Belle Yan

Belle Yan (she/her) is an Assistant Professor and Supervising Attorney with USF School of Law's Racial Justice Clinic, where she leads the clinic's Racial Justice Act (Cal. Penal Code, § 745) litigation and implementation work. In addition to representing clients in post-conviction Racial Justice Act litigation, Belle also writes and trains on the RJA, and has testified before the state legislature and presented to governmental entities regarding the RJA and its amendments.

A first-generation college and law student, Belle earned her B.A. from Columbia University, and J.D., magna cum laude, from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, where she was inducted as a Tony Patiño Fellow. Prior to joining the USF Racial Justice Clinic, Belle represented clients at jury trials as a deputy public defender in the Bay Area, and before law school, proudly served her hometown as a felony trial paralegal at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office.

• University of California College of the Law San Francisco, JD, 2019
• Columbia University, BA, 2012

• Lara Bazelon, Dr. Beth Redbird & Belle Yan, Ground Rules: Giving Meaning and Effect to Key Contested Terms in the California Racial Justice Act, 65 Santa Clara L. Rev. 147 (2025).