Andrew Bookbinder L’24

Andrew grew up in a Foreign Service family, spending about half of his life in different regions of East Asia until beginning college in the United States. He is a passionate advocate for historically underserved communities and is committed to addressing social justice issues on the systemic level.

He attended the College of William and Mary, where he studied human rights and criminal justice reform. As a chair of the Refugee Committee with the William and Mary chapter of Amnesty International, Andrew founded the semi-annual Rise for Refugee Week, dedicated to raising funds and awareness to address the international refugee crisis. Additionally, as a member of the Asian American Student Initiative, Andrew helped successfully lobby for the creation of an Asian and Pacific Islander American Studies major and minor at William and Mary.

Professionally, Andrew learned what high-quality and zealous legal representation looks like as an intern investigator with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS). He spent time in the Felony and Civil divisions, supporting attorneys on cases ranging from first-degree murder to child custody and landlord-tenant issues. Before beginning law school, he worked as a casework supervisor and disaster responder with the American Red Cross in Los Angeles for two years, serving as a housing advocate for individuals and families impacted by disasters.

At Penn Carey Law, Andrew is the Co-President of the Democracy Law Project (DLP). DLP is a pro bono project dedicated to addressing issues of democracy, including but not limited to finance reform, redistricting, legislative advocacy, and voting rights, while seeking to locate discussions of democracy within broader conversations of racial, gender, environmental, and social justice. He is also an Employment Advocacy Project advocate, editor of theJournal of Law and Social Change, an inaugural Penn Carey Law Equity & Inclusion Fellow, and the Public Interest Chair of Penn Carey Law’s Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.

During his 1L summer, Andrew served as a summer legal intern at the ACLU of Virginia, where he worked on a variety of civil rights matters ranging from voting rights to criminal legal reform and First Amendment issues.

This past summer, Andrew returned to PDS as a summer law clerk with the Special Litigation Division (SLD). While at SLD he had the privilege of working on a wide range of issues including policy advocacy as well as civil rights and post-conviction cases.