Juris Doctor (J.D.)

Law
Georgetown University Law Center
2007

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

English, African American Studies
Howard University
2003

Movement Lawyering

Constitutional Law

Civil Rights Law

LAW 841 & 842 - Movement Lawyering Clinic I & II

The Movement Lawyering Clinic advocates on behalf of clients and communities fighting for the realization of the civil and human rights guarantees promised by the United States Constitution and International Human Rights treaties. Projects address a range of matters, including police brutality, racial justice, mass incarceration and unconstitutional prison conditions, and other concerns that implicate core constitutional and human rights. This clinic focuses on advocating for systemic change using policy projects, advocacy in front of domestic and international tribunals, and other movement lawyering techniques.

Constitutional Law I

Critical Race Theory

Human and Civil Rights Law

Washingtonian Magazine Most Influential People, 2025

Washingtonian Magazine, “The 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy,” Civil Rights & Criminal Justice, 2025

American Association of Law Schools Pro Bono Award, 2024

First Repair and National African American Reparations Commission Award, 2023

2022 D.C. Rising Star Award - National Law Journal

The award highlights lawyers who have wielded influence in their practice areas in D.C. and beyond. 

Elected Member of U.N. Permanent Forum on People of African Descent

Elected by the United Nations General Assembly for the 2022-2024 term. The forum serves as a consultation mechanism for people of African descent and other interested stakeholders as a platform for improving the quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent.

Race, Racism, and American Law

Race, Racism, and American Law: Leading Cases and Materials

Intended for use with the authors’ forthcoming casebook, Race, Racism, and American Law, Seventh Edition (forthcoming 2025), Race, Racism, and American Law: Leading Cases and Materials includes significant historical and contemporary cases and materials edited with an aim to foreground the most relevant sections and passages to illustrate the crucial role of race in the formation of US law.

The First Amendment Freedom of Assembly as a Racial Project

https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-first-amendment-freedom-of-assembly-as-a-racial-project 

Beginning with the author's own experience of being arrested as a legal observer during a 2014 protest in Ferguson, Missouri, this Essay explores the fragile protection provided by the freedom of assembly for those who fight for racial justice.

Demosprudence on Trial

Demosprudence on Trial: Ethics for Movement Lawyers, in Ferguson and Beyond

This article suggests that although civil litigation remains a viable tool, the vanishing trial has limited impact on movement lawyers because we can use the law to promote social change outside of the courtroom. The demosprudence framework helps us to understand this process. By applying this framework to the movement lawyering context, movement lawyers can adapt to the void in voice created by the vanishing trial in civil litigation and still help the movement.

Ferguson to Geneva

Ferguson to Geneva: Using the Human Rights Framework to Push Forward a Vision for Racial Justice in the United States after Ferguson 

The Ferguson to Geneva delegation represents a significant event in this internationalist turn. The delegation, consisting of the parents of Mike Brown, Jr. and young Black leaders from Ferguson, chose to air their grievances before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in the fall of 2014. This article reproduces the delegation's "shadow report," which laid the groundwork for its testimony, and further describes delegation members' subsequent efforts to leverage the outcome of the United Nations Committee review process to bolster domestic advocacy.

Lippman's Law

Lippman's Law: Debating the Fifty-Hour Pro Bono Requirement For Bar Admission

Is service to others actually an intrinsic part of our legal culture? Should it be? Why or why not? If pro bono is a duty, why enforce the duty only on law students and not on the practicing bar? How does Lippman’s law define Pro Bono, and how should it, in order to meet the stated goals of the rule? In terms of reaching those stated goals, will any of this actually work?

The Whole System is Guilty as Hell

The Whole System is Guilty as Hell: Interrupting a Legacy of Racist Police Culture Through a Human Rights Lens

I was among those who engaged in peaceful protests in Ferguson following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. I also co-authored the petition to the United Nations for redress of grievances brought on by police brutality and racial profiling in America. I then accompanied Ferguson protesters and Mike Brown's family to Geneva, Switzerland to testify before the UN Committee Against Torture. I share brief reflections on the experience in this article.

The Revolution Will Not Be Litigated, Leadership and Learning Lessons in the Black Lives Matter Movement

The Revolution will not be Litigated, Leadership and Learning Lessons in the Black Lives Matter Movement 

In these vibrant narratives, 25 of the world’s most accomplished movement lawyers and activists become storytellers, reflecting on their experiences at the frontlines of some of the most significant struggles of our time. In an era where human rights are under threat, their words offer both an inspiration and a compass for the way movements can use the law – and must sometimes break it – to bring about social justice.