Charlie Gerstein
Lawyer
Gerstein Harrow LLP
Charlie is a partner at Gerstein Harrow, LLP a civil rights law firm, and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown Law Center. He represents plaintiffs across the country in important cases involving the First Amendment, unconstitutional search and seizure, consumer rights, and more.
Charlie has litigated complex class-action cases from investigation through trial, and has successfully formulated novel litigation strategies to challenge pervasive injustices.
- Willey v. Ewing, 18-CV-81 (S.D. Tex. 2018): Charlie served as lead counsel in first-of-its-kind challenge to judicial interference with public-defender independence. Case resolved by consent judgment, and covered extensively in the New York Times and Texas Monthly.
- Little v. Frederick, 17-CV-724 (W.D. La.): Charlie served as lead counsel in class-action challenge to Lafayette, Louisiana’s money-bail system from investigation, through motion-to-dismiss briefing, discovery, summary-judgment briefing, and trial. Currently awaiting verdict in bench trial.
- Weatherspoon v. Oldham, 17-CV-2535 (W.D. Tenn. 2018): Charlie served as lead counsel in successful federal habeas-corpus case challenging illegal money-bail practices in Memphis, Tennessee. See Weatherspoon, 2018 WL 1053548 (W.D. Tenn. Feb. 26, 2018).
- Lomas v. Harris County, 16-CV-3745 (S.D. Tex. 2017): Charlie served as lead counsel in successfully resolved class-action challenge to probable-cause practices in Harris County, Texas.
- Parga v. Board of Commissioners of County of Tulsa, 18-CV-298 (N.D. Okla.): Charlie served as lead counsel in putative class-action challenge to money-bail system in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, from investigation through motion-to-dismiss briefing. Successfully briefed motion for reconsideration of order dismissing case as moot. See Parga, 2019 WL 1231675 (N.D. Okla. Mar. 15, 2019), vacating Parga, 2018 WL 6048016 (N.D. Okla. Nov. 19, 2018). Charlie currently serves as counsel during discovery.
- Hernandez v. City of Houston,16-CV-3745 (S.D. Tex.): Charlie served as lead counsel in class-action challenge to probable-cause practices in Houston, Texas, from investigation through motion-to-dismiss briefing. See Hernandez, 2017 WL 2463636 (S.D. Tex. June 6, 2017) (denying motion to dismiss).Charlie served as counsel during discovery, class-certification, and summary judgment briefing, as well as during a successful motion for discovery sanctions. See Hernandez, 2019 WL 2869157 (S.D. Tex. July 3, 2019) (granting class certification); Hernandez, 2018 WL 4140684 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 30, 2018) (granting sanctions).
Charlie has written extensively on a wide range of legal issues. He is the author of Dependent Counsel, 11 Stan. J. C.R.-C.L. 147 (2020); The Prisoner's Lawyer's Dilemma, Criminal Justice Magazine, Spring 2017, at 33; Plea Bargaining and Prosecutorial Motives, 15 U.N.H. L. Rev. 1 (2016); Process Costs and Police Discretion, 128 Harv. L. Rev. F. 268 (2015) (with J.J. Prescott); Note, Plea Bargaining and the Right to Counsel at Bail Hearings, 111 Mich. L. Rev. 1513 (2013); Accomplices, in The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Dr. Jay S. Albanese ed., 2013); and Essay, What Can the Brothers Malone Teach us About Fisher v. University of Texas?, 111 Mich. L. Rev. First Impressions 1 (2012). He is the co-host of the weekly podcast Versus Trump (archived recordings) and is a regular contributor to the Take Care blog (archived posts).
In addition to (and separate from) his work at Civil Rights Corps, Charlie has worked in voter-protection for several election cycles. In 2018, he served as Co-Director for Navajo Nation Voter Protection for the Democratic Party of Arizona; in 2017, he served as a boiler-room volunteer for the Doug Jones campaign, and a poll observer for the Democratic Party of Virginia; and in 2016, he served as a poll observer for the Hillary Clinton campaign in Pennsylvania.
Charlie graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 2014, finishing second in his class. After law school, Charlie clerked for the Honorable J. Paul Oetken of the Southern District of New York and the Honorable Pierre N. Leval of the Second Circuit. Before law school, Charlie was a public-defense investigator. Before that, he was a chef. And before that, he worked in landscaping and played guitar in a band.
The views Charlie expresses in his writing and on the Versus Trump podcast are entirely his own. They do not reflect, in any way, the views of Civil Rights Corps—or anyone else for that matter.
