Dwayne J. Bensing Announced as Next Legal Director
WILMINGTON — The ACLU of Delaware (ACLU-DE) has promoted Dwayne J. Bensing, former staff attorney, to spearhead their legal department as the organization’s next legal director.
Bensing joined the ACLU-DE team in 2020 as staff attorney after serving for three years with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and two years with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
“Dwayne has been a driving force behind our legal work since he joined our team,” said Mike Brickner, executive director of the ACLU of Delaware. “He’s a dedicated advocate for all Delawareans, a strong litigator, and a committed civil libertarian. We are proud to promote Dwayne to lead our legal department, and excited about what we’ll be able to accomplish with him at the helm.”
Bensing graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and began his legal career at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP, in Washington, D.C. During his time at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Dwayne worked on two asylum cases and represented a transgender client in a federal discrimination case.
Prior to attending law school, Dwayne was selected as a Truman Scholar in 2006 and taught middle-school Science and Social Studies in Philadelphia Public Schools as a Teach for America corps member.
Bensing has a proven history of standing up for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2014, Bensing was named to the LGBT Bar 40 Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association. In 2019, Bensing put his own career at risk to stand up for transgender students by shedding light on the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights mishandling of a challenge to a state policy allowing transgender students to participate in sports based on their gender identities.
Bensing's work with ACLU-DE has included protecting the rights of students, people living in Delaware prisons, people seeking reproductive health care, and more.
Bensing reflected on his promotion, saying “I am so privileged to have found my professional home with our team of advocates at ACLU-DE. I am excited about the opportunity to expand my impact as legal director and hope to advance our pursuit of holding civil rights violators to account.”
