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 to stockpile medication abortion drugs helped governors proactively protect access across the country — a strategy featured in 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, Julia left government service in 2024 to launch GovAct — creating a central platform for cross-state coordination to protect fundamental freedoms and improve people’s lives.

Before her state service, 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 several years, she taught courses at Stanford Law School on foreign affairs and the U.S. Constitution and foreign policy at 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. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an Appellate Lawyer Representative to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and serves on the National Advisory Board of Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service.