Nekima Levy-Pounds, Esq. Professor of Law University of St. Thomas School of Law 1000LaSalle Ave. MSL 100 Minneapolis, MN 55403 651-962-4959 nvlevypounds@stthomas.edu Employment University of St. Thomas School of Law, July 2003- present Professor of Law Director, Community Justice Project (CJP) (supervise students on a variety of civil rights issues such as police misconduct and brutality; issues involving juveniles in the justice system and public education system; restorative justice for criminal defendants; collateral consequences of criminal convictions, and community education, with an overall goal of increasing access to justice for the under-served). University of Illinois College of Law, July 2002 May 2003 Visiting Assistant Professor Civil Litigation Clinic; Advanced Civil Litigation Clinic; Lawyers, the Law, and You Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Washington, DC (September, 2001- June, 2002) George N. Lindsay Civil Rights Legal Fellow Employment Discrimination Project Education University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, Illinois Juris Doctor received, May 2001 Civil Litigation Clinic; Trial Team; Finalist, Negotiation Competition; Poverty Law Teaching Assistant; Black Law Students Association; Curriculum Committee; Commencement Speaker University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California Bachelor of Arts in African-American Studies Director of Black Student Assembly; Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society; Blue Key National Honor Society; Golden Key National Honor Society Professional Activities/Service President, Minneapolis Branch of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (May, 2015-present) (responsible for coordinating the largest branch in the state of Minnesota; facilitating general membership and executive committee meetings; participating in local and national events; serving as spokeswoman on behalf of the organization on key civil rights issues) Vice Chair, The Minneapolis Foundation, Board of Directors (July, 2010- present) 1
Co-founder and Chair, Brotherhood, Inc. (May 2011 present) Board of Directors, Catholic Charities (September 2013-present) Board of Directors, Growth & Justice (June 2013-present) Chair, Minnesota State Advisory Committee to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (April 2011-present) Chair, Minnesota African American Museum, March 2014-present Co-chair, Everybody In (August 2012- present) (Regional collaboration of over forty stakeholders working to bridge the gap in unemployment between whites, blacks, and Native Americans by 2020) Host, Real Talk, weekly public affairs podcast produced at iheart Media (December 2014- present) Blogger, Star Tribune Newspaper, (April 2014- present) Black Law Students Association, Faculty Advisor Board of Directors, American Constitution Society, Minnesota Chapter FBI Civil Rights Advisory Group Member- Attend meetings along with other civil rights leaders, federal prosecutors, judges and law enforcement officials to discuss key civil rights issues in the twin cities. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Awards/ Honors Facing Race Ambassador Award Honoree, St. Paul Foundation 2015 Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal 2015 40 under 40 Honoree NAACP History Maker s Award 2015 Minnesota Lawyer, Attorney of the Year 2014 Hennepin County Bar Association (Individual Lawyer) Diversity Award Winner 2014 Lawyers of Color Magazine: 50 Under 50 Professors of Color Making an Impact 2014 Faculty Member of the Year Award, Black Law Students Association 2014 Profile in Courage Award, Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers 2012 Inaugural Recipient of Launa Q. Newman Community Justice Award, Minnesota Spokesman Recorder 2012 2
Named One of Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans by the Minnesota Jaycees 2011 Elected into the American Bar Foundation Fellows (honorary society of lawyers and judges) American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Shanara M. Gilbert Award, Emerging Clinician of the Year 2011 Outstanding Faculty Service Learning Award, University of St. Thomas 2011 GP/Solo American Bar Association, Breaking Barriers Award, 2008 Kay Pranis Restorative Practices Award, Dispute Resolution Center 2008 Dean s Award for Outstanding Law Teacher of the Year 2008 Diversity Leadership in Teaching & Research Award, UST 2008 Minnesota Justice Foundation, Law School Professor Award 2007 Representative Scholarship Par For the Course?: Exploring the Impacts of Incarceration and Marginalization on Poor Black Men in the U.S., Journal of Law in Society, Wayne State Law School, Volume 14 (2014) Going Up in Smoke: The Impacts of the Drug War on Young Black Men, 6 Albany Government Law Review 560 (2014) Book Chapter: Warehousing, Imprisoning and Labeling Youths, Minorities : Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline, 2014, Peter Lang Publishing Justice for All: How the Fallout from the War on Drugs Has Led to the Highest Incarceration Rate in the World, Covenant Companion Magazine, July 2012 Children of Incarcerated Parents: Silent Victims of Prison Phone Injustice, Center for Media Justice, June 2012 Dismantling the Prison Pipeline for Youth: A Call to Action, opinion piece, St. Thomas Lawyer Magazine, January 2011. Can These Bones Live?: A Look at the Impacts of the War on Drugs on African- American Children and Families, Hastings Journal on Race and Poverty, Volume 7 No. 2, Summer 2010 The Principles of Ubuntu: Using the Legal Clinical Model to Train Engineers of Social Change Paper- co-authored with Artika Tyner. International Journal on Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE), Winter 2008 From the Frying Pan Into the Fire: How Poor Women of Color and Children are Affected by the Sentencing Guidelines & Mandatory Minimums. Santa Clara Law Review, Volume 47 No. 2, Spring 2007 3
Beaten by the System and Down for the Count: Why Poor Women of Color and Children Don t Stand a Chance Against Current Drug Sentencing Policy. University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Spring 2006 Children of Incarcerated Parents and the Struggle for Stability. The Modern American Volume 2- Issue 2, Summer 2006 Select Presentations Diane Meyer Keynote Address, North Dakota State University, May, 2015 Pre-Mass Speaker, St. Joan of Arc s Catholic Church, March, 2015 Keynote speaker, Century College, February, 2015 Keynote speaker, Reflections on Dr. King s Dream, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, January 2014 Keynote speaker, Twin Cities Media Alliance Fall Forum, November, 2014 Keynote Speaker, Kente Summit for Collegiate Black Men, November, 2014 Keynote speaker, Haas Institute, Conference Convening on Racial Equity, University of Minnesota, August, 2014 Keynote speaker, Students for Education Reform Summit, Denver, Colorado, October, 2013 Let Justice Roll Down: A Call to Action, keynote speaker, Bethel University, Feb. 2011 Soundtrack for a Revolution Black History Month event, panelist, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, Feb. 2011 Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions in Minnesota, co-presented Power Point, Training for MN Juvenile Defenders, Jan. 2011 Pipeline to Prison: Is Society Responsible for Rising Incarceration Rates, or is Prison a Capitalistic Enterprise, Guest Lecture, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Nov., 2010 Minnesota School to Prison Pipeline: Abolishing the Criminalization of Being Young, Black, and Male, Panelist, St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN, October, 2010 45 th Annual Minnesota Criminal Justice Institute, Presenter, An Evaluation of Gang Databases in Minnesota and Recommendations for Change, August, 2010 4
Minnesota Governor s Commission on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, keynote speaker, The Fierce Urgency of Now, January, 2010 Minnesota CLE Webcast, panelist, Women and the Minnesota Correctional System, February, 2009 Presenter, The Community, Societal and Worldview Perspective of Justice Shakopee Women s Prison; Lino Lakes Prison, Exploring Justice Program, February, 2009 6 th International Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Cork, Ireland, presented paper entitled: Transformed into Fire: How Law Clinics Can Ignite Students with a Passion for Social Justice, July 14-15, 2008 Admissions and Associations Minnesota Supreme Court Illinois Supreme Court American Bar Association Minnesota State Bar Association National Bar Association Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers 5