Will Bardwell is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

After graduating with honors from the University of Mississippi in 2003, he spent two years as a newspaper reporter at a small, daily newspaper in east Mississippi. In 2008, he returned to the University of Mississippi for law school and graduated with honors.

Will joined Democracy Forward in 2022 after working for six years at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where he developed and litigated cases concerning public education, voting rights, prison conditions, disproportionate sentencing, and other civil rights issues. Before SPLC, Will was in private practice for five years. Will also served as a law clerk at the Mississippi Supreme Court and for Judge Carlton W. Reeves at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. His experience spans every stage of litigation, and he has litigated in venues ranging from Mississippi justice courts to the United States Supreme Court.

Will is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, the Magnolia Bar Association, the D.C. Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association. He is a Green Bay Packers fan and an avid golfer who has contributed to a handful of golf publications, including The Fried Egg and The Golfer’s Journal.