Staff

Lauren Regan, AAL, Executive Director & Senior Staff Attorney (she/her)

After five years of public interest environmental law, Lauren Regan went on to create the Civil Liberties Defense Center and is currently the executive director and senior staff attorney. Over the past 18 years, Lauren and CLDC have defended over 4,000 activists from around the country for free. Lauren is a national expert in the defense of political activists, particularly those engaged in the climate, environmental, indigenous and animal rights movements. She is a trial lawyer who handles state and federal criminal defense, SLAPP defense, grand jury resistance, and federal civil rights litigation against police and government agencies for violating the rights of activists and organizations. Lauren and CLDC provide over 100 Know Your Rights trainings a year to activists, immigrants, and other at risk groups. Lauren is also an Oregon State Bar leadership fellow, a volunteer Teen Court judge, and has been given dozens of public interest attorney awards over more than two decades of activist lawyering. She is always mentoring law students and new attorneys, and trains and co-counsels others lawyers to use their legal skills to support lefty causes.

Sarah Alvarez, Staff Attorney (she/her)

Sarah is deeply committed to efforts to end state-sanctioned violence. Previously she was a public defender representing low-income people accused of crimes in Snohomish County, Washington. She holds a law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, where she served as a fellow for the Food Resiliency Project at the Environmental and Natural Resources Center. Previously Sarah was a law clerk at the Josephine County Public Defender’s Office, a student co-director of the University of Oregon National Lawyers Guild chapter, and a CLDC law clerk.

Marianne Dugan, Senior Staff Attorney (she/her)

Marianne graduated from the University of Oregon Law School in 1993, with certificates in Environmental Law and Ocean and Coastal Law. She also holds a master’s degree in environmental studies. From 1993 to 1999 Ms. Dugan worked for the Western Environmental Law Center as its first staff attorney and then as associate director. She then was a partner with the law firm of Facaros and Dugan, before going into solo practice in May 2005. Ms. Dugan is the chair of the Sierra Club’s national litigation committee, and has served on the Oregon State Bar Civil Rights Executive Committee. She serves on the board of Access the Law, and has served on the boards of Friends of Land-Air-Water, Western Lands Project, and Portia Project. She served on the Board of the Civil Liberties Defense Center from 2004 until 2013, including service as President and as Secretary at various times. For three years running Ms. Dugan was listed in the Oregon edition of “Superlawyers” in the field of environmental law, and she coaches the University of Oregon’s environmental moot court team at the annual national competition.

Ruby Jernigan, Administrative Specialist (they/them)

Ruby grew up in the borderlands of Southern Arizona where they first began organizing for migrant justice. After moving to Eugene, they completed their BS in General Social Sciences: Crime, Law, and Society. Throughout their time in Oregon, they have participated in the work of various grassroots organizations and local non-profits, centering climate activism, abolition, and prisoner support. They enjoy creating movement-related art – especially zines, posters, sculpture, and web graphics, and love bringing people together through storytelling, music, and radical poetry.

Amber Mongan, Operations Director (she/her)

Amber first began working with CLDC in 2011, collaborating with founder and senior staff attorney Lauren Regan and a team of volunteers, interns, law clerks, and board members. Together they nurtured what was then a tiny grassroots legal non-profit into what it is today. Over the years she has served CLDC in various capacities: as office manager, associate director, board member, and advisory board member. In 2021, Amber rejoined CLDC as operations manager. She has a B.S. in Sociology and Business Administration from the University of Oregon, and a Masters in Administration and Management from Colorado State University. She has a background in advocacy, grants, fiduciary issues, and project management.

Chava Shapiro, Engagement Specialist (they/them)

Chava Shapiro has worked alongside people facing state repression since 2008. They have worked directly with defendants and incarcerated people to move through the criminal punishment system in a way that both reflects their values and maintains the ability for the movements they are a part of to reach their tactical goals.

Chava has a special interest in Grand Jury education and resistance. In 2017 they co-developed a grand jury education model that has been widely utilized by Grand Jury resisters and their support networks. They have spoken on community-based movement defense across the country and are a founding member of several anti-repression committees that provide support to those who seek more liberatory futures. Chava is also a writer and was recently included in the anthology “There is Nothing So Whole As A Broken Heart: Mending the World As Jewish Anarchists,” edited by Cindy Milstein and published by AK Press.