Staff/Contact Us

Georgetown Law
Harrison Institute for Public Law
600 New Jersey Ave
McDonough Hall, Suite 120
Tel: (202) 662-9603
Fax: (202) 662-9681

Robert Stumberg
Director and Professor of Law, 202-662-9603, stumberg@law.georgetown.edu
BA, with honors, Macalester College; JD, Georgetown University; LLM Georgetown University.

Robert Stumberg is a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he is also the director of the Harrison Institute for Public Law.  His past positions include policy director at the Center for Policy Alternatives and legislative counsel for Montgomery County, MD.   He has 30 years of experience in legislation, economic development, community lending and housing policy.  Most recently, he has studied the impact of trade agreements on state and local government, including energy, water services, prescription drugs, foreign investor rights and agricultural subsidies.  His publications include:  GATS & Electricity (2005); Trade Policy & Prescription Drugs (2005); Federalism & Political Accountability Under Global Trade Rules, Publius – The Journal of Federalism (2001 with Matthew Porterfield); Preemption & Human Rights, Law & Policy in International Business (2000); and Sovereignty by Subtraction:  The Multilateral Agreement on Investment, Cornell Journal of International Law (1998).

Matthew Porterfield
Senior Fellow (trade & climate) and Adjunct Professor, 202-662-9608, porterfm@law.georgetown.edu
BA, University of Vermont; JD, Magna Cum Laude, Vermont Law School; LLM, Georgetown University

Matthew Porterfield is a senior fellow and adjunct professor of law at the Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center, where he leads projects on agriculture, investment and constitutional law.  Before coming to Georgetown, he practiced environmental law in Washington, DC.  His publications include:  An International Common Law of Investor Rights?, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law (2006); International Expropriation Rules and Federalism, Stanford Journal of Environmental Law (January 2004); Who Preempted the Massachusetts Burma Law?, Publius – The Journal of Federalism (2002 with Robert Stumberg); and State & Local Foreign Policy Initiatives & Free Speech:  The First Amendment as an Instrument of Federalism, Stanford Journal of International Law (1999).

Sara Pollock Hoverter
Senior Fellow (health & climate) and Adjunct Professor, 202-662-4233, smp32@law.georgetown.edu
BA, Yale University; JD, Cum Laude, Georgetown University; LLM, Advocacy, Georgetown University.

Sara P. Hoverter is a senior fellow and adjunct professor at the Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center.   Her area of concentration is health policy, including climate change and public health, nutrition and the quality of school food, Medicaid, state and federal health reform, and use of community health workers to reach vulnerable populations.  Her past positions have included law clerk at the National Partnership for Women and Families, research assistant for the Center for Law and the Public’s Health, and program associate at the DC Appleseed Center.

Sandy Han
Staff Attorney (health & climate) and Adjunct Professor, 202-662-4023, shh27@law.georgetown.edu
BA, University of Virginia; JD, University of Richmond; LLM with honors in Global Health Law, Georgetown University.

Sandy H. Han is currently a staff attorney at the Harrison Institute for Public Law working on health law and policy.  She focuses on legal issues in federal health reform such discrimination, food and nutrition policies in urban areas, and the quality of school food.  She was also a 2008-2009 Fellow in the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program, which is dedicated to advancing women’s rights.  Before returning to school for her master’s degree in law, Sandy worked in the health care regulation and compliance field at the Washington Hospital Center and Strategic Management Systems, a private consulting company.  Sandy was admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 2000 and the District of Columbia Bar in 2008.

Michelle K. FoumBi
Business Manager, 202-662-4232, mkn29@law.georgetown.edu
BA, Pace University; Certificate in U.S. Law and Methodologies, New York University.

Michelle FoumBi is the business manager at the Harrison Institute for Public Law.  She manages financial accounts, payroll, billing, and event planning, and she contributes to program development.  Her past positions include marketing assistant at Hogan Lovells, volunteer leader at the White House, human resource assistant at Family Care International, and governance intern at the U.N. Development Program in Rwanda, paralegal for a NY law firm, and client representative for Sterling InfoSystems, Inc.  

Jessica Grannis
Staff Attorney (climate) and Adjunct Professor, 202-661-6594, jcg68@law.georgetown.edu
BA, University of Chicago; JD, Cum Laude, University of California Hastings; LLM work completed, Georgetown University.

