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JUSTICE CATALYST INC
NEW YORK, NY · EIN 814316506 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE R99 · Civil Rights & Advocacy · Medium ($1M-$10M) · justicecatalyst.org
revenue
$2.8M
expenses
$5.0M
net assets
$497K
employees
0
volunteers
3
program ratio
99%
mission · from form 990

JUSTICE CATALYST TAKES ON SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES THAT FALL BETWEEN THE CRACKS OF TRADITIONAL ADVOCACY MODELS. BY CONNECTING ADVOCATES WITH DIVERSE SPECIALTIES AND APPLYING A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO THE LAW, JUSTICE CATALYST DEVELOPS NEW, PATH-BREAKING APPROACHES TO ENSURE THAT THE LAW SERVES THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

profile · synthesized from sources

Justice Catalyst Inc supports early-career lawyers through innovative fellowship programs that advance systemic social, economic, and environmental justice. By funding and placing fellows at host organizations across the U.S., it enables high-impact litigation on issues falling outside traditional advocacy models, including antitrust enforcement, worker rights, immigration justice, and corporate accountability. The organization emphasizes cross-disciplinary legal strategies and structural reform.

named programs · 2 · from sources

What they call their work

Jonathan W. Cuneo COSAL/Justice Catalyst Fellowship
Joint fellowship with COSAL to support new lawyers pursuing antitrust litigation as a tool for accountability, hosted at plaintiff-side antitrust law firms nationwide.
Justice Catalyst Fellowship
Places early-career lawyers in one-year litigation fellowships at host organizations to pursue high-impact cases on systemic injustices across economic, environmental, and social justice domains.
activities · 5 groups

What they do

  • Legal Education Scholarships and Fellowships 2 activities
    • Administering postgraduate legal fellowships to advance public interest law
      Administers one-year, project-based fellowships for recent law school graduates to conduct innovative public interest litigation at host organizations, with potential for renewal. Provides $76,000 in annual salary support per fellow to host organizations and includes expectations for health and fringe benefits. Fellows work on issues such as antitrust accountability, immigrant rights, and systemic inequities in healthcare and corrections.
    • Supporting antitrust litigation through specialized legal fellowships
      Hosts early-career lawyers in antitrust-focused fellowships, including the Jonathan W. Cuneo COSAL/Justice Catalyst Fellowship, to pursue accountability against monopolistic and anti-competitive practices such as price fixing and market manipulation, while expanding access to the legal profession.
  • Legal Professional Development & Networking 1 activity
    • Building capacity of public interest lawyers through training and professional development
      Supports early-career and emerging public interest lawyers through professional development programming, including monthly book clubs, trainings, peer and expert networking, career coaching, and seed funding opportunities. Monitors fellows through regular Zoom meetings and written updates, and maintains an active network of over 100 alumni engaged in innovative social justice lawyering.
  • Civil Rights Advocacy & Litigation 1 activity
    • Developing and supporting high-impact interdisciplinary litigation
      Develops and supports high-impact, interdisciplinary legal cases and strategies focused on economic and social justice, including constitutional rights enforcement, challenges to corporate practices, AI bias in banking, and conditions of confinement in jails and prisons. The organization also administers a database of MOUD access cases and legal filings for use as litigation templates.
  • Human Rights Advocacy Funding 1 activity
    • Funding strategic impact litigation through grants and recoverable financing
      Provides grant funding, recoverable grants, and non-recourse investments to support social impact litigation, including state constitutional rights cases, fossil fuel accountability, solitary confinement reform, private prison oversight, and healthcare algorithm equity. Uses innovative financial instruments like Justice Notes—customizable, evergreen funding mechanisms repaid only from case outcomes—to sustainably finance portfolios of litigation.
  • Uncategorized 1 activity
    • Convening cross-disciplinary advocates to address systemic injustices
      Connects litigators, experts, and community members across disciplines to collaboratively develop legal solutions for complex social justice issues that fall outside traditional advocacy models.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$2.78M
Contributions & grants$2.50M90%
Program service revenue$200K7%
Investment income$78K3%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$5.04M
Program expenses99%
Admin / overhead1%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$0
Grants paid out$5.00M
Largest expense lineProfessional Fees
balance sheet
Total assets$5.00M
Cash$5.00M
Investments$0
Liabilities$4.50M
Net assets$497K
Liquid reserves11.9 mo
3 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue +10.7%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

board members · 3
  • BENJAMIN ELGA — PRESIDENT
  • JACOB LIPTON — TREASURER
  • JENNIFER BENNETT — SECRETARY
relationships · 40

