Alice O’Brien has served as general counsel for the National Education Association (NEA) since 2010. She has grown NEA’s legal work in defense of educators and student civil rights, defended union and employment rights, and litigated school voucher and school funding cases. Before coming to NEA, she worked as chief counsel to the California Teachers Association (2008–10) and as an associate and then member with the union-side firm of Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC (1995–2008). Her work representing educators and unions over the last three decades has included litigating more than a dozen cases in state and federal court relating to the scope and meaning of federal and state constitutional commitments to public education. She graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from Georgetown University Law School with a JD.