The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the
law school
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
of
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
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It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and the most applied to, receiving more full-time applications than any other law school in the country.
[10 Law Schools With the Most Full-Time Applications](_blank)
U.S. News & World Report, Published: March 31, 2016. Retrieved: January 30, 2017
A leading institution in constitutional, technology, and international law, numerous alumni have entered public service. The school's campus is several blocks from the
U.S. Capitol Building
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at ...
, the center of the legislative branch of US government, and maintains a close association with the highest court in the US judicial branch, the nearby
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. Georgetown is consistently ranked among the most prestigious law schools in the United States, occasionally shifting between 12th and 14th place, where it currently sits.
Prominent alumni include 91 members of the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, federal and state judges, billionaires, and diplomats. Georgetown is also ranked in the top 10 law schools for business and corporate law; international, criminal, environmental, health care, and tax law; as well as first in clinical training and part-time legal studies.
In the 2022
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...
,
Georgetown Law was ranked as the 13th best law school in the world.
History
Opened as Georgetown Law School in 1870, Georgetown Law was the second (after
St. Louis University) law school run by a
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
institution within the United States. Georgetown Law has been separate from the main Georgetown campus (in the neighborhood of
Georgetown) since 1890, when it moved near what is now
Chinatown
A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
. The Law Center campus is located on New Jersey Avenue, several blocks north of the
Capitol
A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity.
Specific capitols include:
* United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
* Numerous ...
, and a few blocks west of
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
. Georgetown Law School changed its name to Georgetown University Law Center in 1953. The school added the Edward Bennett Williams Law Library in 1989 and the Gewirz Student Center in 1993, providing on-campus living for the first time. The "Campus Completion Project" finished in 2004 with the addition of the Hotung International Building and the Sport and Fitness Center.
Georgetown Law's original wall (or sign) is preserved on the quad of the present-day campus.
Admissions
For the class entering in the fall of 2021, roughly 1,800 out of 14,052 J.D. applicants (12.9%) were offered admission, with 561 matriculating, marking the most competitive law school admission cycle and the largest applicant pool for any U.S. law school in history. The median LSAT score for the class entering in fall of 2021 is 171 and the median undergraduate GPA is 3.85. In the 2020–21 academic year, Georgetown Law had 2,021 J.D. students, of which 26% were minorities and 55% were female.
Employment
Of the 691 J.D. graduates in the Georgetown Law class of 2020 (including both full- and part-time students), 569 (82.3%) held long-term, full-time positions that required bar exam passage (i.e., jobs as lawyers) and were not school-funded nine months after graduation.
644 graduates overall (93.2%) were employed, 6 graduates (0.9%) were pursuing a graduate degree, and 34 graduates (4.9%) were unemployed.
435 J.D. graduates (63.0%) were employed in the private sector, with 368 (53.3%) at law firms with over 250 attorneys.
208 graduates (30.1%) entered the public sector, with 80 (11.6%) employed in public interest positions, 55 (8.0%) employed by the government, 68 (9.8%) in federal or state clerkships, and 5 (0.7%) in academic positions.
35 graduates (5.1%) received funding from Georgetown Law for their positions.
The median reported starting salary for a 2018 J.D. graduate in the private sector was $180,000. The median reported starting salary for a 2018 graduate in the public sector (including government, public interest, and clerkship positions) was $57,000.
272 J.D. graduates (39.4%) in the class of 2020 were employed in Washington, DC, 155 (22.4%) in New York, and 31 (4.5%) in California. 13 (1.9%) were employed outside the United States.
As of 2011, Georgetown Law alumni account for the second highest number of partners at
NLJ 100 firms. It is among the top ten feeder schools in eight of the ten largest legal markets in the United States by law job openings (New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, San Francisco, and San Diego), again giving it the second-widest reach of all law schools. The school performs especially strongly in its home market, where it is the largest law school and has produced the greatest number of NLJ 100 partners.
Georgetown Law was ranked #11 for placing the highest percentage of 2018 J.D. graduates into associate positions at the 100 largest law firms.
Costs
The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Georgetown Law for the 2021–2022 academic year is $99,600. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $352,279.
