2 01 8 - 20 20
Beyond the confines of a courtroom or a classroom, Kline School of Law faculty, students, and alumni practice law in another arena where it counts. The community.
Our Institutional Commitment
A Message from Dean of the Thomas R. Kline School of Law As we enter our 15th year of operation, the Thomas R. Kline School of Law is proud to present this year’s Civic Engagement Report, which contains an overview of some of the key activities and accomplishments of the law school community throughout the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years. Many of these successes have been completed in collaboration with our partners within Drexel University, in the broader Philadelphia community, and in other academic and professional practice communities throughout the country. As I hope this report shows, we are passionate about our core mission of advancing justice and promoting the rule of law. Members of the Kline Law community have embraced and advanced this objective in multiple ways, a few of which we highlight throughout this report. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you would like more information on an aspect of our work or see an opportunity for growth or collaboration.
Truly yours,
Dean Daniel M. Filler Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law
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Table of Contents Our Institutional Commitment
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Our Commitment to the Community
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Pro Bono Program
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Students in Action Clinics
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Field Clinics
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In-house Clinics
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Federal Litigation and Appeals Clinic
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Stern Community Lawyering Clinic
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Entrepreneurial Law Clinic
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Our Commitment to Research with Social Impact
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Center for Law, Policy, & Social Action
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Faculty Scholarship
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Associate Dean and Professor Susan Brooks
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Professor Wendy Greene
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Associate Professor Rachel Lรณpez
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Professor Tabatha Abu El-Haj
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Professor David S. Cohen
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Student Accomplishments
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Our Commitment to the Community
A commitment to serving the public interest through law and the legal system runs deep at the Kline School of Law. This passion to better the communities in which we live, work, and study is powerfully expressed through our pro bono and clinic programs.
Pro Bono Program Our Pro Bono Service Program, directed by Rashida West, serves individuals and groups traditionally underserved by the private bar. Our students embrace this opportunity to live their values, and they often widely exceed the 50 service hours required for graduation. In addition to the vast array of individual pro bono projects that students take on, in the past two years Kline Law students also supported 12 substantial ongoing pro bono projects designed to deliver legal services to those in need. Highlights from this work include: • SOAR Rapid Access to Public Benefits (Partnership with Homeless Advocacy Project): Students conduct client interviews, obtain medical records, complete application forms, and write letters of support for clients. From July 2019 to June 2020, Kline Law students worked on more than 20 cases. • Partnership with HIAS Pennsylvania: Students work with an intake coordinator to screen callers for eligibility for legal relief and for HIAS Pennsylvania’s services. Students interview potential clients to gather information about their claims, prepare write-ups for attorney review, and as directed, provide guidance and referrals. From July 2019 to June 2020, Kline Law students assisted with more than 200 cases. • Estate Planning Clinic: Students are trained in simple estate planning and assist clients by drafting powers of attorney, advanced medical directives, and wills. From July 2019 to June 2020, Kline Law students helped close more than 100 cases. • SeniorLAW HelpLine (Partnership with SeniorLAW Center): Students help provide free and confidential legal counseling to elderly Pennsylvanians throughout the state, including in rural areas where there are few legal resources. From July 2019 to June 2020, Kline Law students helped with more than 300 individual matters. • Expungement Clinic (Partnership with Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity): Students help provide free direct legal services to individuals seeking to expunge non-conviction records in Philadelphia County. From July 2019 to June 2020, Kline Law students helped with more than 50 cases.
Other ongoing projects • Campaign for Working Families • Medical Legal Partnership • Domestic Violence Assistance Project • Pennsylvania Innocence Project • Irish Immigration Clinic – Brehon Society • Employment Advocacy Project
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Rashida T. West Director for Pro Bono and Public Interest Programs
A snapshot of some of the work completed through pro bono projects
*As part of the Criminal Record Expungement Project and in partnership with Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity
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Students in Action In addition to participating in these ongoing pro bono projects, our students take action by creating independent pro bono projects. A prime example is the pro bono service trip to the U.S.-Mexico border led by Rebecca Swaintek ’20. Inspired by her past experience in social work, Swaintek feels a deep commitment to protecting immigrant children. In 2019, when she learned that families were being separated at the border, Swaintek took action. In a few short months, she raised $5,620 for herself and four other Kline Law students to do pro bono work in El Paso, Texas, during the 2019 spring break.
