Pamela Spees

Senior Staff Attorney

Pam Spees is a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. She has a background in international criminal and human rights law. Her work focuses on addressing gender-based violence, persecution on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and the support of environmental justice movements and the right to protest. Her major cases and projects include a series of cases in support of environmental activists opposing pipelines in Louisiana and North Dakota; Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) v. Scott Lively, a federal lawsuit against U.S.-based anti-gay extremist Scott Lively for his role in the persecution of the LGBTI community in Uganda; Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) v. Vatican, seeking accountability for the crimes against humanity of sexual violence by clergy and cover-up; and the Right to Heal initiative with Iraqi civil society groups and Iraq War Veterans seeking accountability for the Iraq war and its lasting health effects.

Prior to joining CCR, she practiced criminal law in Louisiana, where she represented indigent people in state and federal court. She has also served as Program Director of the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice, an international advocacy network dedicated to ensuring accountability in the International Criminal Court for crimes of sexual and gender violence. She graduated from the City University of New York School of Law.

Her recent articles and publications include, “Understanding Clergy Sexual ‘Abuse’ as Torture” in the Huffington Post; “The Days of Impunity for Vatican Officials Are Numbered” on Truthout; “Surfacing Rhonda” in City University of New York Law Review; and “Eight Years After the Coup in Honduras, The Struggle Continues” She has appeared on national and international radio and television including NPR, BBC, CNN, Democracy Now! and Al Jazeera, and been interviewed in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Irish Times, and others.

She is a recipient of the Blackstone Award given by the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.