New York City Benefit Reception 2020

Please join the Southern Center for Human Rights for an evening of community and justice to raise needed support to impact and change lives.

With Remarks From

Sara J. Totonchi
Executive Director

Sara J. Totonchi leads the Southern Center for Human Rights with passion, fearlessness, and vision. Sara leads the SCHR team in carrying out its mission to dramatically transform the criminal justice system.

In 2018, Sara was appointed to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom’s Criminal Justice Commission and serves on Mayor Bottoms’ Transition Team Criminal Justice Reform Subcommittee. In 2017, Sara was selected as a Strengthening Democracy Fellow with the Rockwood Leadership Institute. Georgia Trend has annually named Sara a “Notable Person” from 2012 through 2017. Under Sara’s leadership, SCHR has received numerous awards, including the Commitment to Equality Award from State Bar of Georgia’s Committee to Promote Inclusion, the Gate City Bar’s R.E. Thomas Civil Rights Award, and the Martin Luther King Community Service Award from Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health and the Goizueta Business School.

In 2020, Atlanta Magazine named Sara one of the 500 Most Powerful Leaders in Atlanta.

Sarah Geraghty
Managing Attorney, Impact Litigation

Sarah Geraghty is the managing attorney for impact litigation. Sarah practices in the areas of civil rights, habeas corpus, and class action litigation aimed at improving fairness and conditions in the criminal legal system. She has litigated cases challenging inhumane prison conditions, open records law violations, denial of the right to counsel, and the incarceration of indigent persons for debt.

Sarah has published articles and essays on the criminal legal system, including in Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Stanford Law & Policy Review, and Michigan Journal of Race & Law. Her work against the criminalization of poverty has been featured in many publications, including the New York Times. Sarah received the Indigent Defense Award from the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (2011), the Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need Award from Emory University School of Law (2017), and was listed by the Daily Report, Atlanta’s legal newspaper, as an attorney “On the Rise.”

And Special Guest

Stephen B. Bright
Former President and Senior Counsel