Wyatt Rolla is the ACLU of Virginia’s senior transgender rights attorney. Since January of 2023, they have worked alongside and on behalf of trans people across the commonwealth, deploying litigation, policy and community lawyering tools.
Prior to the ACLU-VA, Rolla worked for nine years with Virginia’s Legal Aid Justice Center. Their work at LAJC initially focused on housing law, providing both individual legal representation and legal support to tenant organizations. In 2017, Rolla shifted to LAJC’s Civil Rights and Racial Justice (CRRJ) Program, where they developed campaigns to combat the criminalization of the poor, people of color and other Virginians. They served as the interim legal director for CRRJ for over a year, including during the summer of 2020, when the country faced a national reckoning regarding policing and mass incarceration. In their final year at LAJC, Wyatt coordinated and consulted on work intertwining organizing and legal tools as Senior Movement Attorney.
Outside of work, Wyatt is the co-founder of the National Lawyers Guild Central Virginia Chapter, which grew out of providing legal support to the Charlottesville community during the Unite the Right rally and associated events. They also serve on the Advisory Council for the Charlottesville Public Housing Association of Residents and on the board of the Virginia LGBTQ Bar Association.
They earned their B.A. from the College of William & Mary and their law degree from the University of Virginia, where they received the Herbert Kramer/Herbert Bangel Community Service Award and were a member of the Virginia Law Review’s editorial board.
Rolla was recognized by Equality Virginia as an “OUTstanding Virginian” (in their role as a Virginia Equality Bar Association board member) in 2020 and an “Up and Coming Lawyer” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly in 2018.