Karis Stephen

Ms. Stephen earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School with honors in legal writing. While in law school, Ms. Stephen held a law clerk position in the Hearings Unit of Baltimore’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, completed an externship with Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, and interned with a plaintiff-side employment law firm in Philadelphia.

During law school, Ms. Stephen was the Community Editor for The Regulatory Review and an Associate Editor for the University Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change. Additionally, Ms. Stephen was also a board member of the Black Law Student Association and the Education and Advocacy Coordinator of If/When/How, a student pro bono organization focused on advancing reproductive rights and justice.

Prior to attending law school, Ms. Stephen was the recipient of a Fulbright Award for which she spent a year as an English Teaching Assistant at a high school in Malaysia.

As an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Stephen won an English departmental prize for her thesis titled Black Travel through Time and Space: Music Videos from Sun Ra to Erykah Badu, in which she explored Afrofuturism in the music space. As a member of the Performing Arts Council Executive Board, she headed up the After School Arts Program, a university-funded arts program for youth in West Philadelphia public schools. Ms. Stephen graduated summa cum laude and was selected to be a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Outside of work, Ms. Stephen is a musician, creative writer, and avid moviegoer.