Campus
The Law Center is located in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, D.C. It is bounded by 2nd St. NW to the west, E St. NW to the south, 1st St. NW and New Jersey Avenue to the east, and Massachusetts Avenue to the north.
The campus consists of five buildings. Bernard P. McDonough Hall (1971, expanded in 1997) houses classrooms and Law Center offices and was designed by
Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone (March 9, 1902 – August 6, 1978) was an American architect known for the formal, highly decorative buildings he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. His works include the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, the Museo de A ...
. The Edward Bennett Williams Law Library building (1989) houses most of the school's library collection and is one of the largest law libraries in the United States. The
Eric E. Hotung International Law Center (2004), named after Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist
Eric Edward Hotung Eric Edward Hotung CBE (June 8, 1926 – September 20, 2017) was a Hong Kong billionaire businessman, financier, and philanthropist.
Biography
Hotung was born to Robert Hotung's second son Edward Hotung and Irish woman Mordia O'Shea in 1926 in Ho ...
, includes two floors of library space housing the international collection, and also contains classrooms, offices, and meeting rooms. The Bernard S. and Sarah M. Gewirz Student Center (1993) provides apartment-style housing for 250–300 students as well as hosting offices for nine academic centers and institutes, the Law Center's Student Health clinic, the Center for Wellness Promotion, the Counseling and Psychiatric Service office, a dedicated prayer room for Muslim members of the Law Center community, a moot court room, a daycare (the Georgetown Law Early Learning Center), and a ballroom event space commonly used for academic conferences. The four-level Scott K. Ginsburg Sport & Fitness Center (2004) includes a pool, fitness facilities, and cafe, and connects the Hotung Building to the Gewirz Student Center.
Libraries
The Georgetown Law Library supports the research and educational endeavors of the students and faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center. It is the second largest law school in the United States, and as one of the premier research facilities for the study of law, the Law Library houses the nation's fourth largest law library collection and offers access to thousands of online publications. The Law Library was ranked by ''The National Jurist'' as the 14th best law library in the nation in 2010.
The mission of the library is to support fully the research and educational endeavors of the students and faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center, by collecting, organizing, preserving, and disseminating legal and law related information in any form, by providing effective service and instructional programs, and by utilizing electronic information systems to provide access to new information products and services.
The collection is split into two buildings. The Edward Bennett Williams Law Library (1989) is named after Washington, D.C. lawyer
Edward Bennett Williams
Edward Bennett Williams (May 31, 1920 – August 13, 1988) was an American lawyer who became a high-profile defense lawyer and co-founded the law firm of Williams & Connolly. Williams also owned several professional sports teams, including the Ba ...
, an alumnus of the Law Center and founder of the prestigious litigation firm
Williams & Connolly
Williams & Connolly LLP is an American law firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm was founded by trial lawyer Edward Bennett Williams in collaboration with Paul Connolly, a former student of his. Williams left the partnership of D.C. firm Hog ...
. It houses the Law Center's United States law collection, the Law Center Archives, and the National Equal Justice Library. The Williams library building consists of five floors of collection and study space and provides office space for most of the Law Center's law journals on the Law Library's first level.
The John Wolff International and Comparative Law Library (2004) is named after
John Wolff John Wolff (1906–2005) served as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center for 44 years until his death on December 7, 2005 In addition to teaching, he worked for the government and was a consultant on Foreign and Internatio ...
, a long-serving member of the adjunct faculty and supporter of the Law Center's international law programs. The library is located on two floors inside the Eric E. Hotung building. It houses the international, foreign, and comparative law collections of the Georgetown University Law Center. Wolff Library collects primary and secondary law materials from
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. English translations of primary and secondary legal materials from other jurisdictions and compilations of foreign law on special topics are also included.
In addition to foreign law, the Wolff Library maintains an extensive collection of public and private international law, focusing on international trade, international environmental law, human rights, arbitration, tax and treaty law. The collection also includes documentation from many international organizations, including the
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...
, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, and the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
.
