Erika Richmond Walton joined Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) as a Litigation Fellow in 2023.
Erika is currently leading cutting-edge work enforcing the Massachusetts CROWN Act and fighting discrimination based on natural hairstyles. Erika recently favorably resolved a high-profile case brought on behalf of a 9-year-old Black student who was handcuffed in his third grade classroom by police. The case resulted in major policy changes in the local school district and police department.
Prior to joining LCR, Erika worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Law’s Center for Civil Rights, leading high-impact research projects in voting rights, educational equity, and civic engagement. Erika was also a Staff Attorney at Legal Aid of North Carolina, where she provided legal assistance to survivors of natural disasters.
Erika is a graduate of two historically Black universities, earning a B.S. in Business Management from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and a J.D., cum laude, from North Carolina Central University School of Law (NCCU), where she served as an editor of the Durham Maroons and the NCCU Environmental Law Review.
Read Erika’s op-ed writing in the Boston Business Journal.