Erika K. Wilson
Associate Professor of Law, Wade Edwards Distinguished Scholar, Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy, and Director of Clinical Programs

Areas of Expertise
- Civil Law
- Civil Rights and Discrimination
- Critical Race Theory
- Education Law
- Poverty Law
- Public Interest Law
- Race and the Law
Biography
Erika Wilson serves as associate professor of law and the Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy at the law school. Her research and teaching interests include clinical legal education, education law and policy, specifically obtaining educational equality for disadvantaged students, and the intersection between race and the law. She teaches Critical Race Theory, Education Law, and serves as the director for the UNC Clinical Programs.
Wilson attended the UCLA School of Law. After law school she worked as an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP. She also served as the George P. Lindsey Staff Attorney fellow for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Prior to joining the Carolina Law faculty she taught at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Education
- J.D., University of California at Los Angeles (2003)
- B.S. (cum laude), Public Policy, University of Southern California (2000)
Selected Publications
Charters, Markets, and Universalism, 26 GEO. J. POVERTY L. & POL’Y 291 (2019).
Hein
The New White Flight, 14 DUKE J. CONST. L. & PUB. POL'Y 233 (2019).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
The Legal Foundations of White Supremacy, 11 DEPAUL J. SOC. JUST. 1 (Spring 2018).
Westlaw | Hein | BEPress
Reverse Passing (with K. Beydoun), 64 UCLA L. REV. 282 (2017).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress | Document Link
When Diversity Fails: Social Dominance Theory and the Persistence of Racial Inequality, 26 NAT'L BLACK L.J. 129 (2017).
Lexis/Nexis | Hein
Blurred Lines: Public School Reforms and the Privatization of Public Education, 51 WASH. U. J.L. & POL'Y 189 (2016).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
The New School Segregation, 102 CORNELL L. REV. 139 (2016).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Gentrification and Urban Public School Reforms: The Interest Divergence Dilemma, 118 W. VA. L. REV. 677 (2015).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Towards a Theory of Equitable Federated Regionalism in Public Education: Reversing the Role of School District Boundary Lines in Dismantling Brown v. Board of Education, 61 UCLA L. REV. 1416 (2014).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Leveling Localism and Racial Inequality Through the No Child Left Behind Public Choice Provision, 44 U. MICH. J.L. REFORM 625 (2011).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
In the Media
- Op Ed: Wilson Discusses Charlottesville Events (Al Jazeera)
- Wilson Comments on Affirmative Action (Indy Week)
- Wilson Discusses Contemporary School Segregation (Vox)
- Kentucky and the Charter School Movement: Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware); Wilson Discusses (Jurist)
- Black Customer Says Glenwood South Bar Used Dress Code to Discriminate Against Him; Wilson Quoted (News & Observer)
- California Judge Denies Release of Lawyer-Race Data, Wilson Comments (Wall Street Journal)
- 7 New Hanover Schools Show Signs of Re-Segregation, Wilson Comments (Wilmington Star News)
- North Carolina Bathroom Battle May Turn on Deference to Agency, Wilson Quoted (Bloomberg BNA)
- Civil Legal Assistance Clinic Works with Community Members Upset about Disruptive Parties, Wilson Quoted (Duke Chronicle)
- NC School Board Accused of Discrimination, Haddix '98 and Wilson Quoted (Daily Tar Heel)