Join Professor Butler’s Civil Rights Class for a conversation with Vara Lyons, Policy Counsel at the ACLU of Mississippi to learn about voting rights and voter disenfranchisement in Mississippi and beyond. She will discuss recent efforts in Mississippi, including a redistricting case filed by the ACLU in April 2022. Lunch will be provided.

About Vara Lyons:

Vara Lyons joined the ACLU of Mississippi as Policy Counsel in September 2021. Prior to the ACLU, Vara was in private practice litigating cases on behalf of trafficking, sex abuse and discrimination victims, including claims against educational institutions, the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts. Vara was previously a prosecutor at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, where she worked on alternative justice solutions while assigned to the Red Hook Community Justice Center and later served in the Human Trafficking Unit.

Vara studied art history at Washington University in St. Louis and law at George Washington University. A native Jacksonian, Vara is excited to be back in her home state advocating for the rights of fellow Mississippians.