Margaret Love practices law in Washington, D.C., specializing in executive clemency and restoration of rights, and sentencing and corrections policy. A prolific author, Ms. Love represents applicants for presidential pardon and commutation of sentence, and also advises individuals with state convictions who are seeking to avoid or mitigate collateral consequences. Recognized as a national expert on clemency and related issues, she serves as Executive Director of the Collateral Consequences Resource Center. She regularly consults with legislatures, clemency and parole authorities, governors’ offices, and other agencies and organizations on the development and operation of mechanisms for relief from the adverse effects of a criminal record.
Ms. Love is co-author of a treatise on the collateral consequences of criminal conviction (Love, Roberts & Klingele, Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction: Law, Policy and Practice (NACDL/West 2013). She regularly updates summaries of the law and practice on what each U.S. jurisdiction provides by way of relief from collateral consequences and restoration of rights after conviction, and these are freely available to the public on the website of the Collateral Consequence Resource Center’s Restoration of Rights Project. From 2011 until 2013 she directed the NIJ-funded project to inventory the collateral consequences of conviction in each U.S. jurisdiction. She serves as a member of the NACDL Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status, as liaison to the ABA Standards Committee from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and as an Adviser to the American Law Institute Model Penal Code/Sentencing project. She participated in the drafting of the Uniform Collateral Consequences of Conviction Act, and is currently on its enactment committee. She chaired the drafting committees for the ABA Criminal Justice Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners, and for the Standards on Collateral Sanctions and Discretionary Disqualification of Convicted Persons. From 2005 to 2009 she directed the work of the ABA Commission on Effective Criminal Sanctions, and in 2003-2005 was reporter for the ABA Justice Kennedy Commission.
Ms. Love served as United States Pardon Attorney in the Justice Department from 1990 to 1997, with overall responsibility for operation and management of Justice Department’s executive clemency program. Prior to that, she was Deputy Associate Attorney General and Associate Deputy Attorney General (1988-1990), and Senior Counsel in the Office of Legal Counsel (1979-1988).
Ms. Love was awarded a Soros Senior Fellowship in 2004-2005 to write her first book on collateral consequences. She is a former chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and member of the ABA Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct (“Ethics 2000”).
Ms. Love received her law degree from Yale, and has a Master’s Degree in Medieval History from the University of Pennsylvania.
She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
Ms. Love’s resume can be found here.