Jennifer Mccartney

Jennifer M. McCartney, Firm Director, began her career at Children’s Law Center of California in 2006 as a staff attorney. In 2009, Ms. McCartney was assigned to the Indian Child Welfare Act Court in Edelman Children’s Court, gaining expertise in her representation of Native American children in their dependency court cases. She later became a writ attorney; her work included writing and filing CLC’s first appellate respondent’s brief, assisting with research and writing on a United States Supreme Court Opposition, and summarizing newly published California Appellate and Supreme Court cases. Ms. McCartney served as counsel on the high profile dependency case In re Alexandria P., in which the California Court of Appeal reaffirmed that it is the legal and ethical obligation of child’s counsel to represent the interest of the child in dependency court proceedings, not any other entity. With CLC’s expansion, in 2019 she became Firm Director of the newly formed CLCLA5. Ms. McCartney obtained her Bachelor in Arts in Political Science from Chapman University, and her Juris Doctorate at Whittier Law School.