Katurah Topps (L’15) is an activist and civil rights lawyer. She uses legal, legislative, and policy- centered approaches at the local, state, and federal levels to dismantle racially discriminatory systems that impede the safety or advancement of Black people in America—most notably, America’s policing system and governmental uses of harmful technologies. In doing so, Topps works closely with impacted communities and grassroots organizations across the country to support community-led interventions and demand government transparency, accountability, and change.

For nearly five years, Topps served as policy counsel for the most prestigious civil rights law firm in the country,the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (“LDF”). She used her expertise to help craft bills and lead local and national policy changes in response to state sanctioned violence against Black and brown communities, while addressing decades old practices of discrimination. This included helping lead LDF’s investigation of the policing practices behind George Floyd’s murder and creating policy platforms for multiple states in response to the disproportionate death of Black Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to this role, Topps also helped LDF lead campaigns through its Justice in Public Safety Project (formerly Policing Reform Campaign) in many cities afflicted by police violence, including New York City (which hosts the largest police force in America); Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore; Chicago; and North Charleston.

Topps has been a practicing attorney for nearly a decade. After graduating from Georgetown Law School in 2015, she became a member of the Virginia and New York State bars and clerked for the Honorable Judge Gerald Lee, at the fastest federal court in the country, the “Rocket Docket.” As a federal law clerk, Topps provided legal review and guidance on a variety of high profile federal cases, including issues of domestic terrorism, patents and trademarks, RICO claims, and multiple gang-affiliated murder trials. She then spent years working as a NYC corporate attorney at Simpson Thacher and Bartlett, LLC, where she co-found the Civil Rights and Liberties Initiative, using the law firm’s extensive resources to address systemic harms to Black New Yorkers, before ultimately working at LDF. 

Topps recently appeared on the hit reality TV show Survivor, where she spent 25 days in a Fijian jungle with 17 strangers, while being deprived of food and access to any comforts of the modern world. Topps finished as a Survivor finalist and was subsequently named as award-winning recording artist Sia’s “favorite Survivor player,” securing a $100,000 prize.