Deborah Simpson left private practice with a prestigious New York City law firm to join the Institute for Justice in September 1997. For more than two years, Deborah was the lead attorney on the Institute’s successful economic liberty case in Las Vegas challenging an unconstitutional licensing and enforcement regime that prohibited independent limousine drivers from operating. She was also part of the team litigating our economic liberty case in New York City defending the rights of jitney van drivers and another New York case challenging protectionist wine shipping and advertising laws. Deborah is a long-time advocate of individual rights who has written on the abuses of civil asset forfeiture and on issues of regulatory takings and the non-delegation doctrine.

After the birth of her first daughter, Deborah shifted her focus from specific litigation to a more central role focusing on management, fundraising and general litigation responsibilities as IJ’s Managing Director.

Deborah earned her law degree from New York Law School where she served as Executive Editor of the New York Law School Law Review. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Drew University. After law school, she clerked for Federal District Judge Edward B. Davis and Magistrate Judge Robert L. Dubé in the Southern District of Florida.