As a result of the trip • Swaintek helped win an asylum case for a Ugandan man who faced persecution after fighting for democracy in his homeland. The win is especially significant since the El Paso Immigration Court has one of the highest asylum denial rates in the country. • Student participants founded the Immigration Law Society after their return from this trip, which will engage Kline Law students in social action for years to come. Rebecca Swaintek ’20
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Clinics Kline School of Law has three in-house clinics and two field clinics. In each clinic, second- and third-year students have the opportunity to gain hands-on, real-world experience in law. As much as possible, clinic students lead their experience, while being overseen by supervising attorneys.
Field Clinics
From July 2019 to July 2020, our students in PLA, which provides representation to victims of family violence in protection from abuse and custody matters, assisted with more than 80 cases.
In our year-long Field Clinic Program, students represent civil clients and criminal defendants at hearings and trials through partnerships with Defender Association of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA).
In-house Clinics Federal Litigation and Appeals Clinic Professor Richard Frankel and Adjunct Professor Katelyn Hufe direct the Federal Litigation and Appeals Clinic, which offers students the unique opportunity to represent clients and practice law before federal courts and agencies. Clinic students have represented people in a wide variety of legal matters, including immigration and asylum, constitutional rights, criminal law, disability rights, and prisoner mistreatment. Our students have argued cases in the First, Third and Seventh Circuit Courts of Appeals — an experience many attorneys never gain over an entire career. • In April 2019, Kline Law students Adam Bluestein and Sydney Melillo won asylum for a native of Ghana who faced tremendous perils there as a gay man and a Muslim. • In February 2019, Kadiatou Diallo, who had been subjected to female genital mutilation, gained asylum through the efforts of Kline Law student Jordan Laporta and Aron Minkoff. • In August 2019, students from the Federal Litigation and Appeals Clinic won a victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, reviving a whistleblower’s claim against Citigroup.
Stern Community Lawyering Clinic Professor Rachel López directs and Assistant Clinical Professor Lauren Katz Smith teaches in the Andy and Gwen Stern Community Lawyering Clinic (SCLC). Located in Drexel University’s Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, SCLC provides free legal services to Philadelphia community members. Within the SCLC, Kline Law students serve as true community lawyers and address a variety of issues that affect Drexel’s neighbors in Mantua and Powelton Village. Here are some highlights from the SCLC’s work throughout 2019 and 2020: • In September 2019, after receiving a generous gift from Andy and Gwen Stern, the SCLC hired a Staff Attorney Rodlena Sales. Attorney Sales has contributed to the expansion of the SCLC’s presence in the West Philadelphia community and ensures that every community member has immediate access to the SCLC’s services during business hours. • The SCLC obtained $11,959.88 from the Tangled Title Fund, a grant program funded by the City of Philadelphia’s Division of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The SCLC will use the grant to assist residents in paying outstanding property taxes and other fees associated with securing titles to their homes.
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• The students in the SCLC helped restore ownership to the victim of a fraudulent transfer of property via a forged deed and recovered damages. The SCLC won a summary judgment motion on behalf of victims of deed fraud against defendants who committed forgery and stole the clients’ home and all their personal belongings contained in the home. • The SCLC assisted the Promise Zone Research Connection (PZRC) in creating a governance structure and by-laws and advised them on how to obtain 501(c)3 status in Pennsylvania. • Students worked with the Graterford Think Tank to develop strategic litigation that would pose an Eighth Amendment challenge to life without parole (LWOP) sentences for those with dementia and other neurocognitive disorders based on recent U.S. Supreme Court case law.
Entrepreneurial Law Clinic The Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, directed by Eamon Gallagher, provides the legal services necessary to bring innovative ideas from conception to raising outside funding. The clinic serves entrepreneurs at a stage when cost often leads them to forgo legal advice and postpone legal formalities. During a given semester, the clinic generally has six clients and provides about 40 hours of work per client for up to four students.
