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Selin Cherian-Rivers

Senior Staff Attorney
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Selin is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Civil Rights Hub, where she provides regulatory, policy, and litigation support for local jurisdictions to protect and advance civil rights.

Prior to joining PRP, she served as a senior attorney and Policy Counsel in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Coordination and Compliance Section for 18 years. During her tenure, she investigated allegations of race, color, and national origin discrimination by police departments, courts, and correctional facilities under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She provided legal counsel and policy development to 24 federal agencies on civil rights obligations in education, infrastructure, health, transportation, emergency and disaster management, and other areas. She also served as lead counsel for the United States in the first race-based environmental justice settlement under Title VI, which required a state health department to improve septic and wastewater infrastructure, suspend criminal penalties and liens, and develop long-term solutions to abate residents’ exposure to raw sewage.

Selin clerked for the Hon. Susan R. Holmes Winfield at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She received her J.D. from Howard University School of Law, where she was Articles Editor for the Howard Law Journal, and received her B.A. in Journalism from Temple University. She is based in Washington, D.C.

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