Michael Finley, Senior Program Associate

Contact Information: Michael Finley Senior Program Associate W. Haywood Burns Institute Phone: 410-764-0366 Fax: 410-764-8866 E-mail: mfinley@burnsinstitute.org

Michael Finley is a Senior Program Associate with the Burns Institute. Michael is the lead technical assistance provider for the Burns Institute's four Illinois sites. Prior to joining the Institute, Michael was the Disproportionate Minority Confinement Coordinator with Maryland's Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP) where he worked with local and state leaders to develop state and local plans to reduce racial disparities throughout the state. An attorney, Michael began his legal career as a Soros Justice Postgraduate Fellow with the Youth Law Center in Washington, D.C, a non-profit public interest law firm that works on behalf of children and youth in juvenile justice and child welfare systems across the country. At the Youth Law Center, Michael was involved with reform litigation and legislative and administrative advocacy in legal matters related to children, with a particular emphasis on improving the conditions of confinement for children in state custody and the overrepresentation of minority youth in the justice system. Prior to joining the Youth Law Center in 1999, Michael served as the judicial clerk for the Honorable David B. Mitchell in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and George Washington University School of Law.