Akruti Chandrayya

Akruti is currently part of the General Sessions team at the Law Office of the Shelby County Public Defender. In her daily practice, Akruti believes in the importance of recognizing the long-lasting effects of trauma and how it impacts her clients while interacting with the criminal legal system.

Before joining the office, Akruti graduated from UCLA School of Law in 2022 and was a Gideon’s Promise LSPP Fellow. During her time in law school, Akruti focused and researched on the damaging effects of pretrial detention on people’s lives and the issues with bail reforms that merely replicate different forms of incarceration. She also co-headed and participated in expungement clinics to assist clients in clearing their previous history with the criminal legal system. Prior to this, Akruti completed her undergraduate degree in India where she had the opportunity to work in a public interest firm that focused on impact litigation surrounding pretrial detention reform.