Theresa Wilson

President

A Champion for Equity, Justice, and Transformation

Biography

Attorney Theresa Wilson   has built a distinguished career at the intersection of law, racial equity, and public service. Known for her powerful voice, innovative leadership, and unwavering commitment to justice, she has become a respected figure in advancing racial equity, legal education and training, and community advocacy.  She addresses the hard questions about finding, knowing and understand your ‘place’.  Tedx Know Your Place

Attorney Wilson is widely recognized for her pioneering work as the former Racial Equity Statewide Training Lead for the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). In this groundbreaking role, she developed and executed a strategic plan that engaged thousands of public defenders, private attorneys, and legal staff in confronting racial disparities within the justice system.

Wilson’s legal experience centers on child serving organizations, as it is foundational to her belief that, we change the future by supporting our children.  She most recently serves as an Assistant Attorney General with the New York State Attorney General Letitia James, where she continued her commitment to fairness and community‑centered justice.

Her leadership has also been recognized through appointments such as serving as a Hearing Officer for the Board of Bar Overseers for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Criminal Justice Section, Race and Diversity Chair for the American Bar Association, a Cohort Member for the TSNE Emerging Consultants of Color Program, and others.

Her work reflects a deep belief that meaningful change requires education, community engagement, and structural transformation. Her initiatives include:

• Why Race Matters Speaker Series, a multifaceted, practical program featuring race‑equity leaders from across the country and across the world.
• Racial Equity Internship Program, a multi-practice program designed to cultivate the next generation of justice‑focused legal professionals in juvenile justice, family regulation, mental health and adult legal systems through anti-bias systems work.
• Prosecutorial Community Engagement Program, an engagement program co-created more than 20 years ago that focuses on building relationships between, police, prosecution and community.
• Public Defenders Anti-Racism Training Team, a comprehensive team approach that elevates broad perspectives and lived experience to build a more equitable culture through policy, practice and engagement.
• Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association Judicial Academy, an award winning program designed to assist members of the Bar interest in becoming members of the judiciary by providing coaching, feedback and cultivating relevant relationships.
• The RMS Chrysalis Project, a restorative based engaging project brining industry specific engagement focused on reducing inequities at a systemic level by the development and delivery of tools, curricula, and strategies to legal processes and outcomes. The Chrysalis Project

Beyond her public service, Wilson serves as a part time lecturer at Northeastern University School of Law, where she teaches with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and restorative justice practices.  She is also an adjunct professor at other institutions, a restorative justice trainer, a published author, and a frequent speaker on issues of identity and bias. She is the recipient of several awards including the NBA Centennial WLD Hidden Figures Award, the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Top Women in Law, and the PILF Hon Geraldine Hines Racial Justice Award .

Through her publications, advocacy, and public engagement, Attorney Theresa Wilson continues to shape the legal landscape with a focus on equity, compassion, and systemic change. Her work stands as a testament to what is possible when legal expertise is paired with a deep commitment to humanity.