Ryan Kendall

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT RYAN KENDALL

I’m a civil rights litigator focused on advancing justice through strategic impact litigation, coalition-building, and persuasive advocacy that achieves real-world change. My work centers on protecting constitutional rights, expanding housing access, and defending free expression—always through collaboration with the communities most affected. I’ve led complex matters that produced meaningful benefits and statewide precedent. Recent highlights include defeating a public library censorship scheme in Huntington Beach alongside the ACLU of Southern California and the First Amendment Coalition; securing published appellate precedent enforcing California’s housing element law against noncompliant charter cities; and defending Los Angeles’s COVID-19 eviction protections against constitutional attack, safeguarding housing stability for thousands of renters. I’ve also litigated tenant-harassment and high-impact prison-conditions cases that strengthened protections for vulnerable populations.Before entering public-interest practice, I served as a key fact witness in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the Proposition 8 trial that struck down California’s marriage-ban and helped blaze the path toward nationwide marriage equality. My testimony on the harms of conversion therapy was cited by the court, dramatized in Dustin Lance Black’s play \"8,\" and helped catalyze legislative bans across the country. Today, I continue to partner with lawmakers, advocates, and service providers to expand housing equity, strengthen civil-rights enforcement, and mentor the next generation of impact litigators and advocates. My life and work have taught me that a better tomorrow is possible—but it is up to us to do the work to make it real. I bring innovative strategy; a principled, collaborative ethos; and disciplined advocacy to the work of creating change that matters.