Michael Diamond

Director, Harrison Institute for Housing and Community Development , diamondm@law.georgetown.edu

BA, Syracuse University
JD, Fordham University
LLM, New York University

Michael Diamond is Professor of Law at Georgetown  Law where he is the Director of Georgetown’s Harrison Institute for Housing and Community Development and directs its Housing and Community Development Clinic.  He also teaches Corporations and Property.  Professor Diamond taught at American University’s Washington College of Law and at Antioch University School of Law and visited at several Law Schools.  He has taught Contracts, Business Associations, Property, Administrative Law, and seminars in Housing, Economic Development and Sociology of Law.  Professor Diamond has been of counsel to the law firms of Goldfarb & Singer and O’Toole, Rothwell, Nassau, and Steinbach and a consultant to the ABA’s Central and Eastern European Law Initiative on proposed housing laws in Russia and Bosnia, and to the Agency for International Development.   He consulted with the District of Columbia Law Revision Commission and several advisory commissions on housing policy.  His books include:  Corporations: A Contemporary Approach, 2d Ed. Carolina Academic Press (2004), and How to Incorporate; A Guide for Entrepreneurs and Professionals, 5th Ed. John Wiley and Sons (2007).  His recent articles include: Community Lawyering: Revisiting the Old Neighborhood, Columbia Human Rights Law Review (2000); Leaders, Followers and Free Riders: The Community Lawyer’s Dilemma when Representing Non-Democratic Client Organizations, Fordham Urban Law Journal  (2004, with O’Toole); Community Economic Development: A Reflection on Community, Power and the Law, The Journal of Small and Emerging Business Law (2004); Affordable Housing, Land Tenure and Urban Policy: The Matrix Revealed, Fordham Urban Law Journal (with Byrne).  Professor Diamond gave the keynote address at a workshop entitled Affordable Housing and Public/Private Partnerships:  The Intersection of Housing, Property, and Real Estate.at the University of Colorado Law School.  He has recently presented papers at the University of Colorado Law School (on tenant participation in Low income Housing Tax Credit projects) and Chapman University Law School (on the cultural meaning of property).

Julie D. Lawton

Staff Attorney and Adjunct Professor, JDL38@law.georgetown.edu

BS, Magna Cum Laude, Florida A&M University
JD Cum Laude, Howard University School of Law
LLM, Georgetown University

Julie D. Lawton is an adjunct professor and staff attorney in the Harrison Institute for Housing & Community Development, Georgetown University Law Center.  She represents low-income tenant associations in purchasing, renovating and converting their multifamily housing into condominiums and cooperatives.  She also supervises clinical law students who work on these housing cases.  Finally, she teaches in the Housing and Community Development Seminar.  Ms. Lawton completed a Harrison Institute fellowship before starting her current position.  Before coming to Georgetown, she was an associate with Morrison & Foerster LLP in the Financial Services group in Washington, D.C. where she advised large financial institutions on consumer credit transactions and provided pro bono representation to small businesses and community development organizations.  Prior to her legal career, she worked in commercial banking for Bank of America.

Jennie O’Flanagan

Staff Attorney and Adjunct Professor, jo64@law.georgetown.edu

BA, Eckerd College
JD, Yale University
LLM Candidate Georgetown University

Jennie O’Flanagan is a Staff Attorney and Adjunct Professor with the Housing and Community Development Clinic at the Harrison Institute at Georgetown Law.  She represents low-income tenant associations in purchasing, renovating and converting their multifamily housing into condominiums and cooperatives.  She teaches in the Housing and Community Development Seminar and supervises clinical law students working on affordable housing matters.  Before coming to Georgetown, Ms. O’Flanagan was an associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering LLP, where she negotiated transactions for international and domestic corporations and joint ventures and advised companies on corporate governance matters.  Before that, she was a law clerk for federal District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, Southern District of Florida.

Elizabeth Elia

Fellow, ee35@law.georgetown.edu

BA, New College of Florida
JD, American University's Washington College of Law
LLM Candidate Georgetown University

Elizabeth Elia is a clinical fellow with the Housing and Community Development Clinic at the Harrison Institute at Georgetown Law.  She represents low-income tenant associations in purchasing, renovating, and converting multifamily housing into condominiums and cooperatives, and supervises clinical law students who work on these cases.  Prior to joining the Harrison Institute, Ms. Elia worked in project development for D.C. non-profit affordable housing developer, Manna, Inc.  After law school, she clerked for the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court.  Ms. Elia’s current scholarship interests explore the intersection of property law and housing and economic development policy. She co-authored an article on DC’s first community benefits agreement for Shelterforce magazine in summer 2007 and she is currently working on an article that investigates changing views on subsidized homeowners’ equity as a component of community economic development policy.

Michael Casillo

Fellow, johnsoej@law.georgetown.edu

BA, Washington & Lee University
JD, American University's Washington College of Law
LLM Candidate Georgetown University

Michael Casillo is a clinical fellow with the Housing and Community Development Clinic at the Harrison Institute at Georgetown University Law Center.  He represents low-income tenant associations in the acquisition, financing, renovating and converting their multifamily housing into condominiums and cooperatives, and supervises clinical law students who work on these cases.  Prior to joining the Harrison Institute, Michael worked in the real estate group at Troutman Sanders LLP where his practice had an emphasis on affordable housing transactions.  After law school, Michael worked for five years in the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  At HUD, Michael handled defensive litigation and enforcement actions concerning a wide array of federal housing and assistance programs and handled real estate transactions involving multimillion dollar federally assisted or insured projects. 

Harrison Institute for Public Law
Georgetown University Law Center
111 F Street NW, Suite 102
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-662-9600
Fax: 202-662-9613
Email: hihousing@law.georgetown.edu