FEDERAL LAWYER
MiAngel Cody is a lawyer, policy strategist, and justice builder with more than 20 years of experience leading constitutional litigation, public advocacy, and broader policy change. She is nationally recognized for her dedicated defense of men and women sentenced to death row and life in federal prison. Attorney Cody has defended hundreds of people in federal court and won freedom for over 50 life-sentenced prisoners. Her victories include 12 successful commutations from three Presidents of the United States. As founder of a national law and policy organization, Ms. Cody has directed litigation strategy, coalition-building efforts, stakeholder engagement, and organizational growth. She has been described as a “Powerhouse Litigator.” During her historic #90DaysOfFreedom Campaign, in three short months, Attorney Cody and her team won freedom for 17 federal prisoners unfairly sentenced to life without parole for drugs. She is a frequent media commentator on constitutional rights, criminal legal reform, and public policy.
FEDERAL CLERKSHIPS
Attorney Cody began her legal career as a law clerk to Federal Judge Myron H. Thompson of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. She then clerked for Federal Appeals Judge Ann Williams (Ret.) of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
FEDERAL BAR ADMISSIONS
United States Supreme Court
United States Courts of Appeals: First, Second, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Eleventh Circuits
United States District Courts: N.D. Illinois; C.D. Illinois; N.D. Indiana; E.D. Missouri; E.D. Michigan; E.D. Wisconsin; W.D. Wisconsin; Dist. of Columbia
AWARDS
MiAngel Cody is a 2014 recipient of the Federal Bar Association’s National Younger Federal Lawyer of the Year Award. In 2018, she received the prestigious Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship. In 2019, the American Constitution Society named her a “Legal Legend”. In 2020, she received the Ida B. Wells Achievement Award from the Chicago Black Women Lawyers Association. Essence Magazine has named MiAngel a “Top 100 Change Agent in America.”
selected Publications
“Strategies for Effective Criminal Defense,” National Federal Defender Sentencing Advocacy Workshop, June 2017
“‘But the Legislation Doesn’t Go Far Enough’: It’s Time to Check Our Unincarcerated Privilege in the Conversation About Sentencing Reform” May 24, 2016, The Huffington Post
"Death by Imprisonment: America’s War on Melanin Possession and the Indigent” Aug. 3, 2014, The HuffingtonPost
“It’s 1983 in 2018: The Orwellian Guide to Effective Criminal Defense in the Age of Mass Surveillance” Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Jan. 2018
miangel CODY LEADS a woman-powered law firm fighting to free people sentenced to life in prison for drugs and to end the unfair LAWS that put them there.
“Always serve the truth, and always serve it with sauce.”
WRITER & PRODUCER
As a writer and producer, MiAngel curates stories that expose the trauma and survivorship of those trapped in America’s criminal courts. MiAngel has seen incarcerated fathers and mothers kiss children goodbye. She’s watched judges lament that mandatory sentencing laws left them hamstrung with no discretion. She’s seen people leave prison with no ID card, no home, no medicine, no methadone, no insurance, no bus card, no education & no job prospects. She has stood with many people as they were sent into cages. And she’s received desperate calls when those same people returned from prison with nothing. Ultimately, she’s witnessed a system dehumanize humans and, in doing so, become dehumanized itself.
MiAngel has produced a number of viral justice campaigns with high-profile celebrities, advocates, and stakeholders with a digital reach of over 140 million user impressions. She produced The Third Strike Campaign, the first online digital storytelling platform for life-sentenced drug offenders in America. MiAngel’s digital work creates an immersive storytelling experience that reveals prison’s claustrophobic & dehumanizing effect on people serving life for drugs. The Third Strike Campaign received widespread industry acclaim, culminating in two Webby Awards for Best Internet Homepage of 2020 and Best Activism Website of 2020.
MiAngel is a frequent television and radio commentator who offers incisive insights on justice, courtroom litigation and constitutional law.
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