Emily Mistr

Biography

Emily Mistr joined Campbell Law School in January 2021 through a partnership with the N.C. Justice Center, which she joined in 2020 after many years in the trenches as an assistant public defender in Raleigh, N.C.

Mistr serves as a bridge between the N.C. Justice Center’s Fair Chance Criminal Justice Project and the Blanchard Community Law Clinic at Campbell Law, where she helps law students assist formerly justice-involved individuals, primarily in the areas of expunction and driver’s license restoration. In particular, Mistr strongly believes that the restoration of a person’s driver’s license can have a profound impact on expanding employment and housing opportunities.

Mistr was drawn to the legal field after repeatedly hearing about the atrocities endured by incarcerated people from her mother, who worked for more than 10 years as a teacher in a women’s prison in Virginia. After 14 years of being part of the criminal “justice” system and the frustrations of not being able to effectuate change from the inside, Mistr is excited to be advocating for more global policy changes. Mistr earned her law degree from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill School of Law and her bachelor’s degree at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.