Yazmin Cader Frazier is professionally known as Yasmin Cader, an attorney whose career spans federal civil-rights litigation, public defense, legal training, private practice, and national leadership at the American Civil Liberties Union. Some entertainment and editorial-photo records use the name “Yazmin Cader Frazier,” largely because she is married to television presenter Kevin Frazier. Legal and institutional sources consistently identify her as Yasmin Cader.
Cader spent more than two decades representing children and adults in state and federal courts before co-founding a Los Angeles law firm and joining the ACLU. She currently serves as the organization’s Deputy Executive Director for Program, Strategy, and Culture.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Professional name | Yasmin Cader |
| Known for | Public defense and civil-rights leadership |
| Education | Howard University and Yale Law School |
| Yale graduation | Class of 1992 |
| Public-defense experience | Approximately 23 years |
| Private practice | Co-founded Cader Adams Trial Lawyers in 2019 |
| Current position | ACLU Deputy Executive Director for Program, Strategy, and Culture |
| Spouse | Kevin Frazier |
| Children | Shane and Reece |
Why Professional Sources Use the Name Yasmin Cader
Although “Yazmin Cader Frazier” appears in searches and some entertainment coverage, Cader uses Yasmin Cader throughout her legal career. The ACLU, Yale Law School, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and other professional institutions all identify her by that name.
Her independent public record is considerably more substantial than her connection to Kevin Frazier. It documents decades of courtroom advocacy, attorney training, civil-rights work, and organizational leadership.
Cader has said that she grew up in the Rondo community of St. Paul, Minnesota. Rondo was a historically Black neighborhood whose residents and businesses were deeply affected by the construction of Interstate 94. She has connected that environment—and its emphasis on dignity, community support, and justice—to the outlook she later brought to her legal work.
Howard University and Yale Law School Prepared Her for Civil-Rights Work
Cader studied political science at Howard University before attending Yale Law School, where she graduated with the Class of 1992. She originally expected to pursue public policy, but her education and early legal experiences moved her toward civil-rights law and public defense.
After law school, she clerked for Judge Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Cader has identified Keith, a prominent federal judge associated with major civil-rights decisions, as an important professional influence.
She then entered the U.S. Department of Justice through its Honors Program and worked in the Civil Rights Division‘s Employment Litigation Section. Her responsibilities included individual and class-action claims involving racial and sexual harassment and employment discrimination.
That position made civil-rights litigation an early part of her career, but public defense became her principal field for the next two decades.
Public Defense Became the Foundation of Her Career
Cader began working as a public defender in 1995 and remained in the field for approximately 23 years. She represented children and adults facing charges ranging from misdemeanors to serious felonies and capital cases.
Her work took her through the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, federal defense work in the Southern District of New York, and the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Los Angeles. These positions placed her inside different criminal-court systems during periods of intense debate over policing, incarceration, sentencing, and national security.
Cader has explained that seeing large numbers of Black adults and young people entering a Washington courthouse helped change the direction of her career. She has also connected her decision to experiences involving addiction, policing, aggressive enforcement, and incarceration during the war on drugs.
Rather than treating public defense as one stage in a varied résumé, Cader describes it as work that placed her directly on what she calls the “front line of justice.” The experience later informed her approach to criminal-legal reform and racial-justice advocacy at the ACLU.
She Combined Courtroom Advocacy With Attorney Training
Cader’s work expanded from representing individual clients to preparing other lawyers for trial. As Chief of Training at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Los Angeles, she developed substantive legal and trial-skills programs for new and experienced defenders.
Yale Law School reported that programs created under her leadership became models for training in other public defender offices. She has also taught trial advocacy or legal skills at institutions including Yale, Harvard, NYU, Georgetown, and UCLA.
Her mentoring and training work has included involvement with Gideon’s Promise, the National Criminal Defense College, and Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop. This focus on professional development became a key link between her years in court and her later leadership roles.
In 2019, Cader and attorney Christine Adams co-founded Cader Adams Trial Lawyers, a women-owned litigation firm in Los Angeles. Its work included criminal and civil litigation, white-collar matters, and advising organizations on racial equity and institutional culture.
During her time in private practice, Cader also served on a Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners advisory committee focused on trust and equity. She participated in the Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent’s task force examining school safety and the role of police in public schools.
Her professional recognition includes election as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Her ACLU Career Grew Into Executive Leadership
The ACLU announced in July 2021 that Cader had been selected to lead its Trone Center for Justice and Equality, with her appointment taking effect that September. She joined the organization as a Deputy Legal Director while directing the center’s work on criminal and racial justice.
Her responsibilities covered issues such as unconstitutional policing, cash bail, capital punishment, conditions faced by incarcerated people, and inequalities involving education, housing, employment, and economic opportunity. She also helped oversee broader legal responses to changing civil-rights challenges.
Cader subsequently became the ACLU’s Deputy Executive Director for Program, Strategy, and Culture. In that executive position, she works with the executive director and senior leadership on organizational strategy, internal culture, and coordination of the ACLU’s nationwide civil-rights and civil-liberties work.
The current role is broader than the Trone Center position still mentioned in older profiles. It reflects a progression from courtroom representation and attorney training to national legal-program leadership and organization-wide strategy.
Her Experiences Help Explain Her Approach to Justice and Leadership
Cader has spoken openly about the experiences and ideas that shaped her work. She has recalled learning that her parents encountered rental-housing discrimination when she was a baby. She has also described childhood conversations with her mother about apartheid as part of her early awareness of racial injustice.
She characterizes herself as a “practical optimist,” meaning that she recognizes difficult present conditions without treating them as permanent. That outlook also appears in her comments about criminal justice, where she has emphasized redemption and the possibility of change rather than relying solely on punishment.
Integrity, empathy, transparency, collaboration, and communication recur in her discussions of leadership. Cader has said that effective leaders must listen and continue learning while being direct enough to address difficult issues.
She has also argued that disagreement does not always make meaningful discussion impossible. Her approach leaves room for difficult conversations to change people’s understanding, while recognizing that advocates need personal support and sufficient capacity to sustain demanding work.
Among the figures she has named as influences are Judge Damon J. Keith and civil-rights educator Septima Poinsette Clark. Cader has described Clark, a major figure in citizenship education during the civil-rights movement, as her husband’s great-aunt.
Yasmin Cader and Kevin Frazier Have Two Sons
Cader married television presenter Kevin Frazier in Malibu over Thanksgiving weekend in 2006. Reports published at the time documented the wedding weekend, although they did not consistently establish a precise calendar date.
Their son Shane was born on February 5, 2007. Their younger son, Reece Cader Frazier, followed on July 5, 2010. Cader later referred publicly to having two teenage children, consistent with the reported birth years of Shane and Reece.
Kevin Frazier also has an older son, Tony, from a previous relationship. Contemporary reporting noted that Tony attended the couple’s wedding.
Cader generally keeps her household outside the focus of her professional work. Publicly documented information supports the basic family relationships, but her legal career and civil-rights leadership remain the central reasons for her independent public profile.
Her Public Record Extends Far Beyond Her Marriage
People searching for Yazmin Cader Frazier are looking for Yasmin Cader, the attorney married to Kevin Frazier. Her verified record, however, centers on an extensive legal career.
After studying at Howard University and Yale Law School, she moved from a federal judicial clerkship and Justice Department civil-rights work into approximately 23 years of public defense. She later trained attorneys, taught trial advocacy, co-founded a private law firm, and assumed national leadership responsibilities at the ACLU.
Her progression to Deputy Executive Director for Program, Strategy, and Culture places her current work at the intersection of civil-rights advocacy, organizational strategy, and institutional leadership.