{"id":3294,"date":"2026-06-26T09:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/?p=3294"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:59:15","slug":"law-spider-spotlight-emily-powell-l18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/2026\/06\/26\/law-spider-spotlight-emily-powell-l18\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Spider Spotlight \u2013 Emily Powell (L\u201918)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tell us about your current role.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been an Assistant Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney for Chesterfield County since 2020, specifically assigned to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court section. I serve as the Virginia Stop Violence Against Women grant prosecutor for the office, and I specialize in crimes involving intimate partner violence and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

One of the most meaningful parts of my job is seeing people who have been harmed begin to reclaim their voices. I know that for anyone who has to come to court on one of my cases, it\u2019s rarely a \u201cgood day.\u201d Whether it\u2019s a defendant, a victim, or a witness, no one is happy about being in court. When I meet with victims on my cases, I know that they are very likely anxious, upset, and risking retraumatization when they talk about what happened to them. They have endured experiences that no one should ever have to face, and often the person who caused that harm is a person who claims to love them.<\/p>\n

What keeps you motivated?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of my job comes with heavy emotions. Most of it involves talking with people about some of the worst moments of their lives. But I\u2019ve seen children find the strength to testify in front of a room full of strangers about the sexual abuse perpetrated by their parent.\u00a0 I have heard survivors who have experienced domestic violence for years say that they are done, and I have stood proud as they testify against their abuser for the very first time. Those are the moments that motivate me. Those moments remind me why this work matters. They don\u2019t come around every day, but I will do what I can to support those who are most vulnerable; my hope is that when they\u2019re ready, they\u2019ll feel supported and know I\u2019m there to help however I can.<\/p>\n

The joy in my job comes from the people I work alongside every day. I have the privilege of working with brilliant, passionate, dedicated individuals. Even with the heaviness of the work, we find reasons to laugh regularly. I am incredibly fortunate, and I am reminded of that every day.<\/p>\n

Did you know what you wanted to do when you entered law school?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I was one of the few law students who already had a clear sense of what I wanted to do when I started law school. When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be a special victims prosecutor (I eventually named my dog after Olivia Benson\u2026I was committed).<\/p>\n

But in college, I took a class on incarcerated women, and I started second guessing my career plan. I learned about many women whose paths to incarceration were deeply tied to abuse and coercion. It made me take a hard look at my plans for the future, questioning whether I should go into criminal defense work instead. I researched wrongful convictions, which strengthened my commitment to approaching this work with integrity and care.<\/p>\n

After a lot of introspection, I ultimately decided I\u2019d rather be the one sitting in the prosecutor\u2019s chair than risk someone else with different views fill that spot. By the time I entered law school, I was assured in my path. As Professor Mary Kelly Tate predicted, I\u2019m a bit of a bleeding-heart prosecutor. And I think it makes me better at what I do.<\/p>\n

What courses would you recommend?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I highly recommend taking advantage of the clinics and externships available at Richmond Law. I used all of the credits available for clinical experiences between a clinic (the Wrongful Convictions Clinic during my 2L year with Professor Mary Kelly Tate) and two externships (one during the fall 3L semester with then-United States Magistrate Judge Roderick Young, and the second during the spring 3L semester with the Chesterfield Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office). These experiences gave me the opportunity to work directly with attorneys, judges, and citizens in a way that simply can\u2019t be replicated in a classroom.<\/p>\n

I began to understand how a case moves through the system, how to think on my feet, and how to communicate with people facing real consequences. More importantly, my experiences confirmed this is exactly the type of work I wanted to do. There\u2019s truly no substitute for getting in a courtroom, working with attorneys, and learning how to navigate the unpredictable, very human side of this work.<\/p>\n

Click Emily Powell | LinkedIn<\/a><\/strong> to learn more about Emily Powell (L’18)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tell us about your current role.\u00a0 I have been an Assistant Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney for Chesterfield County since 2020, specifically assigned to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court section. I serve as the Virginia Stop Violence Against Women grant prosecutor for the office, and I specialize in crimes involving intimate partner violence and sexual assault. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2177,"featured_media":3295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29934],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice-from-students-and-alumni"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/files\/2026\/06\/Emily-Powell.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3294"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3305,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3294\/revisions\/3305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/richmondlawcdo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}