Reakash Walters

Reakash Walters is a Canadian lawyer, doctoral candidate at Berkeley School of Law, and Research Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Institute to End Mass Incarceration. She is also the Stuart-Delisle Research Fellow at Queen’s University Faculty of Law. Her scholarship examines the constitutive power of race in criminal legal institutions, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and a full Robbins JSD Fellowship.

• Ph.D. Candidate, Berkeley School of Law
• Research Fellow, Harvard Law School
• Stuart-Delisle Research Fellow, Queen’s University Faculty of Law

Education

• J.D., University of Ottawa (cum laude)
• Master of Laws, Columbia University (High Honors, Fulbright Scholar, Davis Polk Fellow)

Research Interests span critical race theory, criminal justice reform, institutional design, and restorative justice. Her work explores the criminalization of Black friendship and kinship, integrating over a decade of community organizing experience in racial justice, housing, and human rights.

Scientific Awards & Honors

• Fulbright Scholar
• Davis Polk Fellow
• Robbins JSD Fellowship
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Funding
• Trailblazer Recognition by Chatelaine Magazine (2020)
• Award-Winning Podcast Co-Founder

Professional Roles include serving as a board member of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) and the Canadian Law and Society Association. She is currently piloting Nova Scotia’s first Africentric Justice Strategy with a Black-led research institute and will teach Sentencing & Imprisonment at Berkeley in 2026.