Assistant Professor of Law
Jared Mollenkof graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2012. He was an executive board member of the Black Law Student Association (BLSA), wrote and edited for Georgetown’s student newspaper Law Weekly, and was actively involved in the Juvenile Justice Clinic. He was a Dean’s Scholar in 2011. He was trained through Gideon’s Promise in client-centered representation and from 2012 to 2019 served as a public defender in the Nashville Defender’s Office. Professor Mollenkof served on Nashville’s misdemeanor, felony and complex litigation teams, where he handled numerous felony cases in trial and on appeal, litigated for bail reform, and collaborated extensively on community initiatives. He has been a public defender in the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office since 2019, where he has first-chaired seven homicide cases and handled eight felony trials. He has served on the Board of Directors at the ACLU of TN, NAACP Nashville, No Exceptions Prison Collective, OutFront MN, and the Minnesota Freedom Fund, been a policy lead with a number of political campaigns and on ballot initiatives and been an active member with Black Lives Matter Nashville and Law 4 Black Lives.
He is currently the Chair for the Board of Directors at the Nashville Community Bail Fund, working to ensure that lack of resources is not the sole reason that someone remains in jail pre-trial, serves on the Steering Committee for the Transformative Justice Alliance working to bring alternative resolutions to serious interpersonal harm in Hennepin County, on the national board for Southerners on New Ground fighting for liberation of oppressed people with a queer focus, on the Board of Directors with the Clearwater Fund organizing collective defense of constitutional observers, engaged in impact litigation around bail, directing the Government Accountability Project, faculty liaison with the Mitchell Hamline Board of Trustees, and an active member with the National Lawyers Guild.
Education
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
B.A., History, Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA
Experience
Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Assistant Professor, 2022–
Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office
Assistant Public Defender, 2019–22
Nashville Defender’s Office
Assistant Public Defender, 2012–19
Hamline University
Adjunct Professor 2021
Community activism and board membership
Southerners On New Ground, Minneapolis, MN
Executive Board Member, 2025–
Nashville Community Bail Fund, Nashville, TN
Board Chair, 2025–
Transformative Justice Alliance, Minneapolis, MN
Steering Committee Member, 2022–
Minnesota Freedom Fund
Member of the board of directors, 2020–23
Served on the Board of Directors for three years, including during the Minneapolis uprising in the summer of 2020 and the numerous protester arrests.
Yale Law School
Mentor in Residence, 2019
Mentored students seeking public-interest careers during Reblaw.
American Civil Liberties Union (Tennessee Affiliate), Nashville
Executive Board Member, 2017–19
Served on the TN ACLU state-wide board advising the Executive Director and Staff on organizational issues and helping insure the best utilization of the over one-million-dollar annual budget. Held “Know Your Rights” seminars at local HBCUs.
No Exceptions Prison Collective, Nashville, TN
Executive Board Member, 2016–23
Aiding this small prisoner’s rights initiative that does direct assistance with insiders and their families with its lobbying work and fundraising efforts.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Tennessee
General member, 2013–19; Committee Chairperson, 2017–18
Served with several other attorneys handling the requests for legal advice that come into the Davidson County NAACP office. Worked as a chairperson on an outreach committee to Black young professionals in middle Tennessee.
Black Lives Matter Nashville
Core leadership, 2018–19; general membership, 2015–18
In the months after the Ferguson, Missouri Grand Jury chose not to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown a Black Lives Matter chapter arose in Nashville. I joined it in the summer of 2015 and have been very active in it ever since, organizing direct actions as well as working on legislative initiatives.
Southerners On New Ground, Nashville
Campaign lead, 2017–19
S.O.N.G. is a queer liberation collective that works to address societal issues that affect marginalized communities, particularly the poor and people of color. S.O.N.G. was instrumental in Nashville’s successful campaign for a Community Oversight Board in the fall of 2018 and through S.O.N.G. I ran an extensive volunteer Court Watching Program in the Davidson County Night Court.
Awards and recognition
Georgetown University Law Center: dean’s scholar; CALI Award, Homelessness Seminar Best Final Paper; CALI Award, Capital Punishment Best Final Paper
Covenant College: dean’s list; McClellan Diversity Scholar; Schmidt Memorial Scholar; Sigma Tau Delta, English Honor Society