Curriculum
![Joe Biden speaking at Georgetown Law in 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Joe_Biden_speaking_at_Georgetown_Law_in_2016.jpg)
Georgetown Law's
J.D. program can be completed over three years of full-time day study or three to four years of part-time evening study. The school offers several
LL.M. programs in specific areas, most notably
tax law
Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...
, as well as a general LL.M. curriculum for lawyers educated outside the United States. Georgetown launched a
Master of Studies in Law
A Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.), also Master of Science of Law or Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.) or Juris Master (J.M.) or Masters of Jurisprudence (M.J.) or Master in Law (M.L.), is a master's degree offered by some law schools to students ...
(M.S.L.) degree program for professional journalists in the 2007–08 academic year. It also offers the highest doctoral degree in law (
J.S.D.).
Students are offered the choice of two tracks for their first year of study. "Curriculum A" is a traditional law curriculum similar to that taught at most schools, including courses in
civil procedure
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...
,
constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...
,
contracts
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
,
criminal justice
Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...
,
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
,
torts
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
, and
legal research and writing. Four-fifths of the day students at Georgetown receive instruction under the standard program (sections 1, 2, 4, and 5).
"Curriculum B" is a more interdisciplinary, theoretical approach to legal study, covering an equal or wider scope of material but heavily influenced by the
critical legal studies
Critical legal studies (CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.Alan Hunt, "The Theory of Critical Legal Studies," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1986): 1-45, esp. 1, 5. Se DOI, 10.1 ...
movement. The Curriculum B courses are ''Bargain, Exchange and Liability'' (
contracts
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
and
torts
A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
), ''Democracy and Coercion'' (
constitutional law
Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...
and
criminal procedure
Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...
), ''Government Processes'' (
administrative law
Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of Forms of government, government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are gener ...
), ''Legal Justice'' (
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
), ''Legal Practice'' (
legal research and writing), ''Legal Process and Society'' (
civil procedure
Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...
), and ''Property in Time'' (
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
). One-fifth of the full-time JD students receive instruction in the alternative Curriculum B program (Section 3).
Students in both curricula may participate in a week-long introduction to
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
between the fall and spring semesters.
Clinics / programs
Georgetown has long been nationally recognized for its leadership in the field of
clinical legal education
A legal clinic (also law clinic or law school clinic) is a legal aid or law school program providing Legal aid, services to various clients and often hands-on-legal experience to law school students. Clinics are usually directed by clinical prof ...
. In 2018, U.S. News ranked Georgetown #1 in the nation for Clinical Training, followed by
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
(2nd),
CUNY
, mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind
, budget = $3.6 billion
, established =
, type = Public university system
, chancellor = Fél ...
(3rd),
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
(4th), and
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
(5th). Over 300 students typically participate in the program.
Georgetown's clinics are: Appellate Litigation Clinic, Center for Applied Legal Studies, The Community Justice Project, Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic, Criminal Justice Clinic, D.C. Law Students in Court, D.C. Street Law Program,
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
Clinic, Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, Harrison Institute for Housing & Community Development Clinic, Harrison Institute for Public Law, Institute for Public Representation, International Women's Human Rights Clinic, and Juvenile Justice Clinic.
In the Winter 2017 edition of ''The National Jurist,'' Georgetown Law's Moot Court Program was ranked #4 in the country for 2015–16 and #5 among U.S. law schools that have had the best moot courts this past decade.
Appellate Litigation Clinic
Directed by Professor Erica Hashimoto (following 36 years of leadership by Professor Steven H. Goldblatt), the Appellate Litigation Clinic operates akin to a small appellate litigation firm. It has had four cases reach the United States Supreme Court on grants of
writs of certiorari
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of t ...
. One such case was ''Wright v. West'', 505 U.S. 277 (1992), considered in
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
the question whether the de novo review standard for mixed questions of law and fact established in 1953 (the ''Brown v. Allen'' standard) should be overruled. Another was ''Smith v. Barry'', 502 U.S. 244 (1992), which reversed a
Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* District of Maryland
...
determination that the court did not have jurisdiction over an appeal because the defendant's pro se brief could not serve as a timely notice of appeal.
