Allen joined the ACLU of South Carolina as Legal Director in July of 2021. He brings a deep ideological commitment to civil liberties and a passion for protecting and vindicating the rights of the poorest and most marginalized members of our society.
Allen is a graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law where he received his Juris Doctorate and a Certificate in Constitutional Rights and Remedies. After graduating, he started his career as a deputy public defender before moving briefly into private practice where he handled criminal appeals and civil rights cases.
Allen moved to Greenville in 2018 and thereafter founded the South Carolina Justice Project, a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to bringing lawsuits on behalf of groups and individuals whose rights had been violated by the state criminal justice apparatus (police, jails, prisons, fines/fees, and the like).
As the Legal Director, Allen is responsible for developing and executing the legal strategies of the ACLU of South Carolina. He also consults and coordinates with our policy and communication teams to disrupt and remediate unjust and unconstitutional systems in South Carolina.