Debby Freedman is the Executive Director of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS).

As Executive Director, Ms. Freedman oversees CLS’s advocacy, fundraising and management teams. Under her leadership, CLS helps over 11,000 low income Philadelphians a year with individual cases and many thousands more through systematic advocacy, community partnership, media, and high impact litigation.

Ms. Freedman has held several positions at CLS, including Deputy Director, Managing Attorney of CLS’s North Philadelphia office and Managing Attorney of CLS’ Family Advocacy Unit as well as Staff Attorney and Supervising Attorney. In these roles, Ms. Freedman’s work centered creation of new community partnerships, team building, resource development, technology, implementing new practice tools, staff training and compliance. Under Ms. Freedman’s leadership, CLS’s staffing and funding have doubled.

Ms. Freedman received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of Yale Law School.