Sophie Hart
Supervising Staff Attorney

Sophie joined the Prison Law Office as a Jane Kahn Legal Fellow in 2018, and was promoted to Staff Attorney in September 2020. She works primarily on Plata v. Newsom, a class action lawsuit concerning the provision of medical care in California prisons, and on cases challenging the conditions of confinement in county jails. Prior to joining the PLO, Sophie served as a law clerk to the Honorable Andrew D. Hurwitz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Washington.  At Stanford, she co-founded the Stanford Prisoner Advocacy and Resources Coalition and represented people charged with crimes in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties with the Stanford Criminal Defense Clinic. Sophie also served as a summer law clerk at the Texas Fair Defense Project and the PLO. In college, Sophie taught sustainable gardening in a state prison, volunteered with a radio program featuring stories from incarcerated authors, and researched reentry programs while studying abroad in Italy. She was admitted to the California State Bar in August 2018.