Shelagh Kenney is the Executive Director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. Since first joining CDPL in 2001, Shelagh has held several positions, including Staff Attorney, Director of Post-Conviction Litigation, Deputy Director, Interim Executive Director, and beginning in 2026, Executive Director. Shelagh has been committed to working against the death penalty since attending law school at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, graduating in 1996. She has extensive experience in capital post-conviction litigation and the development of litigation strategies to dismantle North Carolina’s death penalty, and she is adept at engaging stakeholders and building coalitions to improve the criminal justice system. In 2025, she received the North Carolina ACLU Paul Green Award for her significant contributions to abolishing and reforming the death penalty in North Carolina.

Shelagh earned her J.D. at Northwestern University School of Law and has been a member of NCAJ since 2001.