Nicole Dooley

Nicole Dooley is a Supervising Attorney in the Public Benefits Law Unit. Nicole represents clients in a wide range of public benefits matters, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.

Prior to joining Legal Aid DC in January 2020, Nicole was senior policy counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., where she worked to advance racial justice and educational equity through federal, state, and local advocacy. Prior to that, Nicole worked in the DC enforcement office of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights; and as an attorney with the JustChildren program of the Legal Aid Justice Center, where she represented clients in special education, school discipline, school enrollment, language access, and other education-related issues. Immediately following law school, Nicole clerked for the Alaska Supreme Court.

Nicole graduated with a B.S., summa cum laude, in chemical engineering from Rice University. She received her J.D., cum laude, and a Masters in Public Policy after attending a joint program at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School, where she served as editor in chief of the Harvard BlackLetter Law Journal. While at Harvard, she worked as a student attorney with the Criminal Justice Institute, and interned with the Education Law Center in Philadelphia and Dakota Plains Legal Services in Pine Ridge, South Dakota.