Meghan Matt

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT MEGHAN MATT

Meghan Matt received a bachelor\'s degree in criminology from Louisiana State University in 2004 and a Juris Doctor degree from Southern University Law Center in 2021, graduating first in her class. Prior to pursuing a legal career, Meghan was an activist, organizer, storyteller, and childbirth coach. During her tenure at SULC, Meghan interned or clerked at the Louisiana Law Institute: Children\'s Code Committee, Innocence Project New Orleans, and a boutique criminal defense and civil rights firm. She also served as Managing Editor of the Southern University Law Review and The Public Defender newspaper, and testified before the Louisiana Legislature on issues such as qualified immunity. Meghan began her legal career as a public defender in New Orleans, zealously representing close to 350 indigent criminal defendants in all aspects of pre-trial and trial litigation. While at OPD, she successfully conducted judge and jury trials, argued numerous hearings on motions resulting in no probable cause found and motions to suppress granted, and fought vigorously for her clients\' freedom. Meghan has been published three times, including in the ABA’s Human Rights Magazine and the Southern University Law Review, and her work has been cited in dozens of academic publications. In 2022, Meghan was appointed to the Louisiana State Law Institute as a Junior Council Member and served on the planning committee of the 2022 National Civil Rights Conference. She now works at the ACLU of Louisiana as a staff attorney to continue to passionately fight for the people, work to dismantle white supremacy in all forms, and hold those in power accountable.