Victor Leung

LOS ANGELES - As an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California with a special focus on education law, Victor Leung said he feels lucky to work in an area that can have a major impact on society.

"I love working at the ACLU because it allows me to imagine the world I want to live in and then to work every day to try to make that vision a reality," he said. "I also love being able to examine longstanding inequities and systems of oppression and try my best to dismantle them."

Leung, who serves as the ACLU's director of education equity and deputy litigation director, is recognized as a top attorney in the field of civil rights and education law. Leung has led lawsuits that have resulted in reforms for tens of thousands of students and has drafted and sponsored landmark legislation focusing on education equity across California. He has also led policy campaigns that have focused on improving educational outcomes for high-needs students. As education and civil rights laws are ever-changing, Leung said his approach has evolved in recent years to achieve the best outcomes for students.

"With the federal courts being increasingly hostile to civil rights lawsuits, we have had to pivot our strategies," he said. "We now file more cases in state court and also spend much more of our time working to pass California legislation and to change policies through grassroots, local organizing. Building power within our communities and elevating the voices of impacted people has by far been the most effective way to bring about real and sustainable change."

In a recent landmark case, Leung was lead counsel in an administrative complaint against the San Bernardino County Office of Education on behalf of two community-based organizations. COPE et al. v. San Bernardino County Office of Education, #2020- 0193. (California Department of Education, filed June 2020).

The complaint was the first of its kind filed against a county office of education for failing to ensure that school districts create equitable spending plans under the state's Local Control Funding Formula.

Ultimately, the California Department of Education ordered the school district to reform its practices in a decision that will impact counties and funding plans for high-needs students across the state.

Leung has served as lead counsel for the Police Free Los Angeles Unified School District coalition, which advocates diverting funding from the Los Angeles School Police Department to reinvest in more effective and supportive resources for Black students.

Through a four-year, student-led campaign, Leung was able to help in eliminating all metal detector searches for more than 500,000 students in LAUSD, which he says were ineffective and discriminatory.

"The policy change has resulted in thousands of students--mostly students of color--not having their rights and dignity violated and has stopped them from needlessly entering the school-to-prison pipeline," Leung said.

Leung has also served as lead legal counsel for the Schools Not Prisons campaign, which aims to eliminate the policies that criminalize students in the Pomona Unified School District.

He said one of the biggest challenges to pursuing large-scale, impact litigation and policy work is the tremendous amount of time and effort involved.

While the job can be daunting, Leung said he loves working on behalf of the youth, particularly those who have traditionally been marginalized and have limited access to legal services.

"It is deeply rewarding to be able to play a small role in making their lives better, by providing them with the educational opportunities they deserve and by removing the barriers that prevent them from graduating and succeeding," he said.