With nearly two decades of legal experience, Daryl Atkinson has a proven record of translating his experience and values into impact. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Atkinson was co-counsel in litigation that resulted in 3,500 vulnerable people being released from North Carolina prisons. That same year, he spearheaded passage of the North Carolina Second Chance Act, which helps thousands of people with criminal records get their records cleared each year. In 2022, Atkinson was lead counsel in CSI v. Moore, which restored voting rights for 55,000 people on felony supervision, unlocking the franchise for thousands of people to vote in the pivotal midterm elections.
Atkinson has been named the Grio Hero (2023), served as the Second Chance fellow with the U.S. Department of Justice (2015-16), and was awarded the Reentry and Employment Champion of Change Award by the White House (2014). Atkinson previously served as an editor of “What We Know”, a compilation of innovative policy proposals developed by currently and formerly incarcerated people, and was a contributing author to “Parsimony and Other Radical Ideas,” a compendium of articles on creating transformational change in the criminal legal system. He is a founding member of the North Carolina Second Chance Alliance and serves on the Board of Directors for the Clean Slate Initiative.
Atkinson has appeared in numerous media outlets, including the Washington Post, CBS, NowThis, and MSNBC. He received a BA in political science from Benedict College in Columbia, SC, and a JD from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, MN.