Jessica Grannis is a staff attorney at the Harrison Institute for Public Law, where she works on climate policy in support of state and local governments for the Georgetown Climate Center (GCC). Her recent publications include an Adaptation Tool Kit for Sea Level Rise (2012); Coastal Retreat Measures, book chapter in the Law of Climate Change: U.S. and International Aspects (2012, with Peter Byrne); and Coastal Management in the Face of Rising Seas:  Legal Strategies for Connecticut, Sea Grant Law and Policy Journal (2012, with Meagan Singer and Jena Shoaf). Prior to coming to the Harrison Institute, she was staff counsel for two California state agencies, the State Coastal Conservancy and the Ocean Protection Council. Prior to her work in state government, she worked as an associate for a civil litigation firm focusing on real property disputes. Jessica was admitted to the California State Bar in 2005 and the District of Columbia Bar in 2010.

Jason Newman
Adjunct Professor, newman@law.georgetown.edu
BA, Boston University; JD Georgetown University

Jason I. Newman founded the Harrison Institute, and after he retired, continues to serve as adjunct professor. Creating one of the first law school community clinics, Professor Newman has more than 36 years of experience in community revitalization and citizen education. Before coming to Georgetown in 1971, he served as Counsel to the D.C. City Council and the Montgomery County Council, as well as Special Counsel in the Office of Economic Opportunity. He also was a member of the congressionally appointed commission that established Home Rule for the District of Columbia in 1973.  He is also the founder of an international citizen education project, Street Law Inc.  Started at Georgetown University Law Center, Street Law is now the leader in law-related education worldwide. The program integrates communities, courts, high schools, and prisons to educate citizens on the law and their rights. The program currently operates in 47 states and many other countries.  Since retiring from Georgetown, Professor Newman has served as Executive Director of the Cayman Brac University Medical School.

Travis Seegmiller
Adjunct Professor, Tseegmiller@pattonboggs.com
BA, Cum Laude, Yale University; JD, Cum Laude, Georgetown University

Travis Seegmiller is a partner at Patton, Boggs and an Adjunct Professor at the Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law Center.   While a student at Georgetown Law Center, Mr. Seegmiller was a student in the Harrison Institute’s policy clinic, served as executive editor of The Tax Lawyer, and led the Georgetown Republican Law Students’ Association.  His practice at Patton Boggs includes international clients in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Belize, and Venezuela.  Mr. Seegmiller’s latest Latin American policy work involves advising Andean legislators and regional parliamentary bodies with regard to recent developments toward the formation of the South American Union.  Before law school, he was a strategy consultant in McKinsey & Company’s Financial Institutions Group and before that, a leading Boston-based private investment firm, the international tax practice of a global law firm, and the NAFTA practice group at a Mexican law firm.

Deborah Sy
Adjunct Professor, debbysy1@gmail.com
BS (cum laude), University of the Philippines; LLB (with honors), University of the Philippines; LLM (with honors), Global Health Law, Certificate in WTO Studies, Georgetown University

Deborah Sy is a legal advisor and research collaborator for Harrison Institute projects on how trade and investment agreements affect tobacco control. In Manila, she is director of HealthJustice, a nonprofit organization that provides legal advice to public officials on public health, food and drug regulation, intellectual property, taxation, trade, transparency, governance, enforcement, and women & children’s rights. She is also legal advisor to Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA)’s project to develop tools for public health lawyers in the region. She had served as legal expert on tobacco control for the World Health Organization (WHO), authored various toolkits and policy papers on public health policy including the book, Taxing Health Risks, and worked with the University of the Philippines to develop and lecture MCLE courses.

Jackie Scott
Adjunct Professor, jscott@hcdi.com
BA, Georgetown University; JD, Georgetown; ML, Georgetown

Jackie Scott is the Senior Director of Strategic Integration at HCD International, where she oversees programs and contracts in all areas, provides subject matter expertise in health policy, and is involved in all facets of business development. Prior to HCDI, Ms. Scott served as a Senior Program Director at the National Academy for State Health Policy. Ms. Scott has held previous positions as a Senior Fellow for health policy with the Harrison Institute, Director of the Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Outreach, Policy Advisor to Maryland state agencies (Governor’s Office for Children, Youth and Families and the Office of Lieutenant Governor), and Legislative Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, Maryland. As an Adjunct Professor, Ms. Scott advises the Harrison Institute’s health team on federal and state health reform.