Rachel Rintelmann

Rachel Rintelmann is the Legal Director of Systemic Advocacy and Law Reform at Legal Aid DC. In that role, she oversees Legal Aid DC’s Barbara McDowell Appellate Advocacy Project, Policy Advocacy Program, Affirmative and Impact Litigation Project, and Community Lawyering and Engagement. Through the strategic use of multiple advocacy tools and in partnership with community-based organizations and members of the client-eligible community, the Systemic Advocacy Program works to challenge unjust systems that marginalize and oppress low-income, primarily Black and brown District residents.

Previously, Rachel was a Supervising Attorney in the Housing Law Unit, where she supervised Staff Attorneys, Fellows, Loaned Associates and interns. Rachel also managed the Affordable Housing Preservation Project which aims to prevent the displacement of low-income DC residents. Rachel represented tenants and tenant associations in cases before the D.C. Superior Court and Office of Administrative Hearings, including evictions, complaints arising under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, and affirmative matters relating to housing conditions and discrimination.

In addition to her work with the Housing Law Unit, Rachel was the founding Director of the Reentry Justice Project, which is a cross-unit collaboration dedicated to assisting clients facing barriers in accessing housing, employment, and other civil rights and opportunities as a result of having a criminal record.

Prior to joining Legal Aid DC as a Staff Attorney in January 2011, Rachel completed a two-year AmeriCorps fellowship with Legal Aid of Western Ohio in Toledo, Ohio. There, Rachel represented clients in court and before administrative agencies in housing, family, and consumer matters.

Rachel received her B.A. from Butler University. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as Executive Articles Editor for the Michigan Journal of International Law and Associate Editor for the Michigan Journal of Race and Law. Rachel was a student attorney with the Washtenaw County Public Defender’s Office, the ACLU of Michigan and the Michigan Pediatric Advocacy Clinic. While in law school, Rachel was also awarded a Michigan Fellowship in Refugee and Asylum Law, which she completed with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London, U.K.