Managing Attorney, Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic and Term Teaching Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Meredith Holland Kessler is the Managing Attorney for the Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic, where she trains, educates, and mentors students in the legal profession as they work to promote the fundamental human right to religious freedom. She represents clients in a variety of legal matters, with a strong focus on the Clinic's litigation efforts, and oversees the Clinic's operations.
Prior to joining Notre Dame Law School in 2022, Kessler practiced law in Washington, D.C. as an Issues & Appeals associate at Jones Day. She also served as a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Judge Richard J. Leon on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Kessler earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Theology from the University of Notre Dame. She graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where she served as the Federal Courts and Submissions Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law & Director, Religious Freedom Clinic, Harvard Law School
Josh is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Religious Freedom Clinic, a pro bono program that gives students a hands-on, supervised experience representing a diverse group of clients in First Amendment and religious freedom cases.
Before entering clinical teaching, Josh clerked for the Honorable Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Honorable Jay S. Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In addition to serving as a staff attorney in the clinic’s inaugural semester in 2020, he was previously a trial litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson and an appellate litigator at Horvitz & Levy, where he specialized in representing individual and organizational clients in both commercial and civil rights cases, with particular expertise in First Amendment and religious freedom issues.
While in private practice, Josh received a Daily Journal 2022 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) award, was twice named a “One to Watch” in appellate law by Best Lawyers, and argued in numerous appellate courts and courts of last resort, including twice before the California Supreme Court. His amicus brief for Jewish schools in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court was quoted by Justice Kavanaugh at oral argument.
Josh earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University and graduated first in his class from UCLA School of Law.
Managing Attorney, Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic and Term Teaching Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Meredith Holland Kessler is the Managing Attorney for the Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic, where she trains, educates, and mentors students in the legal profession as they work to promote the fundamental human right to religious freedom. She represents clients in a variety of legal matters, with a strong focus on the Clinic's litigation efforts, and oversees the Clinic's operations.
Prior to joining Notre Dame Law School in 2022, Kessler practiced law in Washington, D.C. as an Issues & Appeals associate at Jones Day. She also served as a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Judge Richard J. Leon on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Kessler earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Theology from the University of Notre Dame. She graduated summa cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where she served as the Federal Courts and Submissions Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review.
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law & Director, Religious Freedom Clinic, Harvard Law School
Josh is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Religious Freedom Clinic, a pro bono program that gives students a hands-on, supervised experience representing a diverse group of clients in First Amendment and religious freedom cases.
Before entering clinical teaching, Josh clerked for the Honorable Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Honorable Jay S. Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In addition to serving as a staff attorney in the clinic’s inaugural semester in 2020, he was previously a trial litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson and an appellate litigator at Horvitz & Levy, where he specialized in representing individual and organizational clients in both commercial and civil rights cases, with particular expertise in First Amendment and religious freedom issues.
While in private practice, Josh received a Daily Journal 2022 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) award, was twice named a “One to Watch” in appellate law by Best Lawyers, and argued in numerous appellate courts and courts of last resort, including twice before the California Supreme Court. His amicus brief for Jewish schools in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court was quoted by Justice Kavanaugh at oral argument.
Josh earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University and graduated first in his class from UCLA School of Law.
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety
Meredith Holland Kessler, Joshua C. McDaniel
Damon Landor, a state prisoner and practicing Rastafarian, refused to cut his hair as an...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety
Meredith Holland Kessler, Joshua C. McDaniel
Damon Landor, a state prisoner and practicing Rastafarian, refused to cut his hair as an...