Charles Crain

Charles Crain began writing freelance articles for Nolo in 2022 and became a Legal Editor later that year.

Education. Charlie holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Chicago, an M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University, and a J.D. from Berkeley Law. He is licensed to practice law in California.

Journalism. Charlie began his career as a freelance journalist, covering the war in Iraq for publications including Time Magazine and USA Today.

Legal training. During law school, Charlie was a member of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic and an editor of the Berkeley Journal of International Law. He externed for a semester at the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and spent a summer interning for the Office of the Federal Public Defender in San Francisco. 

Legal career. After law school, Charlie was a post-bar clerk in the Law and Motion Unit of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and then a volunteer attorney in the Misdemeanor Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. From 2015 until 2018, he worked as a litigation associate in the Silicon Valley offices of two large law firms. From 2018 until 2021, Charlie was a fellow in the Media Freedom & Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School. He co-taught a weekly seminar and managed a docket of cases focused on First Amendment and Freedom of Information Act litigation.