Center for Applied Legal Studies
CALS represents
refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. seeking political asylum in the United States because of threatened persecution in their home countries. Students in CALS assume primary responsibility for the representation of these refugees, whose requests for asylum have already been rejected by the U.S. government. The Center for Applied Legal Studies was founded in the 1980s by Philip Schrag. Until 1995, the Clinic heard cases in the field of consumer protection. Under the direction of Schrag and Andrew Schoenholtz, the Clinic began specializing in asylum claims, for both detained and non-detained applicants. In conjunction with their work for the Clinic, Schrag and Schoenholtz have written books about America's political asylum system, with the help of Clinic fellows and graduate students. The duo's most recent book, ''Lives in the Balance'', was published in 2014 and provides an empirical analysis of how Homeland Security decided asylum cases over a recent fourteen-year period. The group's work in human rights law has met praise from international organizations like the
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...
. Under the direction of Schrag and Schoenholtz, the clinic has also focused on more prolonged displacement situations for political refugees.
Civil Rights Clinic
CRC operates as a public interest law firm, representing individual clients and other public interest organizations, primarily in the areas of discrimination and constitutional rights, workplace fairness, and open government. The Clinic is directed by Professor Aderson Francois, who joined in 2016. Students work with CRC staff attorneys to litigate
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
claims,
wage theft
Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them failing to pay overtime; violating minimum wage, minimum-wage laws; the miscl ...
suits, and retaliation claims on behalf of employees terminated for asserting their rights under
FLSA and DC Wage and Hour law.
Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic
Students in CDPAC represent defendants facing misdemeanor charges in
D.C. Superior Court
The Superior Court of the District of Columbia, commonly referred to as DC Superior Court, is the trial court for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It hears cases involving Criminal justice, criminal and Civil law (common law), ci ...
, facing
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
or supervised release revocation from the
United States Parole Commission The United States Parole Commission is the parole board responsible for granting or denying parole to, and supervising the parole releases of, incarcerated individuals who fall under its jurisdiction. It is part of the United States Department of Ju ...
working with the
Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia
The Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia provides legal defense to individuals on a court-appointed basis for criminal (at the trial and appellate levels) and delinquency cases indigent adult and juvenile defendants/ responde ...
, and they also work on prisoner advocacy projects.
Abbe Smith
Abbe Lyn Smith (born September 22, 1956) is an American criminal defense attorney and professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Smith is Director of the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and Co-Director of the E. Barrett P ...
is the director of CDPAC.
Former Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia lawyer
Vida Johnson
Vida B. Johnson is an American criminal defense attorney and associate professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Johnson works in the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and Criminal Justice Clinic, and supervises attorneys i ...
works with Smith in CDPAC and the Prettyman fellowship program.
DC Street Law Program
The DC Street Law Program, Directed by Professor Charisma X. Howell, provides legal education to the DC population through two projects: the Street Law High Schools Clinic and the Street Law Community Clinic. Professor Richard Roe directed the Street Law High Schools Clinic since 1983. Professor Howell became the director in 2018. In the program, students introduce local high school students to the basic structure of the legal system, including the relationship among legislatures, courts, and agencies, and how citizens, especially in their world, relate to the lawmaking processes of each branch of government.
Harrison Institute for Public Law
Th
Harrison Instituteis one of the longest running public law clinics in the country, having begun as the Project for Community Legal Assistance in 1972. In 1980 it was renamed in honor of Anne Blaine Harrison, a philanthropist and early supporter of the institute. Over its history, the institute has been home to several clinical programs, including focuses on state and local legislation, administrative advocacy, housing and community development, and policy. In 2019, under the directorship of Robert Stumberg, the institute consists of four policy teams: Climate, Health, Human Rights, and Trade. Each of these teams involves students working to shape policy to achieve client goals.
List of deans
Faculty
![Gewirz Student Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Gewirz_Student_Center.jpg)
Notable current faculty include:
*
Charles F. Abernathy, Professor of civil rights and comparative law
*
Lama Abu-Odeh
Lama Abu-Odeh ( ar, لمى أبو عودة, born 1962) is a Palestinian-American professor and author who teaches at the Georgetown University Law Center. She has written extensively on Islamic law, feminism, and family law.
