Laura Bakst

Senior Counsel

Laura Bakst is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.
Most recently, Laura was a staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights where she litigated novel state and federal constitutional claims to protect and expand reproductive healthcare access. Prior to that, Laura served as a trial attorney for the Federal Programs Branch at the United States Department of Justice, defending high-profile constitutional and administrative law challenges to federal statutes and agency actions across a range of issues, including gun control, religious freedom, and reproductive healthcare. Laura is a recipient of the DOJ Civil Division Special Commendation Award and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Honor Award. She also previously practiced at Williams & Connolly and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as well as the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Laura received her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and her B.S. from Cornell University.