A Harvard Law School alum known for her pro bono legal work was one of the 67 people who died Wednesday when an airliner collided with a military helicopter in Washington, D.C.
, was set to join the teaching staff at Howard University School of Law in the fall, the school said in a Facebook post. She graduated from the school in 2021.
“As a student and lawyer, Kiah was known for her boundless enthusiasm for advancing justice for the most vulnerable and for building community,” wrote Interim Harvard Law School Dean John Goldberg in a statement.
Duggins earned a bachelor’s degree at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas in 2017, according to her LinkedIn page.
At Harvard Law School, Duggins was involved in several programs, including the Harvard Defenders, a pro bono legal clinic, and the Harvard Black Law Students Association, according to the school. She was also the president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.
When she graduated, she was recognized with a Clinical and Pro Bono Outstanding Student Award, the school said.
“My law school experience was totally defined by clinical and pro bono work,” Duggins said upon her graduation from Harvard Law School. “All of these experiences taught me everything I know about interacting with clients, written and oral advocacy, providing legal assistance to larger social movements, the technical elements of the law, and larger philosophical questions about what the law should be.”
While earning her law degree, Duggins worked at the ACLU of Northern California and as a summer associate at the law firm Neufeld, Scheck & Brustin, according to her LinkedIn page.
Since September 2021, she worked as an attorney at the Civil Rights Corps in Washington, D.C., according to her LinkedIn page. In that role, she handled police misconduct cases, illegal bail and fees and fines cases.
She was supposed to return to Harvard Law School this weekend for a Systemic Justice Project conference, the school said.