Early life and educat ...
,
Palestinian-American
Palestinian Americans ( ar, فلسطينيو أمريكا) are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinians, Palestinian descent. It is unclear when the first Palestinian immigrants arrived in the United States, but it is believed that the ...
scholar of
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
,
family law
Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations.
Overview
Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include:
* Marriage, ...
, and feminism
*
Randy Barnett
Randy Evan Barnett (born February 5, 1952) is an American legal scholar. He serves as the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and is the director of the Georg ...
, Libertarian constitutional law scholar, author of
The Structure of Liberty
''The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law'' is a book by legal theorist Randy Barnett which offers a libertarian theory of law and politics. Barnett calls his theory ''the liberal conception of justice'', emphasizing the relations ...
and
Restoring the Lost Constitution
''Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty'' is a 2003 book about the United States Constitution written by Randy Barnett, a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. In the book, Barnett outlines his theory o ...
, 2008
Guggenheim Fellow
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
*
M. Gregg Bloche Maxwell Gregg Bloche is an American legal scholar and psychiatrist. He is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Health Law, Policy at Georgetown University Law Center.
Biography
Bloche received his B.A. from Columbia University, where he was editor ...
, professor of public health policy
*
Rosa Brooks
Rosa Brooks ( Ehrenreich; born 1970) is an American law professor, journalist, author and commentator on foreign policy, U.S. politics and criminal justice. She is the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law C ...
, Professor of national security, military, and international law, columnist for
Foreign Policy
A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
*
Paul Butler, Professor of criminal law and civil rights, expert on
jury nullification
Jury nullification (US/UK), jury equity (UK), or a perverse verdict (UK) occurs when the jury in a criminal trial gives a not guilty verdict despite a defendant having clearly broken the law. The jury's reasons may include the belief that the ...
*
Sheryll D. Cashin, Professor of civil rights and housing law
*
Julie E. Cohen, Professor of copyright, intellectual property, and privacy law
*
David D. Cole
David D. Cole is the National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Before joining the ACLU in July 2016, Cole was the Hon. George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy at the Georgetown University Law Center from ...
, Professor of first amendment and criminal procedure law
*
Peter Edelman
Peter Benjamin Edelman (born January 9, 1938) is an American lawyer, policy-maker, and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, specializing in the fields of poverty, welfare, juvenile justice, and constitutional law. He worked as an ai ...
, former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services
*
Doug Emhoff
Douglas Craig Emhoff (born October 13, 1964) is an American lawyer who is the second gentleman of the United States. He is married to the 49th vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. As the first-ever husband of a vice president, Em ...
, Distinguished Visitor from Practice, Distinguished Fellow of Georgetown Law's Institute for Technology Law and Policy,
Second Gentleman of the United States
The second gentleman or second lady of the United States (SGOTUS or SLOTUS respectively) is the informal title held by the spouse of the vice president of the United States, concurrent with the vice president's term of office. Coined in contrast ...
, lawyer
*
Heidi Li Feldman
Heidi Li Feldman is an American professor of law at Georgetown Law. Her areas of research are torts, ethics, political philosophy, and legal theory. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Education
Feldman attended Brown Un ...
, Professor of law
*
Lawrence O. Gostin
Lawrence Oglethorpe Gostin (born October 19, 1949) is an American law professor who specializes in public health law. He was a Fulbright Program, Fulbright Fellow and is best known as the author of the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act a ...
, Professor of
public health law
Public health law examines the authority of the government at various jurisdictional levels to improve public health, the health of the general population within societal limits and norms. Public health law focuses on the duties of the government ...
*
Shon Hopwood
Shon Robert Hopwood (born June 11, 1975) is an American appellate lawyer and professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Hopwood became well-known as a jailhouse lawyer who served time in prison for bank robbery. While in prison, he st ...
, Associate Professor, convicted bank robber turned jailhouse lawyer who represented matters before the Supreme Court
*
Neal Katyal
Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and academic. He is a partner at Hogan Lovells and the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center. During the Obama administrati ...
