The Center for Justice & Democracy was founded in March of 1998 by Executive Director Joanne Doroshow under the name Citizens for Corporate Accountability & Individual Rights.

Doroshow formed this organization after 12 years of working on civil justice issues. She recognized the need for a credible national consumer group committed to fighting "tort reform" on a nationwide, coordinated, and long-term basis.

Initial seed money for the organization came from filmmaker Michael Moore, allowing Doroshow to set up an initial office as a project of the non-profit Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights located in Santa Monica, California.

In August 1998, Doroshow established new offices in New York City, and soon was able to separately incorporate to form the Center for Justice & Democracy as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

In 1999, the organization got a significant financial boost from the Stern Family Fund, as Doroshow won the foundation's Public Interest Pioneer award. Since that time, the Center for Justice & Democracy has steadily grown, bringing on three additional staff-people, assembling an illustrious Board of Advisors, and becoming a new force in the efforts to preserve and protect our civil justice system.