Manohar Raju is the San Francisco Public Defender and a founding member of Public Defenders for Racial Justice.
A son of immigrants from India, his pursuit of justice is rooted in his acute awareness of the ramifications of social inequalities. Despite coming from a farming village, his parents managed to emigrate to America, where they raised Mano on the East Coast.
Mr. Raju completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, and holds a Master’s degree in South Asian Studies from U.C. Berkeley, where he also earned his law degree. He worked as a Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County for seven years before he was recruited by Jeff Adachi to join the SF Public Defender’s felony unit in 2008. Due to his impressive practice as a felony line attorney, he was promoted to be the Director of Training and then Manager of the Felony Unit.
Mr. Raju is deeply committed to a client-centered approach to defense work. “Our impact is not measured in numbers, but in the people we represent,” he said. “It’s by the mother who can return home to her family. The son who can continue to work to support his family. And to the children of those we defend, who benefit from having an equal opportunity to survive and who might one day use that opportunity to lead.”
The personal interest he takes in his clients’ lives helps fuel him not only to fiercely litigate and win cases, but also to raise his voice against the inequities he and his clients encounter in the criminal justice system. It has earned him the loyalty of his entire Department and the confidence of Mayor London Breed, who appointed him to fill the post in March 2019. As Public Defender, Mano will continue to uphold the office’s reputation not only as a formidable group of lawyers, but also as a catalyst for criminal justice reform.