, Former Acting
Solicitor General of the United States
The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021.
The United States solicitor general represent ...
, Professor of national security law
*
Marty Lederman
Martin "Marty" S. Lederman is the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice, Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), appointed by Barack Obama, President Obama in January 2009. He previously ...
, Associate Professor, Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel
*
Naomi Mezey
Naomi Jewel Mezey is an American legal scholar and is a professor of law at Georgetown University. Mezey contributes significantly to the field of law and culture, with additional scholarly interests in legal theory (jurisprudence) and translati ...
, Professor of law and culture
*
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton (born June 13, 1937) is an American lawyer and politician serving as a delegate to the United States House of Representatives, representing the District of Columbia since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Earl ...
,
Delegate
Delegate or delegates may refer to:
* Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia
* Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique
* Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations
* Delegate (United ...
representing Washington, DC in the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
*
Victoria F. Nourse Victoria Frances Nourse (born November 9, 1958) is a Ralph V. Whitworth Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and the executive director of the Center on Congressional Studies at Georgetown Law. A nominee for the United States Co ...
, Chief Counsel to
Vice President Joe Biden and principal author of the
Violence Against Women Act
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law (Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, ) signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investig ...
*
Ladislas Orsy
Ladislas Orsy ( hu, Őrsy László; born July 30, 1921) is a canonical theologian.
Early life
Father Orsy was born on July 30, 1921 in Hungary. He entered Society of Jesus, Budapest (Hungary) in 1943 and was ordained in 1951 at Leuven ( Belgiu ...
, canonical theologian
*
Gary Peller
Gary Peller (born 1955) is Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and a prominent member of the critical legal studies and critical race theory movements.
Education and early career
Peller received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emo ...
, Prominent member of
critical legal studies
Critical legal studies (CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.Alan Hunt, "The Theory of Critical Legal Studies," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1986): 1-45, esp. 1, 5. Se DOI, 10.1 ...
and
critical race theory
Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goa ...
movements
*
Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz
Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz (born November 28, 1970) is an American constitutional law scholar, professor, and Broadway producer. He writes and teaches in the fields of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and federal jurisdiction. He is t ...
, former attorney-advisor at the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice
*
Louis Michael Seidman
Louis Michael Seidman (born 1947) is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., a widely read constitutional law scholar and major proponent of the critical legal studies movemen ...
, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Constitutional Law, significant proponent of the
critical legal studies
Critical legal studies (CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.Alan Hunt, "The Theory of Critical Legal Studies," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1986): 1-45, esp. 1, 5. Se DOI, 10.1 ...
movement
*
Howard Shelanski
Howard Shelanski (born 1964) is an American attorney, economist, and legal scholar. He is a professor of law at Georgetown University and a partner in the law firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell. He served in the Obama administration as administrator ...
, Former Administrator of the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA ) is a Division within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which in turn, is within the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide policie ...
*
Abbe Smith
Abbe Lyn Smith (born September 22, 1956) is an American criminal defense attorney and professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Smith is Director of the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and Co-Director of the E. Barrett P ...
, Criminal Defense Attorney and Director of the Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic
*
Daniel K. Tarullo
Daniel K. Tarullo (born November 1952) is an American law professor who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2009 to 2017. Tarullo concurrently served as the chairman of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination ...
, Member of the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mon ...
*
William M. Treanor
William Michael Treanor (born November 16, 1957) is an attorney and legal scholar. He is the dean of Georgetown University Law Center, the former dean of Fordham University School of Law, and an expert on constitutional law, having twice been c ...
, Dean of Georgetown University Law Center, former dean of Fordham University School of Law, noted constitutional law expert
*
Rebecca Tushnet
Rebecca Tushnet (born April 4, 1973) is an American legal scholar. She serves as the Frank Stanton Professor of First Amendment Law at Harvard Law School. Her scholarship focuses on copyright, trademark, First Amendment, and false advertising.
...
, Professor of copyright, trademark, intellectual property, and first amendment law, noted for her scholarship on
fanfiction
Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settin ...
