Kia Hall Hayes is the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer for Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Before that she was with the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, after working for eight years as a Staff Attorney at Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO). While at IPNO, Kia helped secure the release of six individuals who served a total of 146 years for crimes they did not commit, and spearheaded four successful campaigns resulting in legislation that requires Louisiana law enforcement to use science-based practices when conducting eyewitness identification procedures, gives judges discretion to admit expert testimony on eyewitness identification in criminal trials, allows prisoners to continue to prove their innocence by testing the evidence in their cases for DNA, and streamlines the payment process for exonerees who have been granted wrongful conviction compensation. Prior to working at IPNO, Kia worked for six years as a newspaper reporter—first at the Providence Journal and then at the Times-Picayune—before enrolling at UCLA School of Law, from which she received her Juris Doctor (JD) in 2013.