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In 2020, the Stern CLC:
113 99 24 7
Conducted community legal education trainings that approximately 113 community members attended Referred 99 community members to other legal service providers
Represented 24 community members in legal proceedings
Provided legal advice or pro se assistance to 7 community members
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Our Commitment to Research with Social Impact
Kline Law faculty do more than just lecture; they demonstrate precisely how legal principles apply in courtrooms, boardrooms, and beyond. Many bring a wealth of experience as practicing attorneys who have represented diverse clients in a wide array of firms, corporations, government agencies, and publicinterest organizations. Across the board, our faculty members aim to ensure that their scholarship has real-world impact that betters our community, the legal field, and academia.
Center for Law, Policy, & Social Action The Center for Law, Policy, and Social Action (CLPSA), which launched in April 2019, brings together scholars and practitioners from Kline Law and the region to help faculty, students, and community members become informed, effective advocates for policy innovation. The Center is directed by Associate Professor of Law Rose Corrigan, who holds a joint appointment at Kline School of Law and the Department of Politics at the College of Arts and Sciences. From its inception, CLPSA has offered an ambitious portfolio of talks, interdisciplinary working groups, and academic conferences, including the following: • In partnership with the Association of American Law Schools, CLPSA hosted “Where Are We Going? Immigration Law in 2020 & Beyond,” bringing together law faculty and top policy experts in Drexel University’s Washington D.C. Center to discuss immigration and human rights strategies for the coming decade. • The Center hosted a cutting-edge conference, “Automation and Accountability: Governance in the Age of Algorithms,” bringing together scholars, legal practitioners, community activists, and criminal justice officials to address the role of algorithms, big data, and risk assessment in criminal justice policymaking. • The Center sponsored or co-sponsored: ■
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A showing of the film “Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School” with the Lindy Center and the Sankofa Healing Studio, followed by a panel discussion by community activists. A talk by Penn State Law’s Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Shoba Wadhia on her book Banned: Immigration Enforcement in the Time of Trump. A talk by Nicole Ramos, director of the Border Rights Project of Al Otro Lado, discussing her work with asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexico. A talk by Sayu Bhojwani exploring her book People Like Us: The New Wave of Candidates Knocking at Democracy’s Door, which examines the impact of first- and second-generation immigrants as political candidates and public servants.
CLPSA has also engaged students in its work in varied ways, including sponsoring a seminar in public policy analysis, hosting side-by-side discussions about crime and justice with incarcerated individuals, and bringing creative legal thinkers and professionals to Kline School of Law.
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Professor Rose Corrigan is the director of CLPSA and holds a joint appointment in the Kline School of Law and the College of Arts and Science.
We are committed to bettering the communities that surround us in the places we work, study, and live.
Faculty Scholarship Kline Law faculty are nationally recognized thought leaders on many issues that are most important in promoting strong, democratic communities. The following are a few highlights of our faculty’s work over the past two years.
Associate Dean and Professor Susan Brooks Dean Susan Brooks is collaborating with Drexel University - School of Education’s Assistant Professor Ayana Allen-Handy and Director John D. Kirby, Jr. from the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, on two restorative justice initiatives aimed at establishing racial justice in West Philadelphia’s Promise Zone: the Developing Anti-Racism Community Dialogues (DACD): A Critical Race Participatory Action Research Project and the West Philadelphia Community Dialogue Project (WPCDP). At the end of July 2020, Drexel University’s Rapid Response Research & Development Fund awarded a grant to the DACD. The money from the grant will be used to identify the most pressing needs, interests, and concerns connected to racial justice, equity, and inclusion within the Promise Zone. These findings will then be used to create the programming included in the WPCDP project, with the hope that doing so will lead to long-term, community-led change. Read the full story here.
Additional news from Dean Brooks • Published in Southwestern Law Review on mindful engagement in law in October 2019. • Gave a presentation on relational lawyering at Università Degli Studi Di Torino in July 2019. • Gave the keynote address at The Integrated Lawyer, a symposium on wellbeing and practice of law hosted by the University of California Hastings College of Law in January 2019.
