Education
B.A., Harvard University; J.D., University of Virginia
Biographical Sketch
Steve Pershing is director of the UCDC Law Program, an intensive Washington semester externship program for University of California law students, where he manages student placements in government and public interest organizations and teaches a companion seminar. From 2005 to 2009 he was senior litigation counsel at the Center for Constitutional Litigation, P.C., in Washington, which litigates civil justice issues nationwide under the U.S. and state constitutions. From 1996 to 2005 Mr. Pershing was a trial attorney in the Voting Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, which enforces the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting-related statutes. Before coming to the Justice Department, he was for seven years legal director of the Virginia ACLU. He served as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Julian A. Cook, Jr. (E.D. Mich). He has taught at G.W. Law since 1999 (voting rights law, government lawyering), and has also taught civil rights law courses at the law schools of American University and the College of William and Mary.