Issue(s): Education
“In the right hands, the law is a tool to amplify the voices of those who are often silenced and to build power with directly impacted communities in their fight against the structural racism, patriarchy, and economic caste system that limits their educational and life opportunities. Public Advocates recognizes that the only way to make rights meaningful is to partner directly with the people most impacted by intersectional systems of oppression.”
–Nicole Gon Ochi
Nicole Gon Ochi (she/her/hers), Deputy Managing Attorney, joined Public Advocates’ Education Equity Team in June 2019. She works remotely from Los Angeles where she focuses on school funding advocacy and enforcement and leads the local power-building team, which partners closely with grassroots organizations of students and families of color to support local education justice campaigns across California.
Prior to joining Public Advocates, Nicole was the supervising attorney of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – LA’s Impact Litigation Unit, where she led litigation and advocacy on matters related to workers’ rights, employment discrimination, human trafficking, affordable housing preservation, language access, voting rights, immigrants’ rights, and education equity. Nicole played a leading role in defending race-conscious admissions in SFFA v. Harvard and similar cases, and is frequently asked to speak at conferences and comment on the state of affirmative action.
After law school, Nicole was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Harry Pregerson in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Subsequently, she received a Skadden Fellowship to establish an education equity project at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, where she remained for nearly 9 years. In 2018, Nicole was named one of the top 40 lawyers under 40 in California by the Daily Journal and one of National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Best Under 40 recipients.
Education & Background
Nicole graduated summa cum laude from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 2009, where she was a Public Interest Scholar and Editor-in-Chief of the Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal. Nicole published three law review articles while in law school. Prior to law school, Nicole worked as a program manager and grant writer at PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) in Los Angeles. She graduated from Pomona College in 2003 with a B.A. in Asian Studies and a minor in Politics. Nicole is a reluctant transplant to Los Angeles from Northern California, where she lives with her husband and two spirited young daughters.
