SMU Law Alum Adds 'TED Speaker' to Resume
"A Vision of Sustainable Liberation for Justice-Impacted People"
SMU Law alumna Brittany K. Barnett ('11) has added "TED Speaker" to her long list of accomplishments. Barnett recently conducted a TED Talk titled "A Vision of Sustainable Liberation for Justice-Impacted People." She shared stories of the innovation languishing in America's prisons and a vision for investing in people whose unjust prison sentences interrupted their dreams to bring great things to the world.
Barnett is an award winning attorney and entrepreneur focused on transforming the criminal justice system. Her pro bono work has freed dozens of people serving death sentences for federal drug offenses, including multiple clients who received executive clemency from two Presidents.
Barnett is the founder of several nonprofits and social enterprises, including the Buried Alive Project, Girls Embracing Mothers, XVI Capital Partners, and Manifest Freedom. She has earned many honors, including being named one of America’s most Outstanding Young Lawyers by the American Bar Association. Her best-selling memoir, A Knock at Midnight, was named the #1 Book of 2020 by Amazon Books Editors.