Aderson Francois is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Civil Rights clinic, and the Voting Rights Institute. Prior to joining the Georgetown faculty, Professor Francois directed the Civil Rights Clinic at Howard University School of Law, where he also taught Constitutional Law, Federal Civil Rights, and Supreme Court Jurisprudence. His scholarly interests include voting rights, education law, and the history of slavery and Reconstruction. His practice experience encompasses federal trial and appellate litigation concerning equal protection in education, employment discrimination, voting rights, marriage equality, and the right to a fair criminal trial. Professor Francois received his J.D. from New York University School and clerked for the late Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In 2008, the Transition Team of President Barack Obama appointed Professor Francois Lead Agency Reviewer for the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He has provided pro bono death penalty representation to inmates before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, served as a Special Assistant in with the United States Commission on Civil Rights in Washington, D.C., and practiced commercial litigation in the New York Offices of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton &Garrison. He has testified before Congress on civil rights issues and drafted numerous briefs to the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of California, the Supreme Court of Iowa, and Maryland’s highest court. Before joining Howard’s faculty, Professor François was the Assistant Director of the Lawyering Program at New York University School of Law.

Marissa Hatton is a supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow in the Civil Rights Clinic.  Before joining the Clinic, Marissa was a staff attorney at Equal Justice Under Law, where she litigated class action impact cases challenging poverty discrimination, government abuse of civil punishment (including child support enforcement practices and discriminatory housing codes), exploitative private probation companies, and other criminal system reform issues across the country. Marissa’s litigation helped to end the Driver Responsibility Program in Texas, which overwhelmingly targeted impoverished communities, and her work helped to end Pennsylvania’s practice of suspending driver’s licenses as a collateral consequence of drug convictions, which targeted communities of color through stop-and-frisk policies — resulting in over one million individuals becoming eligible to reinstate their driver’s licenses.  Marissa’s team won one of the largest federal class action cases challenging money bail in the United States, which enjoined San Francisco’s bail practices and declared the County’s money bail system unconstitutional.

Marissa received her B.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara and her J.D. from Georgetown Law, where she founded and served as co-president of the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) and was awarded the Dean’s Certificate for Outstanding Service to the law school community.  She is barred in the District of Columbia and the Chickasaw Nation.

Lucia Goin is a supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow in the Civil Rights Clinic. Prior to joining Georgetown Law, Lucia clerked for the Honorable Richard A. Paez for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was a fellow at a plaintiffs’ class-action firm.

Lucia received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of California, San Diego, and Columbia University, respectively. She received her J.D., with Honors, from The University of Chicago Law School. She is barred in California and the District of Columbia.

Genevieve Mesch is a supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow in the Civil Rights Clinic. Before joining the Clinic, Genevieve was an associate at Selendy Gay Elsberg PLLC, where she focused on plaintiffs’ side litigation related to deceptive financial practices, affordable housing, and healthcare access. Subsequently, Genevieve clerked for the Honorable Fern Flanagan Saddler and the Honorable Darlene M. Soltys at the District of Columbia Superior Court. In her free time, Genevieve enjoys hiking in Shenandoah National Park and reading fiction.

Genevieve received her B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her J.D. with honors from Georgetown Law. While a student at Georgetown, she participated in the Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic where she litigated federal appeals challenging discriminatory employment practices under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.