*
David Vladeck
David C. Vladeck (born June 6, 1951)
is the former director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency of the United States government. He was appointed by the chairman of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, on ...
, Former Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
*
Robin West
Robin West (born 1954) is the Frederick J. Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy and Associate Dean (Research and Academic Programs) at the Georgetown University Law Center. West's research is primarily concerned with feminist legal theory, consti ...
, Frederick J. Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy, proponent of feminist legal theory and the
law and literature
The law and literature movement focuses on connections between law and literature. This field has roots in two developments in the intellectual history of law—first, the growing doubt about whether law in isolation is a source of value and mean ...
movement
Publications
![GULC library](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/GULC_library.jpg)
Georgetown University Law Center publishes fourteen student-run law journals, two peer-reviewed law journals, and a weekly student-run newspaper, the
Georgetown Law Weekly
''Georgetown Law Weekly'' is a weekly newspaper published by students at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
The ''Law Weekly'' has a circulation of 1,500 and is printed each Tuesday of the school year. In total, twenty-two issues ...
. The journals are:
* ''
American Criminal Law Review
''The American Criminal Law Review'' is a student-edited scholarly journal published at Georgetown University Law Center. The ACLR is a journal of American criminal law and white-collar crime.
Overview
''ACLR'' adopts a mix of symposia, articles, ...
''
* ''Food and Drug Law Journal''
* ''
Georgetown Environmental Law Review
The ''Georgetown Environmental Law Review'' is a quarterly student-edited law review published at Georgetown University Law Center covering the legal implications of environmental issues including: climate change, renewable energy, and the interse ...
''
* ''Georgetown Immigration Law Journal''
* ''Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law''
* ''
Georgetown Journal of International Law
The ''Georgetown Journal of International Law'' is a law review published by Georgetown University Law Center
The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in W ...
''
* ''Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives''
* ''Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy''
* ''Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics''
* ''Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy''
* ''Journal of National Security Law and Policy''
* ''Georgetown Law Technology Review'' (online only)
* ''
Georgetown Law Journal
''The Georgetown Law Journal'' is a student-edited scholarly journal published at Georgetown University Law Center. It is the flagship law review of the Georgetown University Law Center.
Overview
The ''Georgetown Law Journal'' is headquartered ...
''
**In 2021, ranked by
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...
and
Washington and Lee School of Law
The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley ...
as the #4 and #5 most influential law review in the country, respectively.
**In 2021, ranked #8 in the nation based on the Meta Ranking of Flagship US Law Reviews at U.S. law schools by Assistant Professor Bryce Clayton Newell.
Controversies
In January 2022, Ilya Shapiro, the incoming executive director and senior lecturer of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, wrote in a tweet that he opposed President Biden's intent to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court, writing that because Biden would not nominate Shapiro's friend
Sri Srinivasan
Padmanabhan Srikanth "Sri" Srinivasan (; born February 23, 1967) is an Indian-born American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before he was a circuit judge, Srinivas ...
, he was choosing a "lesser black woman." The dean of Georgetown University Law Center condemned the remarks, stating, "The tweets’ suggestion that the best Supreme Court nominee could not be a Black woman and their use of demeaning language are appalling...The tweets are at odds with everything we stand for at Georgetown Law." Shapiro later deleted the tweet as well as many other tweets he had written in the past, and issued a statement calling it an, "inartful tweet." Shapiro was then placed on administrative leave while being investigated for violations of "professional conduct, non-discrimination, and anti-harassment" rules. As a result of the investigation, Shapiro was reinstated, as the school's investigators found that he was "not properly subject to discipline." Nevertheless, on June 6 Shapiro chose to resign in protest, arguing that the school had "implicitly repealed Georgetown’s vaunted Speech and Expression Policy and set me up for discipline the next time I transgress progressive orthodoxy."
Notable alumni
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
INSPIRE records at the
University of Maryland libraries
The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an of ...
. The Institute of Public Interest Representation (INSPIRE) is part of the Georgetown University Law Center.
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Environmental law schools
Edward Durell Stone buildings
Law schools in Washington, D.C.
Educational institutions established in 1870
1870 establishments in Washington, D.C.
Catholic law schools in the United States