Overview

Krithika Santhanam works on the School Development team to assist schools with their establishment, renewal, and revocation defense. She brings over a decade of advocacy experience on a broad range of education issues, including exclusionary discipline practices, the school-to-prison pipeline, inequitable school funding, and systemic barriers to college access. Krithika has been a policy consultant for clients such as The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Liberty Hill Foundation, the City of Los Angeles’ Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department, and The Expanded Learning Alliance.

Before joining Young, Minney & Corr in 2024, Krithika served as the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles, overseeing the organization’s public interest advocacy and pro bono legal services for over 500+ clients. Previously, she served as a staff attorney at a national civil rights organization, working to advance education justice through litigation, grassroots organizing, and policy advocacy. Krithika started her legal career as a corporate litigator at a leading international law firm, where she practiced complex commercial litigation on behalf of private and public entities.

Krithika graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, where she was also a Public Interest Scholar. While in law school, she represented indigent juvenile clients in delinquency proceedings through The Juvenile Justice Clinic and worked in the capital habeas unit of the Federal Public Defender’s Office. Krithika also served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Consuelo B. Marshall in the Central District of California. She is passionate about ensuring that all children and youth, particularly those who experience discrimination due to disability, race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation, have access to high-quality education within safe, inclusive, and nurturing learning environments.