Ruth E. Friedman has served as Director of the Federal Capital Habeas Project since its inception in 2006. She began specializing in death penalty defense in 1988, at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, where she represented defendants throughout the south at all levels of capital litigation, including trial, appeal, and post-conviction. Until 2002, she served as senior counsel at the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, where in addition to direct representation she recruited, trained and consulted with lawyers for the prisoners on what had become the country's fastest-growing death row.

Ruth argued Harris v. Alabama, 513 U.S. 504 (1995), at the U.S. Supreme Court, which challenged Alabama’s unique system of judicial override of jury-recommended life verdicts. In 2005, she testified in Congress against proposed changes to the statutes governing habeas corpus review.

Ruth also recently served as a habeas consultant for the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts, advising the nation's Defender Services program on how to address the needs of clients in underserved states for qualified habeas counsel and resources. She has served on various state rules committees, training initiatives, and boards, written and edited a manual on habeas litigation in Alabama, and written extensively on race and criminal justice.

Ruth is a 1988 graduate of Yale Law School.