Adam Romero, a scholar and researcher at UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy, was appointed deputy director of executive programs at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

As the organization that oversees the enforcement of civil rights laws in California, the department works to “protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations and from hate violence and human trafficking.”

Before his appointment, Romero was the director of legal scholarship and federal policy and Arnold D. Kassoy Scholar of Law at the Williams Institute, where he served since 2014 as a lecturer, director of the institute’s amici brief and pro bono program, and strong contributor to an array of landmark legal initiatives. Romero is a prolific commentator and scholar on LGBTQ rights. His book LGBTQ Divorce and Relationship Dissolution (Oxford University Press, 2018), which he co-edited with Abbie E. Goldberg, was named to the annual Over the Rainbow book list by the American Library Association’s Rainbow Roundtable.

Romero previously worked as a senior litigation associate at WilmerHale, where he helped represent the plaintiffs in Cooper-Harris v. United States, a groundbreaking case in which a federal court found that laws barring government recognition of same-sex marriage in the veterans-benefits context were unconstitutional. He also worked as a criminal defense investigator for the Bronx Defenders. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.