Alvin J. Bronstein began his career in private law practice in New York before becoming the chief staff counsel of the Lawyers’ Constitutional Defense Committee from 1964 to 1968 in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1968, he became a fellow at the Institute of Politics, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and from 1969 to 1971, he was the associate director of the Institute of Politics. In 1971, he became a partner in the New Orleans public interest law firm of Elie, Bronstein, Strickler, and Dennis, leaving in June 1972 to found the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington, D.C. as its executive director. Bronstein directed the National Prison Project until December 1995. In January of 1996 he became director emeritus of the Project and a consultant to the National ACLU.

Bronstein has argued numerous prisoners’ rights cases in federal trial and appellate courts as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. He has been a consultant to state and federal correctional agencies, has appeared as an expert witness on numerous occasions, and has edited or authored books and articles on human rights and corrections. He was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1989 for his contributions in the development of prisoners’ rights and correctional case law. In 1985, 1988, 1991, and 1994, he was listed as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal in the triennial publication, Profiles in Power.
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