Justin Hansford

Hansford received his B.A. from Howard University and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. While a law student at Georgetown, he founded The Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives.

In 2009, Professor Hansford clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith.

In 2015, he served as a Fulbright Scholar in Johannesburg, South Africa, conducting research on Nelson Mandela and his legacy.

Professor Hansford immediately became involved in the legal efforts and political protests following the death of Michael Brown in 2015. One of his most prominent efforts was to write a human rights shadow report for a group he helped create, Ferguson to Geneva, that traveled to Switzerland to present their report. Professor Hansford's "rebellious," hands-on advocacy in the justice movement has been written about by Howard Law Professor Harold McDougall in his article, "The Rebellious Law Professor: Combining Cause and Reflective Lawyering."

Professor Hansford is part of the leadership team for Justice for Garvey, an effort to posthumously pardon famed civil rights leader Marcus Garvey and exonerate him from his 1923 prosecution to mail fraud which has been argued to have been politically and racially motivated by J. Edgar Hoover and others. He co-authored a piece for The Root on the project: "Black History Matters: Why President Obama Should Pardon Marcus Garvey."