received her Master’s in African Studies from Oxford University and studied in Zimbabwe, where she focused on community responses to violence. She also taught in South Africa at Nelson Mandela’s alma mater. Marbré graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in African-American History and Human Rights. In addition to her work to support and build the movement, Marbré is busy trying to raise two young children to be joyful and purpose-filled people.