John Viola

John Viola has taught at San Francisco State University since 2005, and he maintains a private criminal defense practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received his B.A. in American Studies at San Francisco State University and his Juris Doctorate at City University of New York School of Law. Prior to law school, he worked in numerous direct-action campaigns and remains active with social movements. As a lawyer, he actively participated in legal support for the Global Justice movement, Direct Action to Stop the War, Oscar Grant 100, Occupy Oakland, Black Lives Matter, Water Protectors, and the 2020 uprisings against state sanctioned, anti-Black violence. He is a former staff attorney at the Coalition on Homelessness and has collaborated with numerous local and national civil rights and legal services organizations including, the American Civil Liberties Union NC, the Ella Baker Center, the Eviction Defense Collaborative, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. He is an advisory member of the National Lawyers Guild’s local and national mass defense committees. Persistent collective action toward equality and liberation is at the heart of his professional and academic activities.