Lisa Douglass is the director of the Stanford Social Security Disability Project, which enables students to provide pro bono services to indigent clients with Social Security disability claims. The program is aimed at residents and day clients of the Opportunity Center of the Midpeninsula, a Palo Alto facility that provides housing and services for the homeless.
Lisa Douglass received her BA and MA from Stanford University and JD from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining Stanford Law School, she worked as a public defender in Seattle, Washington for four years, focusing on obtaining drastically reduced sentences for her mentally-ill clients. During that time, she partnered with a social worker to develop community-based treatment plans that judges could choose as alternatives to incarceration. She later left to public defender's office to join a public interest law firm, representing indigent clients in Social Security Disability hearings and appeals.