Karen Tumlin

Founder, Justice Action Center

Karen Tumlin is a nationally recognized impact litigator focusing on immigrants’ rights. She has recently founded a new non-profit, the Justice Action Center, that will pilot an innovative model that advances the rights of immigrant communities by connecting cutting-edge impact litigation and storytelling.  Karen formerly served as the Director of Legal Strategy and Legal Director for the National Immigration Law Center (NILC).  She has successfully litigated numerous cases of national importance, including challenging President Trump’s Muslim Ban and his effort to end the DACA program as well as the constitutional challenge to Arizona’s notorious anti-immigrant SB 1070 law.  Karen has testified before the U.S. Congress on immigrants’ rights issues. Before joining NILC as a Skadden Fellow in 2005, Karen clerked for Judge Dorothy W. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to law school, she worked as a research associate at the Urban Institute, where she coauthored studies on immigration, welfare, and language access issues. She also spent a year as a Luce Scholar in Bangkok, Thailand, where she conducted a study on child trafficking in the region for the U.N. International Labor Organization. Karen holds a juris doctor degree and a Master of Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall). 

Follow Karen on Twitter: @karentumlin.