Dawn Canady

Paralegal Case Manager

Dawn Canady is a Paralegal Case Manager at Democracy Forward.

Dawn has decades of experience in the legal field, starting in a solo practioner’s rural office. Since receiving a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia, she has worked at the United States Supreme Court, two international law firms, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (now Brady United), her local covid call center, and most recently, her local elections office. She has received multiple awards for her dedication and hard work. As a litigation paralegal, senior litigation paralegal, and appellate specialist, she has worked on many types of cases, but the most meaningful to her are the cases promoting justice, democracy, and fairness (civil rights, voting rights, due process, equal protection, marriage equality, campaign finance reform, immigration, and First Amendment cases; especially freeing the wrongfully convicted and detained, limiting the use of the death penalty, and assisting Native American communities). Dawn was also part of the practice management team and at every job has served as a crossover team player, pitching in wherever needed.

Dawn has been in the forefront at all of her workplaces in crafting processes and procedures to increase consistency, communication, and teamwork, and preparing instructional manuals and guides. She is known for her editing skills, attention to detail, and mentoring.