Clara Spera is counsel at Hecker Fink LLP.
Clara joined the firm from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), where she helped lead the Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund, provided strategic advice on reproductive rights and health issues, and litigated reproductive rights cases. Clara previously worked at the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project and brought several challenges to abortion restrictions in both federal and state courts. She was also a fellow with the Federal Defenders of New York and represented indigent defendants at all stages of criminal proceedings in federal court.
Earlier in her career, Clara was counsel at WilmerHale, where she built a broad complex litigation practice representing educational institutions, local governments, corporations, and tech companies in a variety of civil litigations. She also completed clerkships with the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Clara maintains a robust pro bono practice focused on reproductive rights, direct representation of criminal defendants, and family law matters. She also serves as a Lecturer at Harvard and Columbia Law Schools, where she teaches courses on reproductive rights law.
Clara received her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where she was a recipient of the Harvard Law School Dean's Award for Community Leadership in 2017. During her studies, she served as co-managing editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and was co-president of the Students for Reproductive Justice. She earned her M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, and her B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago.
Select Publications
- Co-author, Conservative Family Values as Constitutional Law: Private Regulation and the Erosion of Fundamental Rights, 65 Santa Clara L. Rev. 3 (2025)