Emily Coward serves as the Director of the Inclusive Juries Project at the Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility at Duke University School of Law. From 2012 to 2021, she was an attorney with the Public Defense Education group at the UNC School of Government, where she held the position of Director and Project Attorney for the North Carolina Racial Equity Network. Coward has received notable accolades, including the Margaret Taylor Writing Award from the UNC School of Government for her work co-authoring 'Raising Issues of Race in North Carolina Criminal Cases', and the James E. Williams Award from the North Carolina Public Defenders Association. She has actively contributed to efforts addressing racial equity, as a member of the North Carolina Governor's Task Force on Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, and as a commissioner for the North Carolina Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System.