Mary Mergler is the Senior Campaigns Strategist at the Fines and Fees Justice Center, leading the Free to Drive campaign to end debt-based license suspensions in states across the country. She also supports FFJC’s other national campaigns for fines and fees reform, as well as the Cities and Counties for Fine and Fee Justice project.

Prior to joining FFJC, Mary spent nearly a decade at Texas Appleseed advocating for criminal legal system reform in Texas. She managed state and local level campaigns to end the criminalization of poverty through reforms of fines, fees and driver’s license suspensions. Prior to working in Texas, she spent three years at The Constitution Project in Washington, DC, working on indigent defense reform, wrongful convictions, and other issues, as well as two years in private practice at a law firm in Washington, DC.

Mary received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and her B.S. in Business cum laude from Wake Forest University, and is a member of the State Bar of Texas. She lives in Austin, TX, with her husband and three daughters.