Erika K. Wilson
Professor of Law, Wade Edwards Distinguished Scholar, and Director of the Critical Race Lawyering Civil Rights Clinic
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 K. Wilson is a Professor of Law and the Wade Edwards Distinguished Scholar at the UNC School of Law. She also directs the Critical Race Lawyering Clinic, a clinic that teaches law students how to bridge the gap between theory and praxis while also helping marginalized communities and individuals advance racial justice. Her areas of expertise include civil litigation, civil rights, clinical legal education, critical race theory, education law and public policy. Professor Wilson’s scholarship on issues related to education law and policy, and the intersection between race and the law, has appeared (or will appear) in the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal Forum, Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, and UCLA Law review, among others. In 2016, Professor Wilson’s research was selected for presentation at the Yale/Stanford/Harvard Junior Faculty Forum held at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut. She was twice awarded in 2017 and 2022 the James H. Chadbourn Award for Excellence in Scholarship.
Professor Wilson received her B.A. cum laude from the University of Southern California and her JD from 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.
Education
- J.D., University of California at Los Angeles (2003)
- B.S. (cum laude), Public Policy, University of Southern California (2000)
Selected Publications
Monopolizing Whiteness, 134 HARV. L. REV. 2382 (2021).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Charters, Markets, and Universalism, 26 GEO. J. ON POVERTY L. & POL’Y 291 (2019).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | 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
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
In the Media
- Breaking down the critical race theory debate in N.C. as bill awaits Senate vote, Wilson comments (Daily Tar Heel)
- Wilson: School Segregation, Social Closure, and the Anti-Monopoly Analogy (LPE Project)
- UNC Law ‘Critical Race Lawyering Civil Rights Clinic’ to Leverage BLM Movement (Attorney at Law Magazine)
- Wilson Discusses Ongoing Desegregation Debate Limiting Resources for U.S. Students (Matter of Fact TV)
- 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)