CNN ups Laura Coates to chief legal analyst

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CNN has promoted Laura Coates to CNN’s chief legal analyst.

Coates was previously CNN’s senior legal analyst. She has anchored “Mayors Who Matter: A CNN Town Hall on Race and COVID-19” and a primetime special with law enforcement experts analyzing the police response to the mass shooting at Uvalde Elementary School.

She also anchored a primetime special on the Alex Murdaugh trial.

Coates will continue to appear as an anchor across CNN programming as well as lending her legal experience across the network.

Laura Coates has been promoted to CNN’s Chief Legal Analyst, the network announced today. Coates has played a central role in the network’s extensive legal programming, serving as an anchor for CNN’s prime time programs, hosting impactful specials and a CNN Town Hall.

A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Coates graduated from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and the University of Minnesota Law School before beginning her legal career in private practice.

She practiced law in Minnesota and New York handling cases ranging from intellectual property litigation and First Amendment issues to defamation and media law.

She transitioned from private practice to the United States Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor. She served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice during the Bush and Obama administrations, specializing in the enforcement of voting rights throughout the country.

She also served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, prosecuting a myriad of violent felony offenses including drug trafficking, armed offenses, domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault.

She also hosts “The Laura Coates Show” on SiriusXM.