Dawn Davison is director of public service at the Law School. Previously, she was a senior staff attorney with the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center, a nonprofit law firm specializing in the representation of condemned inmates. At the center, Davison represented inmates in their state and federal habeas corpus proceedings and clemency applications for more than 13 years. In 2017, she was awarded the Bill Geimer Award by her peers for being a dedicated capital defender. Davison also taught continuing legal education courses sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association and the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission to capital practitioners.
Davison earned her B.A. in theatre with a minor in psychology from the University of New Mexico. She earned her J.D. and graduated Order of the Coif from Washington and Lee University School of Law. In law school, she joined the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse clinic, helped found Students for an Innocence Project, worked as a summer intern with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and was a staff writer for the Washington and Lee Law Review. After graduating, Davison clerked for U.S. Judge James P. Jones of the Western District of Virginia.