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  • Animal Law Conference Provides Perspective on Animals, Law and Policy
  • The Rule of Law in Military Interventions
  • From Casebook to Facebook
  • New Program Helps Students Combat Stress: Lawyers in Balance
  • Innocent Men Share Their Stories: “Life stopped. That’s what it felt like.”
  • A Symposium on Poverty and Juvenile Justice: “It’s an Assembly Line in the Wrong Direction”
  • Student Litigators Win Honors Here and Abroad
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  • Spotlight: Bruce (L’80) and Ann Blume

Feature Articles

The Work of Justice: Timeline

To understand the full scope of justice programs at the Law Center, it helps to see them in order. Here is a timeline of milestones:

1960

• Georgetown Law establishes the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program, providing training in courtroom advocacy for recent graduates representing indigent clients in District of Columbia courts.

1963

• The D.C. Bail Project is established at the Law Center — led by Former Dean and Professor David J. McCarthy Jr. — to research Washington’s bail system. It continues today as a federal agency, the District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency.

1965

• The Institute of Criminal Law and Procedure is established with a grant from the Ford Foundation. Headed by Professor Samuel Dash, it studied the criminal process from police investigation to appellate and other postconviction procedures.

1967

• A grant provided by the National Legal Aid and Defender Agency leads Kenneth Pye, David McCarthy, William Greenhalgh, Gary Bellow and others to prepare materials on criminal procedure, inspiring a required firstyear course in criminal justice.

1968

• Georgetown Law students and faculty assist thousands of defendants charged in the Washington, D.C., riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

1969

• Professor Joseph Page offers a seminar on lawyering in the public interest; among other things, students petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban lead-based paint for household use.

1971

• Professor Addison Bowman founds the Criminal Justice Clinic, with students representing criminal defendants in D.C. and Maryland.
• The Institute for Public Representation (IPR) — a public interest law firm and clinical education program — is founded to assist parties appearing before administrative agencies, courts and other decision-making bodies.

1972

• Professor William Greenhalgh founds the Prisoner Counseling Clinic, which was combined with the Criminal Justice Clinic later that year.
• Jason Newman (L’65) starts the Street Law Clinic, in which law students taught — and continue to teach — high school students criminal law and procedure as well as consumer, family, housing and individual rights law.

1973

• The Juvenile Justice Clinic is founded due to the efforts of Professor Judy Areen; Professor Wallace Mlyniec (L’70) is recruited to direct the clinic.

1978

• The Harrison Institute for Public Law begins with a state legislation division, headed by Professor Robert K. Stumberg (L’75, LL.M. ’79), and a housing division, led by Jason Newman (L’65).

1981

• The Equal Justice Foundation — a student-run organization — is established to promote public interest law. The foundation provides fellowships for Georgetown Law students working in unpaid summer internships in organizations in Washington, D.C., across the nation and around the world.
• The Sex Discrimination Clinic is founded to represent federal employees with sex discrimination employment claims before administrative agencies.
• The Center for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) is launched by Professor Philip Schrag to manage cases including Social Security administrative hearings and consumer protection litigation on behalf of low-income consumers. Since 1995, it has worked exclusively on asylum cases.

1985

• The Domestic Violence Clinic is established to represent victims of partner abuse in protection order cases; Professor Deborah Epstein is hired as director in 1998.

1986

• The Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) is created to assist J.D. graduates in pursuing legal careers in the public interest. By 1998, an endowment fund had been created to provide permanent funding for the program.

1987

• The Public Interest Law Scholars program is started by Professor Philip Schrag to encourage students intending to pursue careers in public interest law.

1993

• Professor Chai Feldblum is hired to direct the Federal Legislation Clinic — now the Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic — designed to advance the regulatory and policy agendas of public interest clients in areas such as disability rights and workplace flexibility.

1996

• The Office of Community and Public Service (now OPICS) is established under the leadership of Associate Dean Wallace Mlyniec. OPICS is one of only a handful of stand-alone public interest career offices.
• The Loan Repayment Assistance Program is expanded to include assistance for J.D. graduates pursuing legal careers in federal, state or local government.
• The Asylum and Refugee Law Fellowship is created in partnership with the Jesuit Refugee Service and Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc.

1998

• Professor Susan Deller Ross founds the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic, with a focus on challenging discriminatory laws and policies in African countries.

2000

• The Pro Bono Pledge is instituted, challenging every student to perform 75 hours of law-related pro bono service before graduation. The faculty adopts a pro bono policy encouraging at least 50 hours of pro bono legal service per year for law faculty.

2007

• The Loan Repayment Assistance Program is enhanced to provide 100 percent funding for qualifying graduates and to shorten the loan forgiveness period.

2008

• Dean Alex Aleinikoff guarantees funding for all students working in unpaid summer public interest or government internships.

2009

• Georgetown Law launches the Justice Agenda.