Will Crossley
Director and Counsel for Voter Protection, Democratic National Committee
Will Crossley is the Democratic National Committee's Counsel and Director of Voter Protection, where he serves as the chief voting rights advocate for the national party. Among his current responsibilities, he provides advice and counsel on voting rights matters to the DNC Chairman and other national party officers. He also advises state party leaders on potential violations of the federal Voting Rights Act, other federal voting laws and legislative redistricting matters. He functions as the executive director of the party's Voting Rights Institute, under which he recently initiated a fellowship program that provides younger lawyers an opportunity to engage in voting rights work. Will coordinates the work of the National Lawyers Council and directs the party's voter protection program, including the deployment of over 10,000 voter protection volunteers in more than 30 states during the most recent federal election cycle and the development of a national voter protection hotline in Washington, DC. Will was a member of the Washington Lawyers Committee for the Obama campaign during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary and continued to volunteer for the Obama for America legal team during the 2008 general election. Will has been involved in politics, political campaigns and public policy matters for nearly 20 years. One of Will's first experiences working in politics came in 1996 when he served as a campaign aide for Barack Obama during the President's first ever political campaign for the Illinois State Senate in Will's hometown, Chicago, Illinois. Indeed, it was the President's example and direct encouragement that inspired Will to apply to law school. Prior to joining the DNC, Will was in private law practice as a litigation attorney at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Washington, DC. His practice focused on general commercial litigation and criminal law, including white collar and securities fraud matters. He represented clients in federal and state courts at the trial and appellate levels, in military courts, before federal administrative and executive agencies, and contributed significantly to the firm's pro bono practice. His noteworthy pro bono work included the representation of a death-sentenced inmate, as well as court-referred and court-appointed civil rights and employment discrimination matters. Earlier in his legal career, Will was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to the Honorable Julian Abele Cook, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Will also served as a Barton Clinic Fellow at Emory University School of law, where he conducted research and lectured on legislative and legal issues impacting abused and neglected children. Prior to attending law school, Will served as a policy analyst for the Georgia Governor's Office after working as an elementary school teacher. Will received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, his M.Ed. in Education Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University School of Education and his B.A. in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago. Will attended high school at the Piney Woods School, a historically black boarding school that was founded more than 100 years ago to educate poor African American families in rural Mississippi. He currently serves as President of the Piney Woods School International Alumni Association, through which he helps to advance the mission and vision of the school for future generations. Will is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Will resides in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and their two daughters.
