Dayja S. Tillman is the West Michigan Legal Fellow for the ACLU of Michigan. In this role, Dayja works on a broad range of civil liberties issues, including immigrants’ rights, bail reform, voting rights, and police misconduct.
While a Michigan native, Dayja spent significant time in California where she earned her B.A. in Politics from Occidental College and her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law. During her time in California, Dayja worked with the Sacramento Public Defender's Office as well as Sacramento's Worker's Rights Clinic where she provided legal aid for low income workers. Dayja is thrilled to finally be back in Michigan and continue her legal career with the ACLU.
Before joining the ACLU of Michigan, Dayja interned with the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, the Contra Costa Public Defenders Office, and the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. Most recently, she co-authored an article for the SMU Law Review on criminal justice reform and the right to counsel.