Zach Sommers

Associate Litigation

Chicago +1 312 862 2124

Zach Sommers

Overview

Zach Sommers is a litigation associate in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP specializing in Government & Internal Investigations. Zach advises organizations and individuals on anti-corruption and financial crimes-related matters, including government enforcement actions, internal investigations, and international transaction and compliance matters. Zach is also a criminologist with research exploring the nexus of criminal law, race, and news media and the corresponding effect of that nexus on perceptions of crime. His criminological research has been featured on television and in print by news agencies across the world.

Law ClerkJudge John J. Tharp, Jr.United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois2019–2020

Judicial ExternMagistrate Judge Susan CoxUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois2012

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Thought Leadership

Publications

"Black Deaths Matter: Disparities in Gun Homicides, Policing, and News Coverage in Chicago," CRIM. L. BULL, Fall 2021. 

Co-Author, “Solitary Confinement and the Nation of Islam.” ́ The Immanent Frame, May 30, 2018.

“Missing White Woman Syndrome: It’s Not a Media Myth.“ The Crime Report, April 3, 2017.

"Missing White Woman Syndrome: An Empirical Analysis of Race and Gender Disparities in Online News Coverage of Missing Persons," 106(2): J. CRIM. L. AND CRIMINOLOGY 275, 2016.

Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • 2019Illinois

Education

  • Northwestern Pritzker School of LawJ.D.magna cum laude2019
    Criminology Editor, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
  • Northwestern UniversityPh.D., Sociology2018
  • University of PennsylvaniaB.A., Psychology & Criminologymagna cum laude2011