Constance L. Rice
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Short description|American civil rights activist and lawyer}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Rice, Constance L (LF).JPG
| imagesize = 180px
| caption =Rice in 2007
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1956|04|05}}
| birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| alma_mater = Harvard University
New York University
| known_for =
| occupation = Civil rights attorney
}}
Constance L. "Connie" Rice (born April 5, 1956) is an American civil rights activist and lawyer. She is also the co-founder and co-director of the Advancement Project in Los Angeles. She has received more than 50 major awards for her work in expanding opportunity and advancing multi-racial democracy. She is a second cousin of former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.[http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/rice/profile.html CNN Programs - People in the News]
Biography
= Early years =
Rice was born in Washington, D.C. She earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard College in 1978. She won the Root Tilden Public Interest Scholarship to New York University School of Law,{{cite web|title=Constance LaMay Rice|url=https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/153372|website=California State Bar|access-date=July 23, 2017}} where she earned her Juris Doctor in 1984.
After law school, Rice served as law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and worked at Morrison & Foerster as a litigation associate. In 1991, she joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and became co-director of LDF’s Los Angeles Office in 1996.[https://web.archive.org/web/20040411214014/http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/rice.html NOW. Politics & Economy. Income and Ineqality. Constance Rice: Biography | PBS]
= Career =
In her non-litigation work in the 1990s, Rice served as counsel to the Watts gang truce and spearheaded a statewide campaign to save equal opportunity programs. Mayors Tom Bradley and Richard Riordan appointed Rice to the governing board of Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power where she served as president and enacted contracting reforms and environmental advances. In 1998, Rice helped lead a successful campaign to place aggressive public school reformers on the governing board for Los Angeles’ public schools.[http://www.advanceproj.org/004.html Los Angeles Staff | Advancement Project Los Angeles] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412004633/http://www.advanceproj.org/004.html |date=April 12, 2008 }}
As a litigator, Rice has filed class action civil rights cases redressing police misconduct, race and sex discrimination and unfair public policy in transportation, probation and public housing. She filed a landmark case on behalf of the Bus Riders Union that resulted in a mandate that more than $2 billion be spent to improve the Los Angeles bus system. In 1999, Rice launched a coalition lawsuit that won $750 million for new school construction in Los Angeles - money previously slated for less crowded, more affluent suburban school districts. In these and other cases, Rice has led multi-racial coalitions of lawyers and clients to win more than $4 billion of injunctive relief and damages.
In 2013, Rice participated in an internal review of the Los Angeles Police Department terminating the employment of Christopher Dorner. After a lengthy review of the LAPD's process, Rice concluded that Dorner's allegations of racism and bias were unfounded and that the firing was justified.{{cite news|title=Review: Firing of ex-LAPD officer Dorner justified|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/04/dorner-firing-justified-review-finds/2390125/|accessdate=June 4, 2013|newspaper=USA Today|date=June 4, 2013}}
She has also provided commentaries for NPR.
Honors
In 1998, the Los Angeles Times designated her one of twenty-four leaders considered the "most experienced, civic-minded and thoughtful people on the subject of Los Angeles." And in October 2000, California Lawbusiness named her, along with California Governor Gray Davis and Warren Christopher, as one of California’s top 10 most influential lawyers.{{Cite web |url=http://tba2007.confabb.com/users/profile/crice |title=Connie Rice Profile |access-date=November 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028105905/http://tba2007.confabb.com/users/profile/crice |archive-date=October 28, 2007 |url-status=dead }} In May 2003, Rice received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Occidental College. In May 2014, she also received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Pepperdine University.
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.advancementproject.org/ Advancement Project]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20040411214014/http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/rice.html PBS profile]
- [https://www.npr.org/search.php?text=Connie+Rice NPR commentaries]
- [http://www.scpr.org/events/2012/02/23/connie-rice/ Power Concedes Nothing: a conversation with Connie Rice at The Crawford Family Forum]
- [https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2012-jan-08-la-ca-connie-rice-20120108-story.html LA Times Book Review: Power Concedes Nothing]
- [http://www.powerconcedesnothing.com/ http://www.powerconcedesnothing.com/ (official)]
- {{C-SPAN|39079}}
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Category:21st-century African-American lawyers
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:20th-century African-American lawyers
Category:20th-century African-American women
Category:Activists from Washington, D.C.
Category:Activists from California
Category:American women lawyers
Category:American civil rights lawyers
Category:American human rights activists
Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:Lawyers from Los Angeles
Category:New York University School of Law alumni
Category:People associated with Morrison & Foerster
Category:People associated with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund