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A Legacy of Service: LaKesia Mosley has 20 years of experience as a lawyer and has worked in firms, as a United States prosecutor, and as an in-house corporate attorney.
- Throughout her career, she has worked on complex, sensitive cases and has cultivated a passion for justice and community service that was planted by her parents and grandparents, civil servants who volunteered to create positive change in their communities.
- LaKesia saw a project working with The Center for Policing Equity (CPE) in a WTA weekly digest email, and signed up to see how she could help.
- “I usually help corporate clients,” she says. “The majority of my day is dedicated to corporations, so when I have the opportunity to use my skills and talents to help an individual, it makes my struggles in law school worth it.”
A Lack of Justice: CPE provides legal representation for Black officers nationwide who have experienced or witnessed discrimination or abuse by their police departments, either toward officers or toward local communities. Many of these officers face or fear career-limiting retaliation when reporting this misconduct.
- CPE received a request from an officer who had observed abusive behavior by fellow police officers toward Black people in their community, including planting drugs and engaging in physical violence.
- After reporting this conduct, the officer was subjected to a spiral of retaliation. He was later acquitted of all charges, but that did not undo the time he lost or the mistreatment he endured from guards while he was incarcerated — or the loss of his job and income as a police officer.
- "As a former law enforcement officer, I remember what this felt like,” Dr. Tracie L. Keesee, the Co-Founder, President, and COO of CPE says. “The psychological toll that takes on a person is just unparalleled. And it's not just them. It's also their loved ones and family members.”
- But the case was complex. It would take tremendous effort simply to determine whether any recourse was still available to him, and nobody had been willing to help until he found CPE and WTA.
LaKesia’s Work Towards Closure: After connecting with Tracie, LaKesia combed through the raft of documents the officer sent and analyzed legal avenues for him to obtain relief — work that Tracie called “masterful and thorough.”
- Although LaKesia found all paths blocked by statutes of limitations or other procedural barriers, her professionalism and empathy gave the officer a way to move forward.
- Tracie could tell that LaKesia shared the heartbreak she and the officer both felt. But in an “honest and compassionate” conversation, LaKesia walked through the barriers to each claim, giving the officer not only legal answers, but also the respect and support he deserved. LaKesia spent weeks working to help this client.
- “What started as a legal review and memo, ended up guiding The Center for Policing Equity to have a counseling session with their client," LaKesia says. "It’s hard to let go when there isn’t equity in the law.”
The Impact of a Volunteer: “WTA helped us deliver on a promise to make legal representations available for Black police officers who have experienced or witnessed discrimination or abuse by their police departments,” Tracie said. “LaKesia provided relief and closure to a person who was suffering.”
- "With WTA, there’s no excuse not to volunteer," LaKesia says, “If you volunteer through WTA once, you’ll be hooked. However you want to contribute, you can with WTA. It’s not just one cause, there are many many causes that are relevant that will continue to be relevant.”
- “If you look at the work WTA attorneys do, how can you not want to be involved?” she asks.
Find out how you can become a volunteer like LaKesia by browsing active projects here.
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