Bryan Stevenson is an American lawyer, social justice activist, law professor at New York University School of Law, and the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, he has challenged bias against the poor and minorities in the criminal justice system, especially children. He has helped achieve United States Supreme Court decisions that prohibit sentencing children under 18 to death or to life imprisonment without parole. He has assisted in cases that have saved dozens of prisoners from the death penalty, advocated for the poor, and developed community-based reform litigation aimed at improving the administration of criminal justice.

The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it was the first law school established in New York City and is the oldest surviving law school in New York State and one of the oldest law schools in the United States. Located in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, NYU Law grants J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees.