B.A., Bucknell University; J.D., Harvard Law
Robert “Roman” Haferd (he/him) is the Restorative Justice Coordinator for the Office of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia, where he has helped build the nation’s largest restorative justice diversion program inside Washington DC’s Justice Department. In this role Mr. Haferd has facilitated dozens of Restorative Community Conferences involving serious harm, and has supported hundreds more with his team. He has trained new facilitators and institutional stakeholders in multiple jurisdictions in restorative justice, and has been immersed in the “trenches” of institutional and community culture change to provide fairer outcomes and heal cycles of trauma and violence in Washington DC and beyond. Mr. Haferd began his work in restorative justice as a Senior Program Associate with the Restorative Justice Project at Impact Justice, an Oakland, California-based research and innovation institute.
In his private practice, Mr. Haferd has represented civil rights plaintiffs in cases around the country involving deprivations of Constitutional rights and law enforcement misconduct. He also previously worked as a Senior Associate in the Litigation & Controversy Department of international law firm WilmerHale LLP’s Washington, DC office.
Mr. Haferd’s work in trauma healing extends to the emerging psychedelic medicine space, as a founding board member of the Psychedelic Bar Association, where he serves as board chair of the Ethics Committee. He also serves as a board member and Director of Community Engagement for the Psychedelic Medicine Coalition, a non-profit hub and advocacy organization that promotes safe, equitable access to psychedelic and plant medicines. In 2020, he co-founded Roots to Sky Sanctuary, a BIPOC-led partnership and community cultivating regenerative arts, medicine, and culture in the Allegheny Mountains of the Upper Potomac region.
Mr. Haferd regularly speaks about restorative justice, plant medicine and psychedelics, culture change and innovation. Mr. Haferd holds a Bachelors of Arts from Bucknell University in Economics and Philosophy, and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.