Julia Spiegel

Founder & CEO

Julia is an award-winning attorney who has championed fundamental freedoms at the highest levels of federal, state, and local government. As legal counsel to California Governor Gavin Newsom when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Julia launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance (RFA), bringing 23 governors together to fight for reproductive freedom in a post-Roe America. Julia’s innovative strategy for states to stockpile medication abortion ahead of national threats to ban the drugs was profiled a  New York Times’ profile on leaders at the forefront of the fight to protect democracy. 

Building on the alliance’s successful model to marshal the collective strengths of governors and their senior staff to protect fundamental freedoms, Julia left government service in 2024 to launch GovAct.  

Prior to joining the California Governor’s Office, Julia litigated high-impact cases on immigration, voting rights, and other social justice matters in the Santa Clara County Counsel’s Office; served as senior advisor to then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power; clerked for Judge M. Margaret McKeown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and conducted field research on armed conflict in east Africa. For the last several years she has also taught courses on foreign affairs and the U.S. Constitution at Stanford Law School and Stanford’s Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy Program. 

Julia earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Stanford University, Master in Public Affairs (M.P.A.) from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Yale Law School. For her work protecting democracy and fundamental freedoms, Julia has won multiple awards and honors, including the California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year award and the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Distinguished Fellow award.