Cynthia Liao

Senior Counsel

Cynthia Liao is a Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Cynthia Liao joins Democracy Forward after most recently serving as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch, where she litigated high-stakes challenges to federal regulations and enforcement actions in district courts across the country, including numerous cases involving structural constitutional challenges to federal agencies’ authority. Before that, she worked at the U.S. Department of Labor for 7 years, most recently as a senior counsel to the Solicitor of Labor. Her portfolio included constitutional and administrative law issues affecting DOL programs, DOL’s Supreme Court and amicus docket, and workers’ compensation, among others.

Cynthia clerked for Judge David O. Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and Judge Michael D. Hawkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated from Yale Law School and Stanford University.