For Immediate Release
April 30, 2008

Media Contact:
Kara Tershel, (202) 662-9500

Prof. Roe

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In recognition of his longtime commitment to educating the public about the law and his outstanding public service to residents of the District of Columbia, Georgetown University Law Center Professor Richard Roe was presented the Servant of Justice Award by the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. He received the honor in Washington, D.C., on April 29.

Established in 1990, the Servant of Justice Award is presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated "faithful dedication and remarkable achievement in ensuring that all persons have equal and meaningful access to justice in the District of Columbia." Former U.S. Solicitor General and Georgetown Law visiting professor Seth Waxman is also a recipient this year. Past recipients include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Georgetown Law Professor Peter Edelman received the award in 1997.

Roe has spent the past 25 years directing the Georgetown Law D.C. Street Law Clinic, where law students go into D.C. high schools, as well as community and correctional settings such as the D.C. jail, homeless shelters, addiction treatment centers and juvenile correctional facilities, to teach basic legal principles. He began teaching street law in correctional facilities as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law in 1980.

"Through this course, many young people and persons in poverty have been given the tools to avoid legal problems or to resolves their own disputes," said Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. "This program has become a national movement, and Professor Roe has influenced many law school graduates’ decisions to follow a career in public service. Legal services providers nationally owe him a debt of gratitude."

Prior to joining the Georgetown Law full-time faculty in 1983, Roe served as program director of the National Institute for Citizen Education in the Law and executive director of the Coalition for Law Related Education. He is also the founder and director of the D.C. Family Literacy Project, where prisoners and homeless families are taught how to read with their children and other developmentally appropriate practices.

Roe conducts various workshops throughout the country and around the world on teaching law to the public and has consulted with street law programs in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, England and Cambodia. He is the editor and co-author of "Great Trials in American History: Text and Teacher’s Manual" (West Publishing Company, 1985). His present research focuses on learning theory and its implications for law and law teaching.

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