Anna St. John is president and general counsel of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute. She began working with the Center for Class Action Fairness, which has since moved to HLLI, in March 2015. She has argued appeals before the Second, Seventh, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits and state courts in New York and California, and presented argument to over a dozen federal and state trial courts. Her work has led to the return of over $100 million in settlement funds to class members in cases where plaintiffs’ counsel sought excessive attorneys’ fees or approval of an unfair settlement. She has spoken on topics of class action fairness, government overreach and regulatory abuses, the First Amendment, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Previously, she clerked for the Honorable Rhesa H. Barksdale on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and was an attorney with Covington & Burling LLP.

St. John is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she was named a James Kent Scholar. She is a member of the state bars of New York, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia. 

She resides in New Orleans, Louisiana.