STAFF

Sarah M. Barnes, Staff Attorney
Latham and Watkins Homeless Rights Fellow

Sarah M. Barnes is a Staff Attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, where she focuses on economic justice issues and supervises the Homeless Rights Project. Previously, Sarah was a Staff Attorney at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley’s Mental Health Advocacy Project, where she spent more than three years representing individuals in hearings to challenge their involuntary commitment in psychiatric hospitals and providing legal advice and advocacy for mentally disabled adults and children in Santa Clara County.

As a law student, Sarah provided legal services to homeless clients and defended homeless persons against “quality of life” citations through the East Bay Community Law Center’s Suitcase Clinic. She also filed a complaint with the Berkeley Police Review Commission on behalf of homeless youth, which resulted in the Commission unanimously sustaining allegations of police officer misconduct. After graduating from law school, Sarah worked as a Research Clerk for the Santa Clara County Public Defenders Office. Throughout her career, Sarah has designed and facilitated dozens of trainings on the legal and social issues affecting low-income individuals, presenting to audiences as varied as medical professionals and homeless shelter residents. Sarah obtained her J.D. from UC Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law.