Isabel Lafky

Attorney

Isabel is an alumni of Reed College and UCLA School of Law, where she graduated with an award for pro-bono distinction. At UCLA, she served as a Senior Editor on the Law Review, as well as Editor-in-Chief of the Dukeminier Awards Journal, a publication of the Williams Institute, the nation’s foremost LGBT research organization. During law school, Isabel worked at the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington as a judicial extern to the Honorable Judge Lauren King. 

 Prior to law school, Isabel worked in the legal program of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, where she assisted asylum seekers and refugees with gaining legal status. She also taught classes for those wishing to take the civics test necessary to become a United States citizen. She continued her passion for teaching at UCLA, where she taught basic legal concepts and rights to high school students in Los Angeles as part of the “Street Law” program. 

 In addition to practicing law, Isabel is also involved in legal scholarship. Her focus is on access to justice in rural areas. She is the author of Geography as Legal Destiny: The West Coast’s Rural Access to Justice Crisis, published by The Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy. 

 Isabel is a sixth-generation Pacific Northwesterner. She is passionate about preserving the region’s unique and ecologically vital landscape, as well as ensuring equitable access to resources for the Northwest’s rural populations. She joined Center for Nonprofit Law as an attorney in April of 2025. Outside of work, Isabel enjoys being outdoors in any capacity, including hiking, backpacking, 4X4ing, and horseback riding.