Who they work with

  • ACLU State Supreme Court Initiative Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Lily Moore-Eissenberg’s impact litigation in state courts.
  • Atlanta Community Support Project Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Luci Harrell’s project on pro se court access for people in prison.
  • Center for Asset Retirement Accountability Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Gretchen Knaut’s project on fossil fuel industry accountability.
  • Centro de Los Derechos del Migrante Partner — Host organization for a Justice Catalyst Fellow working on labor rights abuses of TN visa workers by U.S.-based corporations.
  • ClientEarth Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Jaclyn Lee’s litigation on fossil fuel asset transfers.
  • Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws Partner — Collaborates with Justice Catalyst to co-sponsor the Jonathan W. Cuneo COSAL/Justice Catalyst Fellowship for new antitrust litigators.
  • Connecticut Fair Housing Center Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Lauren Taylor’s project on mortgage foreclosure practices.
  • Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca Partner — Participating law firm in the Jonathan W. Cuneo COSAL/Justice Catalyst Fellowship, providing hosting and mentorship for fellows.
  • Democracy Defenders Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Lica Porcile’s project on immigration enforcement accountability.
  • Garwin Gerstein & Fisher Partner — Participating law firm in the fellowship program, offering placement and supervision for early-career antitrust litigators.
  • Gustafson Gluek Partner — Participating law firm in the fellowship program, providing hosting opportunities for new lawyers in antitrust litigation.
  • Jonathan W. Cuneo Foundation Partner — Co-sponsors the Jonathan W. Cuneo COSAL/Justice Catalyst Fellowship focused on plaintiff-side antitrust litigation.
  • Justice Catalyst Network — JCAF is part of the Justice Catalyst network and operates as its 501(c)(3) arm providing financial support to litigators.
  • Justice Catalyst Network — Justice Catalyst Partnerships is a program of Justice Catalyst Inc.
  • Justice Catalyst Access Fund Partner — Program offering recoverable grants and non-recourse investments to scale social impact litigation.
  • Justice Catalyst Fellowships Partner — Program that supports emerging attorneys in launching high-impact social justice legal work.
  • Justice Catalyst Law Network — Operating name or affiliated entity under Justice Catalyst Inc.
  • Justice Catalyst Law Partner — Entity within the Justice Catalyst ecosystem focused on developing and litigating high-impact cases.
  • Justice Catalyst Partnerships Partner — Initiative providing grantmaking and collaboration support for early-stage legal nonprofits and projects.
  • Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy Partner — Co-host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Malik Marshall’s project on subcontracted workers’ rights.
  • MacArthur Justice Center Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Jack Stephens’ challenge to prisoner housing practices in Louisiana.
  • NYU Wagner Labor Initiative Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Tascha Shahriari-Parsa’s project on worker exploitation.
  • National Day Laborer Organizing Network Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Sarah Southey’s project on worksite immigration raids.
  • Public Justice Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Jacqueline Arkush’s work exposing private corrections corporations.
  • Robins Kaplan Partner — Participating law firm in the fellowship program, offering placement for early-career lawyers in antitrust litigation.
  • Salahi PC Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Jordan Cozby’s workers’ rights and antitrust enforcement work.
  • Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP Partner — Hosts Justice Catalyst fellows for antitrust litigation work, including Nathan Eichten in 2025-2026.
  • Shinder Cantor Lerner LLP Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Cynthia Murphy’s antitrust litigation work.
  • Simonsen Sussman Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Bryce Wommack’s project on fair markets.
  • Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Partner — Host organization for Justice Catalyst Fellow Marwa Sayed’s investigation of AI in banking compliance.
+ 10 more
strategies · 4

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Equity-Centered Legal Intervention with Antitrust Leverage
    methodology: antitrust-enforcement-for-equity
    By applying antitrust enforcement and other underused legal tools to challenge corporate dominance, we produce greater economic equity and access because dismantling concentrated power opens systems to fairer participation, especially for historically excluded communities.
  • Problem-Centric Litigation for Systemic Change
    methodology: problem-centric_litigation
    By starting with a real-world societal problem and developing innovative legal responses, we produce transformative and scalable impact because litigation rooted in lived experience is more likely to address root causes and generate structural change.
  • Strategic Systemic Litigation as Deterrence and Accountability
    methodology: systemic_impact_litigation
    By supporting boundary-pushing, high-leverage litigation—such as class actions and replicable legal strategies—we produce broad-scale systemic change because these approaches create binding precedents and deter future unlawful conduct by powerful institutions.
  • Sustainable Scaling of Impact Litigation via Non-Recourse Funding
    methodology: non-recourse_funding_model
    By providing non-recourse funding and recycled repayment mechanisms like the Justice Note, we produce sustained growth in social impact litigation because removing financial risk enables litigators to pursue high-cost, high-reward cases without personal or organizational ruin.