Areas of Practice
- Criminal Defense
- Appeals
Olivia Warren graduated with honors from Harvard Law School in 2017. After law school, Liv began her career as a law clerk to Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to then-Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Following her clerkships, Liv made Durham her home and began practicing at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. There she represented indigent clients from trial through late-stage appeals in both state and federal courts. In 2021, she won a landmark case in the North Carolina Supreme Court, successfully arguing that the statutes governing state post-conviction relief had been misconstrued by courts for decades to summarily deny claims without evidentiary hearings.
In addition to representing clients in court, Liv advocates for justice beyond the courtroom. In 2020, she testified to Congress about the sexual harassment she was subjected to by a federal judge. She has fought for basic civil rights protections for the more than 30,000 employees of the federal judiciary, who are exempt from most civil rights statutes. Liv has worked with Members of Congress on the bipartisan Judiciary Accountability Act of 2021.
Liv is a member of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice. She has taught legal education seminars and regularly mentors students. She has also been published in the Harvard Law Review Forum.
