Araceli Campos

Araceli Campos

Having Ethnicity, Race & Migration as an available course of study had a significant impact on my life.  Not only were the courses very fun (full of discussions constituting some of my fondest memories of Yale), they were extremely substantive.  As a member of the first graduating class of ER&M, I recall how the opportunity added a whole new layer of richness to my Yale education.  The caliber of teaching in the ER&M department has always been unsurpassable: professors like Michael Denning, Patricia Passar, Bryan Hayashi, and of course, the superb Stephen Pitti challenged me intellectually and nurtured me in my evolution as a critical thinker.  They pushed us to the full capacity of our potential, teaching us the theoretical bases of racial and ethnic studies, which include the tenets of constitutional equity in our democratic society, and serve to strengthen the very rule of law that I have come to appreciate, as an attorney and a public servant, as precious.  They also taught us to apply the theory to broader society, including to the global forces at work in our lives, always asking us to consider practical applications of our learning toward the development of innovative solutions for many of the persisting inequities in the world.  My Yale education, and to great extent, the ER&M major, afforded me a wonderful foundation for understanding in a much more nuanced manner traditional subjects, including history, economics, law, and policy, that I have utilized so much for my life’s work.  I remain grateful for this opportunity, and am very encouraged in knowing that future generations of Yale students will get to experience, and in turn, continually innovate (as is fitting) ER&M.”

Araceli Campos is Corporate Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization.  Ms. Campos serves in helping MALDEF further its mission of advancing the civil rights of the nation’s Latino community through advocacy, community education, and litigation.  She brings a strong record of service and unique experience to her current role at MALDEF, having first worked at MALDEF in the Office of the President and General Counsel following her graduation from Yale.

Ms. Campos began her legal career with the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, where for several years she worked out the firm’s Los Angeles and New York offices representing clients in a variety of intellectual property, media, and entertainment matters, and in several high-profile government investigations.  She has also worked with other firms and her own clients in both business litigation and transactions, focused on business issues for a variety of entrepreneurs in the entertainment and media industry.  Ms. Campos clerked for the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section, focusing on civil rights public policy in California. 

In 2009, Ms. Campos was appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council as a Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.  She currently serves as President of the City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women and as Vice President of the Association of California Commissions on Women.  In other areas of service, she has provided hundreds of hours of pro bono attorney services, garnering firm recognition for her defense of a female genocide child asylum claimant. 

Araceli Campos is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where she was a founder and President of the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights/Civil Liberties and was awarded the Public Service Award for her community work and academic achievement, and she is a graduate of Yale University, where she graduated with distinction in History and was a founder of and in the first class of graduates with the major of Ethnicity, Race & Migration.

Bio: 

Araceli Campos is Corporate Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization.  Ms. Campos serves in helping MALDEF further its mission of advancing the civil rights of the nation’s Latino community through advocacy, community education, and litigation.  She brings a strong record of service and unique experience to her current role at MALDEF, having first worked at MALDEF in the Office of the President and General Counsel following her graduation from Yale.

Ms. Campos began her legal career with the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, where for several years she worked out the firm’s Los Angeles and New York offices representing clients in a variety of intellectual property, media, and entertainment matters, and in several high-profile government investigations.  She has also worked with other firms and her own clients in both business litigation and transactions, focused on business issues for a variety of entrepreneurs in the entertainment and media industry.  Ms. Campos clerked for the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section, focusing on civil rights public policy in California. 

In 2009, Ms. Campos was appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council as a Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.  She currently serves as President of the City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women and as Vice President of the Association of California Commissions on Women.  In other areas of service, she has provided hundreds of hours of pro bono attorney services, garnering firm recognition for her defense of a female genocide child asylum claimant. 

Araceli Campos is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where she was a founder and President of the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights/Civil Liberties and was awarded the Public Service Award for her community work and academic achievement, and she is a graduate of Yale University, where she graduated with distinction in History and was a founder of and in the first class of graduates with the major of Ethnicity, Race & Migration.