Corey Stoughton is a seasoned appellate advocate specializing in constitutional law, criminal law, and complex civil litigation.
Prior to joining Selendy Gay as Special Counsel, Corey served as Attorney-in-Charge of Law Reform and Special Litigation at The Legal Aid Society, overseeing its strategic litigation practice. In this role, she led a large litigation team focused on a variety of cutting edge, constitutional and statutory issues, including the impact of COVID-19 in prisons and jails; as lead counsel in Payne v. City of New York (S.D.N.Y.), which challenged the NYPD’s use of inappropriate force against protesters; and in Davis v. City of New York (S.D.N.Y.), which challenged and reformed the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices. In June 2023, the New York State Bar Association honored Corey with its prestigious Award for Excellence in Mandated Representation.
Before joining The Legal Aid Society, she led Liberty, the U.K.’s preeminent human rights and civil liberties organization. In 2015, Corey was appointed by President Barack Obama as senior counsel to head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, where she focused on voting rights, criminal justice, and discrimination in education, housing, lending, and employment, among other areas. From 2005 to 2015, Corey managed complex litigation and advocacy campaigns for NYCLU, New York’s state affiliate of the ACLU.
Corey graduated from Harvard Law School, served as a Fulbright Scholar, and clerked for the Honorable Cornelia G. Kennedy, on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. New York State’s Commission on Judicial Nominations three times included her among the slate of nominees for Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the New York Court of Appeals.