Vice Dean, R. Hugh and Nolie Haynes Professor of Law, and Director of the W&M Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Reform
Areas of Specialization
Civil Rights Law; Criminal Law & Procedure; Innocence & Justice; Juries; Policing & Police Accountability; Prisons & Prisoners; Public Interest Law & Policy; State and Local Government
Teaching Interests
Criminal Law; Professional Development; Professional Responsibility; Criminal Procedure Survey; Criminal Procedure: Investigation; Criminal Procedure: Adjudication; Perspectives on Law Enforcement: Policing and Prosecutorial Accountability; Criminal Procedure: Selected Topics
Representative Professional Activities and Achievements
Kami Chavis is the R. Hugh and Nolie Haynes Professor of Law and Director of the W&M Center of Criminal Justice Policy and Reform at William & Mary Law School. In 2015, she was appointed as a Senior Academic Fellow at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. She has substantial practice experience and writes and teaches in areas related to criminal law, criminal procedure, and criminal justice reform. After receiving her J.D. from Harvard Law School, she worked as an associate at private law firms in Washington, D.C., where she participated in various aspects of civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and internal investigations. In 2003, she became an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, involving her in a wide range of criminal prosecutions and in arguing and briefing appeals before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Professor Chavis frequently makes presentations on law-enforcement issues and is a leader in the field of police accountability. Her articles have appeared in the American Criminal Law Review, the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the University of Alabama Law Review, and the Catholic University Law Review, and other legal journals. Her research focuses on using Cooperative Federalism principles and stakeholder participation to implement sustainable reforms in the criminal justice system. She writes in the areas of police and prosecutorial accountability, federal hate crimes legislation and enforcement, and racial profiling. She was elected to the American Law Institute in 2012.
She is a frequent contributor to national and international media outlets and has appeared on CNN, CTV, and NPR. She has written for the New York Times and the Huffington Post, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, BBC News, U.S. News and World Report, International Business Times, Deutsche Welle, and other outlets regarding police accountability and the structural reform of law enforcement agencies.
Publications from 2017
Curbing Excessive Force: A Primer on Barriers to Police Accountability, Kami N. Chavis and Conor Degnan
(11 Advance: The Journal of the Issue Briefs of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy 23-43 (2017))Publications from 2016
Foreword: A New Frontier in Criminal Justice Reform, Kami Chavis
(6 Wake Forest Journal of Law & Policy 349-356 (2016))Body-Worn Cameras: Exploring the Unintentional Consequences of Technological Advances and Ensuring a Role for Community Consultation, Kami N. Chavis
(51 Wake Forest Law Review 985-1020 (2016))Publications from 2015
Body-Mounted Police Cameras: A Primer on Police Accountability vs. Privacy, Kami Chavis Simmons
(58 Howard Law Journal 881-890 (2015))Increasing Police Accountability: Restoring Trust and Legitimacy Through the Appointment of Independent Prosecutors, Kami Chavis Simmons
(49 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 137-158 (2015))Publications from 2014
Future of the Fourth Amendment: The Problem with Privacy, Poverty and Policing, Kami Chavis Simmons
(14 University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class 240-272 (2014))The Coming Crisis in Law Enforcement and How Federal Intervention Could Promote Police Accountability in a Post-Ferguson United States, Kami Chavis Simmons
(4 Wake Forest Law Review Online 31-42 (2014))Publications from 2013
The First Day of Criminal Law: Forgetting Everything You Thought You Already Knew, Kami Chavis Simmons
(10 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 605-607 (2013))Publications from 2012
Stakeholder Participation in the Selection and Recruitment of Police: Democracy in Action, Kami Chavis Simmons
(32 Saint Louis University Public Law Review 7-32 (2012))Subverting Symbolism: The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and Cooperative Federalism, Kami Chavis Simmons
(49 American Criminal Law Review 1863-1912 (2012))Publications from 2011
Cooperative Federalism and Police Reform: Using Congressional Spending Power to Promote Police Accountability, Kami Chavis Simmons
(62 Alabama Law Review 351-403 (2011))Publications from 2010
New Governance and the "New Paradigm" of Police Accountability: A Democratic Approach to Police Reform, Kami Chavis Simmons
(59 Catholic University Law Review 373-426 (2010))Publications from 2008
The Politics of Policing: Ensuring Stakeholder Collaboration in the Federal Reform of Local Law Enforcement Agencies, Kami Chavis Simmons
(98 Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 489-546 (2008))