Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney who charged Donald Trump and 19 others for efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is a graduate of Howard University. Willis attended the Washington D.C.-based HBCU and graduated cum laude with a degree in Political Science.

Before attending Mecca, Willis was born in Inglewood California to a father who was a former Black Panther and criminal defense attorney. Her desire to work in Criminal Justice came from attending court dates with her father as he worked on behalf of his clients. Her time in the courtroom inspired her to want to be a judge, per a report on her life by Jannell Ross of Time.

“One day after court, the judge asked Willis what she wanted to do when she grew up,” Ross writes in the article. “When she said she wanted to be a judge, he told her she would first have to become a lawyer, a person who reads a lot and explains the law. Willis told him she could read, so she could certainly do that.”

After graduating from Howard University, she moved to Atlanta and attended Emory University School of Law where she graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1996. Willis worked in the Fulton County District Attorney's Office for sixteen years. She famously led the prosecution in the 2014 trial of the Atlanta Public School Cheating Scandal.

“I stand by the cases I individually had on my desk,” Willis said in an interview with The Atlanta Voice. “I was there for sixteen years, four months, and four days. Eight of those years were spent on homicides. I’ve tried more than 100 cases and I’m in the 90th percentile. I’ve done very well. I’ve fought for my victims.

Willis became Fulton County District Attorney by defeating six-time incumbent Paul Howard in August 2020, winning 73% of the vote. She recently took center stage in a late Monday evening press conference as she announced the sprawling inditement of 41 charges against Trump and his allies for attempts to overturn the 2020 election. She also gained national prominence due to the fifty-six count RICO indictment of rapper Young Thug and 61 other associates in May 2022.