Amber M. Koonce is an Assistant Counsel. She joins LDF from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, where she maintained an active pro bono practice as a Litigation Associate. Amber previously clerked for the Hon. William A. Fletcher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and worked as a Luce Scholar for the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation in the Philippines.
As a committed advocate for incarcerated children, Amber currently represents an individual challenging a sentence of juvenile life without parole. Prior to law school, Amber worked with youth detained in North Carolina, Ghana, Scotland, and the Philippines. While in law school, Amber was an active member of the Capital Punishment and San Francisco Affirmative Litigation clinics. Amber founded the international non-profit BeautyGap, which supports the development of girls of color by providing them with dolls of color. Amber’s efforts through BeautyGap have earned her recognition by TEDx, The Root, Glamour Magazine, and Cosmopolitan Magazine, among others.
Amber received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow, and her B.A. with Highest Distinction in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship.
Amber is a member of the New York State Bar. Admitted in New York only; application for admission to the District of Columbia Bar filed; practices under the supervision of District of Columbia Bar members.
Admitted to practice only in New York.
