Tanya Acker

A frequent guest on various television and radio broadcasts (including “Larry King Live,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” and “Headline News” on CNN; “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Hannity and Colmes,” Your World With Neil Cavuto” “Geraldo at Large,” “Studio B with Shepherd Smith,” and “The Live Desk with Martha MacCallum” on the Fox News Channel; “Verdict With Dan Abrams” on MSNBC and “Kudlow & Company” on CNBC, as well as various other broadcasts on the E! Channel and the U.K.’s Sky News) Tanya Acker is presently a member of the panel of experts on SheSource.org, a resource for news media seeking experts on diverse topics. Acker was cast in and shot a CBS primetime television pilot, created and produced by the creators of “Extreme Makeover Home Edition,” in which she worked with individuals in challenging situations and helped them resolve their crises.

During her studies at Yale Law School, from where she graduated in 1995, Acker worked in the Office of White House Counsel in the Clinton White House, in the Civil Rights Division in the United States Department of Justice, and interned at various private law firms. After graduation, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Dorothy Wright Nelson on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; her duties during this appointment included advising and making recommendations to Judge Nelson and other judges about rulings on a broad variety of cases, and preparing Judge Nelson for oral argument on matters before the Circuit.

Acker was then awarded a Bristow Fellowship in the Office of the Solicitor General at the United States Department of Justice, where she drafted briefs on behalf of the Government before the United States Supreme Court. Acker also assisted the Solicitor General in his preparation for various oral arguments before the High Court, including the Clinton v. Jones case, where she participated with the Solicitor General and President Clinton’s personal attorneys in preparing for oral argument before the Supreme Court.

Acker subsequently worked as a litigator in the law firms of Latham & Watkins, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Fox & Spillane, where she worked both as a lead attorney and in a supporting role on a broad variety of cases including state supreme court matters, corporate litigation involving public and private entities, and various constitutional cases. In the course of her practice, Acker received the ACLU’s First Amendment Award for her successful representation of the homeless in a case against the City of Santa Barbara. Acker also conducted a successful solo representation of a defendant entertainment firm in a breach of contract/wrongful termination jury trial. She also represented a high-profile talent agent in a dispute with his agency and negotiated his successful exit from the agency.

Acker then worked on the 2004 Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign, later served as the Deputy Campaign Manager for the mayoral campaign of Councilman Bernard C. Parks, and now works as an independent legal, political and media consultant.
Acker received her B.A. degree at Howard University, where she graduated summa cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She was awarded a Luard Scholarship to study at Oxford University, where she served as the co-editor-in-chief of the Oxford University Women’s Magazine. At Yale Law School, she was awarded an Earl Warren Scholarship by the NAACP and a Coker Fellowship by the Yale faculty.

Acker serves on the boards of Inner-City Arts, a non-profit educational facility that provides a comprehensive arts curriculum to underprivileged youth, Public Counsel, the nation’s largest provider of free legal services, and Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. She also serves on the board of EmeraChem LLC, a Tennessee-based manufacturer that is dedicated to the development of clean energy products.