Margaret "Peggy" Stevenson, J.D.

Lecturer, Record Clearance Project Director

J.D., University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law; Los Angeles, CA

Contact Information:

Email: margaret.stevenson@sjsu.edu
Phone: 408-924-2758

Office: Student Services Center Building

Record Clearance Project Email: expunge@sjsu.edu

Office Hours Spring 2024: 

JS 140: Tuesday & Thursday 1:30–2:45 Boccardo Business Center 201

JS 141/142: Tuesday & Thursday 10:30 – 11:30 by arrangement

About Professor Peggy Stevenson:

Margaret "Peggy" Stevenson began teaching Courts and Society at San José State University in the Fall of 2007. She developed the Record Clearance Project as a class project to give students hands-on experience with the law and the court system. For 12 years before that, Stevenson taught students at Stanford and Santa Clara law schools to provide legal assistance to low-income communities, primarily focusing on employment issues facing low-wage workers. During that time, she was the Executive Director of two clinical programs and brought innovative approaches to teaching students to meet clients’ legal needs.

In the Fall of 2018, Peggy Stevenson received California State University's Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award for the Record Clearance Project. The award acknowledges faculty who have demonstrated leadership in a department or university level to improve student success and outcomes in courses with traditionally low success rates or persistent equity gaps.

Stevenson has done part-time and consulting work for the National Employment Law Project’s Second Chance Labor Project involving employment issues that people with convictions face; she helped launch the East Palo Alto Youth Court; she prepared training materials for undergraduate volunteers with the Santa Clara County Superior Court’s self-help center; she helped develop legal advice clinics for the Watsonville Law Center, among other projects.

Prior to teaching, Stevenson was a legal services attorney for 10 years in California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. She worked on various poverty law issues, including employment, housing, immigration, consumer, health, and other matters. She has written numerous training materials for students and legal rights materials for clients.

Stevenson received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law. She clerked for a federal judge after graduating from law school. She speaks and writes fluent Spanish.

Areas of Interest:

• Courts and Society
• Record Clearance Project and consequences of clearing criminal convictions
• Experiential and Service Learning
• Provision of Legal Services to Low-Income Communities
• Low-Wage and Immigrant Workers’ Rights
• Restorative Justice.

Selected Publications:

"Helping Clients Clear Criminal Records,” 50-page manual and attachments.

“What Every Worker Should Know: Your Rights as an Employee” (editor of publication and author of several sections), Santa Clara County

“Your Right to Overtime and Minimum Wage,” East San Jose Community Law Center

“Preventing Workplace Injuries,” East San Jose Community Law Center

Training materials on interviewing, giving community education presentations, legal interpreting, and topics related to providing legal services to low-income communities.