Tracie L. Washington
Director of Title IX Compliance & Title IX Coordinator
225.771.5818, ext. 35
Tracie L. Washington is a very proud native New Orleanian, and graduate of Carleton College, Drake University (MPA), The University of Texas School of Law, and the University of New Orleans (MBA). For over 30 years Tracie has maintained a general civil practice concentrated in civil rights, education law (traditional & charter k-12, and HigherEd), and labor/employment law. Post Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Tracie’s practice expanded to fight for the civil rights of individuals affected by these national catastrophes, with Louisiana Justice Institute (LJI), a nonprofit human rights organization and law firm. In addition to her work with LJI, Tracie has served as a Visiting Professor of Law at Southern University Law Centeer, and is now its Director of Title IX Compliance/Title IX Coordinator.
Post Hurricane Katrina/Hurricane Rita, Tracie’s practice has focused on protecting the civil rights of individuals affected by this national catastrophe. Tracie has been counsel in several cases involving the rights of New Orleans Katrina survivors, including: Kirk vs. City of New Orleans and Ray Nagin, litigating the rights of all New Orleans home-owners to constitutionally guaranteed notice and opportunity to be heard prior to their houses being bulldozed; Lott vs. Orleans Parish School Board, litigating the rights of returning New Orleans Public Schools students to immediate re-enrollment and admission to publically funded Orleans Parish Schools; ACORN et al. vs. Kathleen Blanco, Governor – State of Louisiana, litigating the voting rights of New Orleans evacuees and their right to equal access to the franchise as promised by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the U.S. Constitution; Joshua et al. vs. City of New Orleans and Mayor Ray Nagin, a second class action case on behalf of New Orleans residents whose homes have been demolished and are slated to be demolished without prior notice and opportunity for hearing; LeBlanc et al. vs. Thomas, et al., the landmark class action suit demanding the state of Louisiana re-open Charity Hospital, the only public hospital serving the New Orleans regional area and closed after Katrina, leaving poor and mostly minority residents without access to full healthcare services; and David et al. vs. Signal International, et al., the lawsuit and accompanying campaign to end Indian-immigrant worker exploitation in Gulf Coast area shipyards.
Tracie is involved in a wide range of community activities, including the Junior League of New Orleans, Trinity Episcopal Church, and the Omicron Nu Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta sorority. She has received numerous leadership and civil rights awards, and is a Fellow of the United States-Southern African Center for Leadership and Public Values at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University & Southern University (led by Ambassador James Joseph), and the Loyola University Institute of Politics Fellow. In line with her deep commitment to facilitated dispute resolution, Tracie was selected as an American Arbitration Association Higginbotham Fellow for 2011-12. In June 2016 she completed the Higher Education Leadership Foundation – Leadership Institute, as a member of the Gamma Cohort.
Tracie was awarded the Carleton College Distinguished Achievement Award at her 30th reunion, and named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Public Justice Foundation, for her work as co-counsel in the landmark human trafficking case David vs. Signal. In addition, Tracie was named by MSNBC’s TheGrio, as one of its 100 History Makers in the Making, and The Root, a daily online magazine published by Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive and edited by prominent academic Henry Louis Gates Jr., named Tracie one of its Twenty Leading Black Women Advocating Change. She was featured in Spike Lee’s documentary “If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise,” and has been interviewed on national talk shows including MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show and PBS NewsHour.
Tracie is an accomplished baker, and believes all things are possible with high-fat butter. Her specialty-order bakery is NolaGoodies, Inc.