Emily A.

Benfer

Emily A. Benfer is a visiting professor of law and the director of the Health Justice Clinic at Wake Forest School of Law. Her clinic practice and research focus on addressing social determinants of health, racial inequity, and poverty with an emphasis on housing, as well as community-based approaches to access to justice and health equity. Prof. Benfer has testified before Congress, published widely, and appeared in numerous media outlets on these topics. She has conducted policy surveillance and legal mapping of housing laws across the fifty states, including proactive rental inspection laws. Currently, she is the Chair of the American Bar Association’s COVID-19 Task Force Committee on Eviction and co-creator of the COVID-19 Housing Policy Scorecard with the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Prof. Benfer is the principal investigator in a study of nationwide COVID-19 eviction moratoriums and housing policies. She was an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and a Peace Corps volunteer. She has received numerous commendations, including the American Public Health Association David P. Rawl Award for Advocacy, and was recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the Top 40 Lawyers Under 40. Prof. Benfer has a B.A. from Providence College, a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law, and an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.