Professor Ayesha Bell Hardaway is a legal scholar and civil rights advocate whose work centers on race, justice, and the law. She serves as a Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Director of the Law School’s Social Justice Law Center, and Director of the University’s Social Justice Institute.

In the area of law and public policy, she critically engages with how legal systems and institutions reinforce or disrupt structural inequality. She has written extensively on policing, constitutional law, and civil rights, and her scholarship has helped shape national conversations on state-sanctioned violence and police accountability. Her broader research interests include criminal law, racial justice, and systems reform.

Hardaway is a civil litigator by training who brings that real-world experience to her teaching, research, and community engagement. She is a frequent speaker and media commentator, and has served on expert panels and task forces focused on policing reform, including the Cleveland Police Monitoring Team under a federal consent decree. Her work is grounded in a commitment to equity, legal integrity, and transformative justice.