Julia Olson founded Our Children’s Trust in 2010 to empower young people to secure their climate rights, protect their futures, and save our planet. In August 2023 they made history with Held v. State of Montana, the first children’s constitutional climate trial in the United States resulting in a landmark win for youth. In June 2024, with Navahine v. Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, Our Children’s Trust achieved the first settlement agreement of a youth-led constitutional climate case directed at stopping pollution from a transportation system. Today, as Co-Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel, Olson directs the organization’s cutting-edge legal strategy and serves as lead counsel on its federal cases, Juliana v. United States, Genesis v. U.S. EPA, and Lighthiser v. Trump.

Olson has received numerous honors, including the Montana Trial Lawyers Association Public Service Award (2024), the Berkeley Law Environmental Leadership Award (2024), Katharine & George Alexander Law Prize (2022), Rose-Walters Prize for Global Activism (2018), and the Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism (2017). In 2023, TIME100Climate called her one of the world’s most influential leaders driving climate action following the historic win in Held v. Montana. Julia became an Ashoka Fellow in 2025.

Olson is a member of Rachel’s Network Circle of Advisors. She received her JD from University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly Hastings), and her BA from University of Colorado, Boulder. In 2025, Olson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Vermont Law and Graduate School.