Amrith Kaur

Amrith Kaur Aakre joined the Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights organization, in 2017 as Legal Director. In this role, she supervises high impact litigation and manages initiatives toprotect the civil rights of all Americans in areas such as hate crimes, bullying, racial profiling,
workplace discrimination, and religious rights matters. In addition to legal cases, she works with public and private sector organizations to create anti-bias and cultural competence trainings geared towards minimizing employment and other types of discrimination, and is a  recognized expert on issues of race and religious rights. Prior to joining the Sikh Coalition, Amrith served as a Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney in Chicago for 11 years where she created and directed the Bond Court Initiative, a transformative alternative prosecution program focused on rehabilitating felony offenders rather than incarcerating them, and served on the CCSAO Hate Crime Advisory Council. As a highly experienced prosecutor, she also brings seasoned media experience to the job and has a background in policymaking.

Amrith currently serves on the Board of Directors for the ACLU of Illinois. She served as an Emerging Leaders Fellow for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, is a 2017 recipient of the Asian American Coalition’s Community Service of the year award, and was recognized by Crain’s Business New York as a Leading Woman Lawyer. In her free time, she is also a fitness instructor teaching HIIT bootcamp classes.

Amrith holds her Bachelor of Arts in Applied Science & Technology Engineering and English Literature from The George Washington University, and her Juris Doctor from The University of Illinois at Chicago's John Marshall Law School.