Christina Walsh

Christina Walsh leads the Institute for Justice’s Activism team.  Under her leadership, the team challenges and reforms local and state policies and laws in the areas of economic liberty, property rights, and government accountability, working to make it easier for people—especially those of modest means—to work, thrive, and protect what they’ve worked so hard to own.

The team changes state and local laws outside of the courtroom, like occupational licensing and local regulations, to make it easier to work and earn an honest living. Activism fights policies and projects that threaten the rights of property owners to keep what they have worked so hard to own, like eminent domain abuse and civil forfeiture.  And the team works to hold government officials accountable, by advocating for the end of qualified immunity.

Walsh oversees all activism strategies and priorities, ensuring the team’s impactful work is responsive to local needs. The team’s multi-faceted efforts include strategic advocacy in city halls, state legislatures, and communities; engaging decision makers and impacted individuals; organizing and training activists and policy makers; coalition building; public demonstrations, townhalls, and roundtables; working with the media; research and publication; crafting tailored policy recommendations; and lobbying. 

She oversees the team’s three key initiatives: Cities Work; Beauty, Not Barriers/The Barber Project; and Americans Against Qualified Immunity.

Throughout her tenure, Walsh has educated and organized thousands of activists and decision makers nationwide, helping home and small business owners, entrepreneurs, and communities of modest means push back against unjust policies. Her written work includes The Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide and editing IJ’s Perspectives on Eminent Domain Abuse series, and her work has been featured in outlets nationwide including The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and ABC News.

She is the recipient of the Owners’ Counsel of America’s Crystal Eagle Award for her advocacy fighting eminent domain abuse.

Walsh received her undergraduate degree in Political Theory from the University of Virginia, and joined the Institute in 2004.