Elizabeth Wang
Partner
- 720-328-5642
- elizabethW@loevy.com
Biography
Elizabeth Wang is a partner at Loevy & Loevy.
Ms. Wang practices from the firm’s Boulder, Colorado office and litigates civil rights and post-conviction cases around the country, including in Colorado and Illinois.
Ms. Wang has litigated cases resulting in millions of dollars of compensation to her clients. She joined the firm in the fall of 2008 and focuses her practice on representing individuals who have been wrongfully convicted, maliciously prosecuted, denied medical attention in jails and in prisons, subjected to police brutality, or had their First Amendment rights violated. She represents both civil rights plaintiffs and petitioners in post-conviction and habeas corpus proceedings. She also handles cases of individuals whose civil rights have been violated as a result of policy failures on the part of municipalities and county governments. Ms. Wang has handled many federal appeals and conducted numerous jury trials.
From 2010 to 2012, Ms. Wang was a Lecturer in Law in The Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Wang served as a law clerk for the Honorable Harry D. Leinenweber on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. From 2006 to 2007, Ms. Wang served as a law clerk for the Honorable Betty B. Fletcher on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to her clerkships, she was a Legal Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project. As a Legal Fellow, she represented South Asian convenience store owners in rural Georgia who were racially targeted by law enforcement in a federal criminal prosecution.
Ms. Wang graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2005. During law school, she worked in the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project of the Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic and served as President of the Chicago Law Foundation, a non-profit that raised funds for law students to do summer public interest work. She also externed at the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center, winning asylum for a young Liberian refugee. Prior to law school, Ms. Wang worked at the Cato Institute, where she researched alternatives to incarceration for drug offenders.
Bar Admissions
- Illinois, 2006
- Colorado, 2013
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2008
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, 2009
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, 2013
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 2009
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 2010
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U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, 2014
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U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, 2015
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 2016
Education + Honors
The University of Chicago Law School, Chicago, Illinois
• J.D. – 2005
The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
• A.B. – 2001
• With Honors
Clerkships & Past Employment
• Law Clerk, Hon. Harry D. Leinenweber, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois – 2007-2008
• Law Clerk, Hon. Betty B. Fletcher, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – 2006-2007
• Legal Fellow, American Civil Liberties Union, Drug Law Reform Project – 2005-2006
Representative Cases
- Wheatt & Glover v. City of East Cleveland, et al. (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio) Counsel for Derrick Wheatt and Laurese Glover, who were wrongfully convicted of a murder they did not commit in 1996, as a result of police suppression of exculpatory evidence and manipulation of an eyewitness and prosecutors’ denial of access to courts. Mr. Wheatt, Mr. Glover, and their former co-defendant, Eugene Johnson, spent 20 years in prison before being exonerated. Achieved a total $4.5 million settlement from Cuyahoga County and tried the civil rights claims against the East Cleveland police detectives to a successful jury verdict of $15 million total compensatory damages for the three plaintiffs.
- Cathy Woods (a/k/a Anita Carter) v. City of Reno, et al. (U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada) Counsel for Anita Carter, who was wrongfully convicted of a murder she did not commit as a result of alleged police misconduct involving violation of Ms. Carter’s due process rights and right against self-incrimination. Ms. Carter spent 35 years in prison before being exonerated in 2014. Civil rights case currently pending.
- Ben Baker v. City of Chicago, et al. (U.S. District Court for the N.D. Illinois) Counsel for Ben Baker, who was wrongfully convicted of drug crimes he did not commit as a result of alleged police misconduct involving the planting of false evidence on Mr. Baker. Two of the police officers involved in Mr. Baker’s wrongful prosecution were later convicted on corruption charges in federal court and served time in prison. Mr. Baker spent nearly 10 years in prison before being exonerated in 2016. Civil rights case currently pending.
