Following law school, she worked as a supervising attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service in Harlem, New York, and in the juvenile rights division of the New York Legal Aide Society.[2][3] Beginning in 1992, she taught in the defender clinic at CUNY School of Law.[2] She was a clinical faculty member and the director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard University.[4]
Elijah was the first black director of the Correctional Association of New York, a position she held for five years.[5] At the Correctional Association, she worked with the Marshall Project to prosecute several guards Attica Prison for brutality against inmates.[6][7] In 2016 she founded the Alliance of Families for Justice, an American organization that advocates for those with family members in prison.[8][9] As a lawyer she has represented Marilyn Buck and Sundiata Acoli in court.[10]
In 2018 she was honored with the Spirit of John Brown Freedom Award.[11]