Former Mass. lawyer joins Equal Opportunity Office

Laura K. Langley was hired by Western Washington University in fall quarter as an equal opportunity/employment diversity associate in the Equal Opportunity Office. In this role, Langley works with faculty, staff and students toward ensuring a campus environment that is diverse, inclusive and free of discrimination and harassment.

Before coming to Western, Langley practiced law at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Boston, focusing on employment, appellate, First Amendment and complex commercial litigation. Langley's primary expertise is in working with employers and organizations to implement policies and best practices for the inclusion of transgender people. Laura is a past member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association, was the founding chair of the Mass. LGBTQ Bar’s Committee on Transgender Inclusion and served as a member of the Legislative Committee of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.

Langley is a recipient of the National LGBT Bar Association’s Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Award and the Mass. LGBTQ Bar’s Kevin Larkin Memorial Award for Public Service. Publications include “Self Determination in a Gender Fundamentalist State: Towards Legal Liberation of Transgender Identities,” Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights, Vol. 12 (2006), “Legal Protections for Transgender People,” Massachusetts Bar Association Section Review, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2007) (co-author), and “Giving Up on Youth: The Dangers of Recent Attempts to Federalize Juvenile Crime,” Journal of Juvenile Law, Vol. 25 (2005).

Langley received a BA in international relations with distinction in women’s studies from Boston University and a JD from Northeastern University School of Law. After graduating from law school, Langley clerked for the Honorable David A. Mills of the Massachusetts Appeals Court.