- Julian v. Hanna (U.S. District Court for the S.D. Indiana) Counsel for man wrongfully convicted of arson as a result of alleged police misconduct. On appeal of a motion to dismiss, won unanimous reversal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Judge Richard A. Posner’s opinion in the case is the first in the Seventh Circuit to recognize a federal claim of malicious prosecution. Case settled before trial for $3 million.
- Chatman v. City of Chicago, et al. (U.S. District Court for the N.D. Illinois) Counsel for man wrongfully convicted of sexual assault as a result of alleged police misconduct, including a coerced false confession and withholding of exculpatory evidence. Mr. Chatman spent over 11 years in prison before being exonerated. Case settled favorably.
- Mason v. City of Chicago (U.S. District Court for the N.D. Illinois) Counsel for Curtis Mason, who suffered an orbital fracture as a result of excessive force by a Chicago police officer. Tried to a successful $625,000 jury verdict.
- Fox v. Barnes, et al. (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois) Counsel for Ray Fox in civil rights lawsuit alleging that deliberate indifference by prison officials to Mr. Fox’s medical needs resulted in serious brain injuries. Jury returned a $12 million verdict for Mr. Fox, among the highest recorded deliberate indifference verdicts in U.S. history.
- Ortiz v. City of Chicago, et al. (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois & U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit) Counsel for May Molina, whose estate alleged that, as a result of being wrongfully denied medication and medical treatment, she died after 28 hours in Chicago police custody. Jury returned a $1 million verdict for Ms. Molina’s estate and found that the City of Chicago’s policies and practices were responsible for her death.
- Perry v. City of Gary (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana) Counsel for a man who lost his eye as a result of being severely beaten by a Gary police officer. Jury returned an $850,000 verdict for Mr. Perry.
- People v. Robert Britton (Circuit Court of Cook County, Criminal Division) Counsel for Robert Britton. Obtained a decision vacating Mr. Britton’s 1996 conviction and secured a new trial for him on grounds of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the decision vacating Mr. Britton’s conviction and granting him a new trial. Secured not guilty verdict at retrial in November 2014. Mr. Britton was released from prison after 19 years of wrongful imprisonment.
- Ricky Jackson v. City of Cleveland, et al. (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio) Counsel for man wrongfully convicted of murder as a result of alleged police misconduct involving, among other things, withholding exculpatory evidence and eyewitness manipulation. Mr. Jackson served 39 years in prison before being exonerated in November 2014. Case currently pending.
- Hobson v. Dominguez, et al. (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana) Counsel for mother of a man who died of dehydration after being denied mental health and medical care during 16 days of detention in Lake County Jail, Indiana. Case settled favorably.
- Bell v. Keating (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit) Counsel for Buddy Bell, who challenged the City of Chicago’s disorderly conduct ordinance as unconstitutional. Secured decision from the Seventh Circuit holding that the ordinance’s failure-to-disperse provision violated the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. As a result, the City of Chicago amended its ordinance.
- Frasier v. Evans (U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado) Counsel for plaintiff, who was harassed and unlawfully detained and searched by Denver police when he recorded the police using excessive force on an unarmed civilian. Mr. Frasier alleges that his First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the Denver police unlawfully searched and detained him and attempted to permanently delete his video recording.
- McGettigan v. Di Mare (U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado) Counsel for state university professor who was retaliated against by his public employer as a result of his First Amendment-protected-speech against planned budget cuts, layoffs, and misuse of public money. Case settled favorably.
Our Impact
Loevy + Loevy has won more multi-million dollar verdicts than perhaps any other law firm in the country over the past decade. Our willingness to take hard cases to trial, and win them, has yielded a nationally recognized reputation for success in the courtroom.
Read the latest public reporting and press releases about Loevy + Loevy’s clients, our public interest litigation, and our civil rights impact.
We take on the nation’s most difficult public interest cases, advocating in and outside the courtroom to secure justice for our clients and to hold officials, governments, and corporations accountable.
