Norma Garcia lectures on legislative advocacy at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. She is widely recognized in the consumer movement as an influential researcher, advocate, litigator, and leader, with more than two decades at Consumers Union, now known as Consumer Reports.

A graduate of University of California Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), Garcia’s consumer advocacy career is informed by her multifaceted legal and investigative background. Early in her career, she worked for the Alameda County Public Defender, founded a private investigation agency focused on criminal defense, and served as a volunteer attorney in family law cases. These experiences gave her a firsthand look at how institutional systems impact consumer lives across generations, fueling her commitment to ensure those systems work for consumers, not against them.

At Consumers Union (CU), Garcia found her calling, joining the nonprofit as a special projects attorney in 1992. From 2000 to 2016 she worked at CU as a senior attorney, where she helped lead successful legislative efforts to reform financial services nationally and before the California legislature, and litigated landmark consumer regulations on California insurance issues. During her final five years there, she also managed the organization’s financial services advocacy team.

From 2017 to 2023, Garcia served as policy counsel and director of advocacy at Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), located in her community of origin, San Francisco’s Mission District. There she created and directed a policy and advocacy division, which elevated the influence of the organization with legislative bodies while advancing the interests of the nonprofit’s 18,000 clients served annually.

Garcia has served on numerous boards and advisory groups, received multiple awards, and represented Consumers Union in international consumer policy work. At the CPC, she focuses primarily on financial services issues.