Civil rights and education law expert Erika Wilson to join NYU Law faculty

Erika Wilson, currently a professor of law and the Wade Edwards Distinguished Scholar at the University of North Carolina School of Law, will join the NYU Law faculty next year as a professor of clinical law.

Erika Wilson headshot
Erika Wilson

Wilson, formerly the director of the UNC School of Law’s clinical programs, founded and directs the school’s Critical Race Lawyering Civil Rights Clinic. Her published scholarship explores pivotal issues at the nexus of race and education law. Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited Wilson’s article “Monopolizing Whiteness” in her widely noted dissent in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, the landmark Supreme Court decision in which the majority declared that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions are unconstitutional.

“Erika is a nationally recognized expert in education law, civil rights, and inequality,” says Dean Troy McKenzie ’00. “She brings with her an outstanding record of scholarship and teaching and a steadfast commitment to clinical legal education. We are thrilled to welcome Erika to NYU and look forward to her contributions to our community.”

Before joining UNC School of Law, Wilson worked as a staff attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and as an associate at Arnold & Porter in Los Angeles and Washington, DC. She received the James H. Chadbourn Award for Excellence in Scholarship and the Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy, which recognizes outstanding teachers and scholars in public policy. Wilson earned her BA from the University of Southern California and her JD from UCLA School of Law.

Posted October 18, 2024