Cary McClelland

Bio

Cary McClelland is a civil rights lawyer and award-winning writer and filmmaker who brings to
his teaching a global experience of conflict resolution and a personal understanding of the role
of storytelling in dispute resolution.

As an attorney, Cary has worked primarily in defense of the freedom of expression and other
civil rights, advancing prominent cases related to election misinformation, digital privacy rights,
and disparities arising from Covid-19. He defended journalists and artists in various First
Amendment suits, including Buzzfeed’s publication of the Christopher Steele dossier. He
represented clients who fought to protect the private information of online users from
government seizure and challenged the Trump administration’s travel ban against Muslim-
majority countries. Most recently, he led a team of lawyers representing New York individuals
and organizations who fought on behalf of communities disproportionately impacted by the
Covid-19 in their action against the federal health agencies for their statutory failures during
the pandemic.

Prior to the law, Cary spent the first part of his career working on human rights and conflict
resolution initiatives throughout the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He trained
former child soldiers to be journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo, worked alongside
opposition activists in Zimbabwe, and collaborated on advocacy campaigns in Egypt, Syria, and
Myanmar. He has a particular interest in traditional and restorative conflict transformation
processes, and so has studied and supported the United Nations truth commission in East
Timor and tribal courts in sub-Saharan Africa. Working with Witness and Google, he founded
and launched a Webby-Award-winning media channel highlighting and protecting the work of
citizen journalists around the world.

Alongside these efforts, Cary has continued to document and bring to life stories of people
persisting in turbulent times. His award-winning film, Without Shepherds, centers the lives of
six people fighting against extremism in Pakistan, including the nation’s current Prime Minister
Imran Khan as he launched his political party. Cary’s recent book Silicon City tells the story of
San Francisco transformed by the tech industry and the new American economy through
portraits of its citizens, past and present; it was chosen as one of Stanford University’s Three
Books of 2019. Currently, he is completing a book on New York City’s experience of the Covid-
19 pandemic and advancing another on grassroots populism in West Virginia.

His research focuses on the role of narrative and data in rights advocacy, structural reform, and
conflict resolution efforts throughout the United States and beyond. He is a frequently invited
speaker on topics of media, technology, democracy, rule of law and storytelling.

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Stanford Law School