Margot Mendelson
Executive Director

Margot joined the Prison Law Office in 2016. She became Legal Director in 2022 and Executive Director in 2023. Margot has worked on a wide range of issues related to conditions of confinement, access to health care, disability rights, use of force, and staff misconduct in California prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers. Her work has focused particularly on eradicating solitary confinement through litigation, legislative advocacy, and the provision of technical assistance. She has spoken and testified about the pervasiveness of solitary confinement and its devastating impact on people and communities. Before joining the PLO, Margot worked at Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, where she practiced complex civil litigation in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate levels, with a focus on civil rights matters. Margot was an Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellow, where she represented immigrants detained in Southern Arizona. She clerked for Judge Diana G. Motz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and Judge Catherine Blake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Margot received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2009 and her B.A. from Harvard College. Margot is on the board of Immigrant Legal Defense, based in Oakland, California.