Emily Galvin-Almanza is the co-founder and Executive Director of Partners for Justice, a new model of collaborative public defense designed to empower public defenders nationwide. Launched in 2018, PFJ has now eliminated over 5,000 years of incarceration and grown from two sites to over 40 locations around the nation. 

Prior to founding PFJ, Emily fought for clients inside the LA County Public Defender, Santa Clara County Public Defender, and Bronx Defenders, and also served as one of the first attorneys fighting for release of life-sentenced people with the Stanford Three Strikes Project. Emily clerked for the Honorable Thelton Henderson of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and is a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, where she earned the Deborah Rhode Prize for her work in the public interest. 

In 2017, she was named one of the American Bar Association’s Top 40 Young Lawyers. She is currently working on a book about the criminal court system, which will be published by Crown, an imprint of Penguin RandomHouse, in early 2026.