Biography

Professor Lisa Washington (she/her/hers) is particularly interested in overlapping issues of poverty, race, and gender in the carceral state. Her research focuses on the intersections of family regulation law, the criminal legal system, and the immigration system. Her most recent scholarship is published in the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Boston University Law Review, the Chicago Law Review Online, and the Yale Law Journal Forum.

Professor Washington's research interests are informed by her practice experience as a public defender in New York City. Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin, Professor Washington worked at The Bronx Defenders in New York City, where she was a fellow in the criminal defense practice and later became a staff attorney in the family defense practice. She also co-directed the Mainzer Family Defense Clinic at Cardozo School of Law. Professor Washington's teaching interests include criminal procedure, evidence, race and the law, family law, feminist legal theory, and critical legal thought. 

Professor Washington received her first law degree from Humboldt University in Berlin. She then attended Columbia Law School, where she earned an LL.M. degree. Professor Washington is a former Hastie Fellow. She has a background in comparative legal studies and completed her Ph.D. studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany. She grew up in both Germany and the United States and is bilingual.