Kayonia L. Whetstone

Kayonia L. Whetstone is an Associate Professor in the Fundamentals of Lawyering Program. As a native New Yorker who has lived and worked in ethnically and socially diverse communities, she is most passionate about helping to train ethical and justice-minded attorneys from diverse backgrounds.

Professor Whetstone knows that good legal writing is essential for every attorney. Thus, she brings a learner-focused approach to her classroom to demystify the art and science of legal research, analysis, and writing to help students hone their written and oral advocacy skills. She has served as full-time faculty at St. John’s University School of Law and the Howard University School of Law, teaching first-year legal writing and appellate advocacy. Additionally, she has presented at national and regional conferences on topics including using multi-media technology and criminal statutes to teach legal writing skills, infusing concepts of cultural mindfulness in pedagogy, the importance of building writing communities, encouraging diversity in the legal field, and post-conviction matters. Her research interests include legal writing pedagogy, assessments, social and economic justice, and criminal justice reform.

Before joining the legal academy five years ago, she proudly served as an appellate prosecutor in New York’s Bronx and Queens counties. In that capacity, Professor Whetstone handled various criminal and civil post-judgment issues, including advocating for the vacatur of convictions for sex-trafficking victims. Also, she defended numerous convictions for serious crimes on direct appeal, responded to homicide scenes, handled civil commitment matters under mental hygiene laws, and answered federal habeas corpus petitions, including actual innocence claims.

Professor Whetstone is thrilled to join the George Washington University Law School because the transformative work happening here is pivotal to developing practice-ready attorneys who are mindful of every attorney’s social responsibility to our global community.