Charlie Ferguson L’24

Charlie joins Penn Carey Law and the Toll Public Interest Center in order to create transformative justice and collective liberation in the American legal system for LGBTQ+ communities. Utilizing a queer, feminist, and anti-racist lens, their goal is to cultivate substantial and sustainable equity through the power of law and policy, dismantle oppressive structures united with other community leaders, and, most importantly, live with compassion for all.

At Penn Carey Law, Charlie is the President of Penn Carey Law Lambda, an Associate Editor for the Law Review, a pro-bono volunteer for Transgender Empowerment and Advocacy, and an at-large member of the LGBTQ+ Bar’s Law Student Congress. They are also a dual degree student pursuing an M.S. in Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. They spent their 1L summer at Lambda Legal and as a Research Assistant to Dr. Dorothy Roberts.

Charlie graduated from the University of Texas in 2016 with a BA in English with Honors and a BA in Art History. At UT, they were the president and founder of Gamma Rho Lambda, Tau Chapter, a Greek organization that serves LGBTQ+ college students. They were also a member of the Junior Fellows and completed a thesis on representations of young women. In 2020, they received their MA in Women’s and Gender Studies with a specialization in LGBTQ+ Studies from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Their thesis, Transgender in College: Policies Towards Engaging Marginalized Collegiate Students, provided guidance towards more equitable practices within university systems.

Prior to joining Penn Carey Law, Charlie worked at the non-profit Housing Works in New York City, where they were the director of a youth LGBTQ+ community center. From 2017-2021, they also served on the National Council of Gamma Rho Lambda, National Sorority, as the Vice Presidents of Collegians.

In their personal time, Charlie is a long-distance runner and always training for their next marathon.