When James Forman Jr., a former Georgetown Law and current Yale Law faculty member, was working as a public defender in Washington, D.C., in the 1990s, he represented a 15-year-old client named Brandon who had pled guilty to gun and marijuana possession. Forman was requesting probation; the prosecutor wanted Brandon sent to Oak Hill, D.C.’s now-notorious juvenile facility. The judge chose Oak Hill — to Forman’s fury. The same racial injustice that motivated him to become a public defender, he realized, was being used to lock his client away.
Hundreds of Georgetown Law alumni and friends turned out June 28 to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Law Center’s Street Law clinical program and to honor its longtime director, Professor Rick Roe — whose retirement leaves a legacy of interactive…
Professor Rick Roe, the director of Georgetown Law’s Street Law clinic, is retiring after more than 40 years at the Law Center — 35 of those years as a member of the full-time faculty. Roe will be honored at a dinner celebration on June 28.
As Patrick Campbell (C’92) tells the story, he was in an intense negotiation session in California when he glanced at his phone and did something uncharacteristic for a seasoned attorney. He let out “a noticeable shout,” Campbell recounted with a laugh, “in front of my clients.”
It was opening night at the Juvenile Training Immersion Program’s Summer Academy at Georgetown Law, and two of its co-founders asked the lawyers in attendance to define their careers in a word. “Determined,” one said. “Disruptive.” “A voice…
To hear her talk about rights for African American girls, discussing policy and speaking out on hot-button issues like gun control, one might think that Naomi Wadler is an incoming Georgetown Law student, with plans to change the world.
Georgetown Law’s Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI) received the Juvenile Justice Leadership Award at the 8th Annual Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) Juvenile Justice Summit in Washington, D.C., on August 11. Associate Dean Kristin Henning…
When Devontae Sanford was just 14 years old, he was arrested for murdering four drug dealers in Detroit, just around the corner from his home. He confessed to the crime, entered a plea on the advice of his former lawyer and served nearly nine years in…
