Arthur Ago

Arthur Ago joined the Lawyers’ Committee as the Director of the Criminal Justice Project in November 2019. He oversees the Criminal Justice Project’s portfolio, including its work on the criminalization of poverty, the right to counsel, and policing. Before coming to the Lawyers’ Committee, Arthur spent close to two decades at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia representing indigent children and adults facing serious delinquency and felony criminal charges in Washington, D.C., ultimately serving as its Trial Chief. Arthur has served on the board of directors of the D.C. Law Students in Court Program (now Rising for Justice) and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, the American University Washington College of Law, and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Arthur received his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School, his M.A. in Asian American Studies from U.C.L.A., and his B.A. from Amherst College.

Bar Admissions: Admitted in District of Columbia. Admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States, US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the US District Court for the District of Columbia.