River Sedaka

River Sedaka (she/they) is an adjunct professor teaching Appellate Criminal Law. As a full-time criminal appellate practitioner, River emphasizes practical skills and Colorado law and procedure in her course.

In her day job, River is a public defender who’s represented indigent defendants in Colorado’s appellate courts since 2016. They hail from Toronto, where they studied intersectional social justice movements at the University of Toronto. River attended law school at Northwestern University, where the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown opened her eyes to the racial and economic injustices at the heart of the criminal legal system, inspiring her to pursue a career in public defense.

River has felt a lifelong calling to achieve justice and liberation for society’s most marginalized, and centers equity and inclusion issues in her advocacy. River is openly autistic, ADHD, transgender, queer, and non-binary, and recognizes that her white privilege informs her experience of those identities. They are an active member of Colorado’s legal community, regularly presenting on appellate practice and EDI issues.