[2] Overton received his Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors from Hampton University in 1990, with a major in mass media and journalism.

He practiced law with the firm of Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman in Detroit from 1994 to 1996.

His interest deepened when, as a lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton, he represented the Democratic National Committee in the Lincoln Bedroom for contributors controversy and White House Coffee campaign finance investigations by Congress and the Department of Justice.

From 1999 to 2000, Overton was a Charles Hamilton Houston Fellow at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he wrote "Mistaken Identity: Unveiling the Property Characteristics of Political Money," an article analyzing property theories and campaign finance law.

[5] Overton wrote that this recommendation for voter identification was "more extreme than any ID requirement adopted in any state to date"[5] and was "so excessive that it would prevent eligible voters from proving their identity with even a valid U.S. passport or a U.S. military photo ID card," stating that "the Commission's Report fails to undertake a serious cost-benefit analysis.

Overton served on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Commission on Presidential Nomination Scheduling and Timing in Washington, D.C., from February to December 2005.

[7] In early 2009, Overton was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy in the Department of Justice.

[8] In 2005, Overton co-founded, with Professor Paul Butler, Blackprof.com, a blog of "race, culture, and society" mainly written by black academics.