Alex Elson

Alex Elson

Vice President for Policy & Cofounder, Student Defense

Before joining Student Defense, Alex was one of the original attorneys hired by the U.S. Department of Education to establish its borrower defense program, designed to provide student loan relief to borrowers who were subject to unlawful deception by their colleges. For four years before that, Alex was a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison LLP. Alex also served for two years as law clerk for Judge Charles R. Norgle of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and for one year as an adjunct professor teaching legal ethics for Washington University School of Law’s New York externship program. Alex’s work in the field of education prior to his law degree included working on civil rights cases at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., analyzing the cost effectiveness of adolescent literacy programs for Columbia University and the Carnegie Corporation, and serving low-income students with Advocates for Children in New York, Environmental Travel Companions in California, and with Outward Bound’s alternative to incarceration program in Florida.

Alex earned his J.D., cum laude, from Washington University School of Law, where he was articles editor of the Law Review. Alex also has an MA in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Alex received his B.A. from Northwestern University. Alex is admitted to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C.