Crystal Shin

Crystal Shin

Professor of Law, General Faculty
Director, Holistic Youth Defense Clinic
Email
Phone
(434) 243-4664
Room
SL249

Crystal Shin is director of the Holistic Youth Defense Clinic, and teaches courses on juvenile justice and public service lawyering. She joined the Law School in 2017 and served as the first full-time faculty director of the Program in Law and Public Service from 2017-2020. 

Shin was previously a clinical assistant professor at William & Mary Law School, where she directed the PELE Special Education Advocacy Clinic. Under her supervision, law students provide free legal representation to children with disabilities and their families. Before joining William & Mary, Shin was an attorney with the JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center, where she provided legal representation to children and families in the areas of special education, school discipline, juvenile justice and immigration. During that time, she supervised law students in the Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Prior to law school, Shin taught fourth grade for three years in Henderson, North Carolina, through the Teach For America program. Her students served as her inspiration and motivation to attend law school. Shin received her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia, where she was the 2010 recipient of the Margaret G. Hyde Award. Shin’s work at LAJC began through the Powell Fellowship, an award offered by UVA Law to help recipients provide legal services to indigent clients.

Shin was named a 2020 Influential Women in Law honoree by Virginia Lawyers Weekly, and was the 2017 co-recipient of the Virginia State Bar’s Young Lawyer of the Year Award. She also serves on the board for Piedmont CASA and Barrett Early Learning Center in Charlottesville. She previously served as the program chair of the Children and the Law Commission of the Virginia State Bar’s Young Lawyers Conference. In that role, she planned an annual event at the Fairfax Circuit Court to introduce and inspire young students of color to consider legal careers.

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