Sara Neel was hired as Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Colorado in October 2011 where she has focused her practice on a variety of civil rights issues including racial profiling, illegal searches, groundless arrests, police beatings, and arbitrary deprivations of liberty, while fighting for free expression, government transparency, religious freedom, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Sara was a part of the ACLU’s litigation team in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the case in which a same-sex couple was refused a wedding cake because of their sexual orientation. She also worked on a case challenging the Colorado Department of Correction’s failure to treat prisoners with Hepatitis C, resulting in a settlement that provided the funds necessary to treat all prisoners in the Colorado state prison system. As Managing Attorney, Sara oversees the ACLU of Colorado’s intake process, the law student internship programs, legal volunteers, and much of the day-to-day operations of the legal department.
A 2005 graduate of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Sara began her legal career at Killmer, Lane & Newman where she represented plaintiffs in civil rights and employment cases. The Colorado Trial Lawyers Association twice recognized Sara’s work at the firm, including as a co-recipient of the Access to Justice Award for her work defending detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sara enjoys spending time in the mountains skiing with her husband and son.