Karena Rahall

Biography

Karena Rahall joins the faculty in 2012 to teach the Youth Advocacy Clinic and Trial Advocacy. For ten years she served as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn's Criminal Defense Division. She also ran the New York office of the International Legal Foundation, an NGO that institutes criminal defense services in post-conflict countries including Afghanistan and Nepal. Most recently, she ran her own private practice, focusing on criminal defense and family law, and litigating in both federal and state court in New York City.

Professor Rahall received a B.A. from Hampshire College, an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU and a J.D. from Fordham Law School. She directed several theatre productions in New York City before beginning her legal career, and her scholarly writing has focused on performance and the law.