Laura Coates was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on July 11, 1980.
In 2001, she graduated with a B.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs at Princeton University.
While at college, she completed a senior thesis titled “The Legacy of Southern Redemption: An Examination of Felon Disenfranchisement Policy.”
Coates then enrolled in the University of Minnesota Law School and graduated with a J.D. in 2005.
Laura began her legal career in Minnesota as an associate attorney at a private firm, Faegre & Benson.
She left the law firm to become an associate at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, a New York City law firm.
Coates then moved to private practice as a federal United States Department of Justice prosecutor.
During the Bush and Obama administrations, she was a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
Additionally, Coates was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
As Assistant Attorney, Laura prosecuted violent felony offenses, including armed crimes, domestic violence, drug trafficking, child abuse, and sexual assault.
