Laura Coates

Laura Coates is a CNN Legal Analyst, host, commentator and bestselling author. She is also an influential voice in the media and host on SiriusXM's Insight and Urbanview channels. Her commentary, opinions, writing and research have appeared in numerous national outlets, including MSNBC, TVOne, The Boston Herald, The Washington Post and USA Today. She is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia where she prosecuted a wide range of felony offenses from drug trafficking to armed offenses to domestic violence and sexual assault. She also served as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, specializing in the enforcement of Voting Rights throughout the United States. She is a Lecturer of Law at the George Washington University School of Law, and frequent lecturer at universities throughout the country on issues of trial advocacy, race, policing and social justice. In private practice, Laura was an Intellectual Property litigator with an expertise in First Amendment law, Defamation, Copyright and Trademark Infringement. Laura is a graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and the University of Minnesota Law School. Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, she now resides in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two children.