Claire Glenn is an experienced trial attorney dedicated to providing zealous criminal defense representation to activists and protestors. She brings to her practice a movement-oriented ethos grounded in anti-racist, anti-colonizer, anti-carceral, and anti-capitalist values, while remaining perennially client-centered.
She began her litigation career as a public defender—first, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and then in Hennepin County, Minnesota—and remains committed to providing a better defense than money can buy. Most recently, Claire worked as the Attorney-Fellow for the Line 3 Defense Project of the Civil Liberties Defense Center and Water Protector Legal Collective, representing Water Protectors targeted by the State of Minnesota for resisting Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline. She is thrilled to both continue and broaden this advocacy work as a Climate Defense Project staff attorney.
Before becoming a lawyer, Claire led community-based economic development projects with micro-entrepreneurs, rural communities, and communities struggling after the foreclosure crisis in Michigan. Claire graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law, where she was Editor-in-Chief of The Review of Law & Social Change. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Paul L. Friedman in the District Court for the District of Columbia and the Honorable Todd E. Edelman in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.