Professor Wendy Greene Professor Wendy Greene is a leading voice in the movement to end discrimination against Black people’s hairstyles in the workplace and in schools. She is a legal architect of the CROWN Act, a federal bill which is currently being reviewed by the Senate. Greene took a hands-on approach in gathering Congressional support for the bill. She advised members of Congress regarding how to present the bill and how best to garner support. Greene also drafted and has served as an expert witness for state versions of the CROWN Act in legislatures throughout the country. Recently, Greene was an expert witness in Arnold v. Barbers Hill Independent School District, where she provided “persuasive historical and sociological evidence” showing that hairstyles can be an expression of identity, according to a preliminary injunction issued by Judge George C. Hanks Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Greene testified on behalf of plaintiff Kaden Bradford, a Black high school
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student at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas. In early 2020, Bradford, who wears his hair in locs, was suspended for a dress code violation after the school changed its dress code to specify that male students’ hair could not exceed a certain length when their hair was “let down.” Prior to the policy change, the dress code did not specify length limitations when hair was let down, allowing male students, like Bradford, to adhere to the dress code by tying their hair up. Read the full story here.
Additional news from Professor Greene • Appointed to Drexel University’s Anti-Racism Task Force in August 2020. • Testified in support of Maryland CROWN Act in March 2020. • Quoted by the Washington Post on race-based hair discrimination in the workplace in September 2019.
Associate Professor Rachel López Professor Rachel López’s scholarship is centered on human rights, both domestic and international. In 2020, her national human rights work included research on the necessity to end sentences of life without parole (LWOP) for individuals who develop severe dementia and other degenerative neurocognitive impairments after being incarcerated. In her article “The Unusual Cruelty of Nursing Homes Behind Bars,” López argues that continued imprisonment for such individuals is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. When the pandemic hit the U.S. in March 2020, López saw another possible human rights concern related to the large percentage of elderly incarcerated individuals in Pennsylvania. López and the Stern Community Lawyering Clinic, which she directs, responded to the crisis rapidly, strongly advocating that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf grant reprieves, which would allow temporary releases, to inmates who are particularly susceptible to the virus and don’t pose a threat to public safety. To draw attention to the problem, the SCLC collaborated with the Amistad Law Project to publish a report in July 2020 detailing the heightened risks that the pandemic presents in the state’s prisons. Regarding international human rights, in her 2020 article “The Law of Gravity,” López offers the first comprehensive scholarly treatment of the concept of “gravity,” that which makes for a grave violation of international law. According to López, “gravity is a, if not the, principal unifying force across international criminal law, human rights law, and humanitarian law.” However, there has been no formal definition of grave violations in legal scholarship. López sought to fill this gap through her close examination of gravity’s jurisprudence, which revealed a common set of factors used in determining whether a violation qualifies as grave. By creating a uniform and cohesive understanding of what constitutes a grave violation in international law, López’s scholarship will advance accountability in the international arena.
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The report finds that the risk of a “massive, uncontrolled outbreak” of COVID-19 is a significant one for Pennsylvania’s prisons.
Additional news from Professor López • Argues why indefinitely incarcerating someone with dementia or other neurocognitive disorders violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution’s prohibition on cruelty in an article published in June 2020 in the Federal Sentencing Reporter. • Co-wrote an article, titled “How This Anchor Institution Works To Help Address Challenges in the Neighborhood,” on Drexel’s Community Legal Clinic in April 2019. • Published an op-ed in The Hill critiquing a commission launched by Secretary of State in August 2019. • Penned an op-ed in Americas Quarterly outlining parallels between presidential corruption in U.S. and Guatemala in February 2019.
Professor Tabatha Abu El-Haj Professor Tabatha Abu El-Haj focuses on the underappreciated significance of the First Amendment Right of Assembly. Her scholarship has taken on increased significance in the face of recent protests, including the now infamous dispersal of peaceful protesters at Lafayette Square. In recent months, Slate, The Atlantic, the American Constitution Society (ACS), and the legal studies blog Balkinization have featured Abu El-Haj as she parses out why there is so much ambiguity about what the right of peaceable assembly protects and identifies what can be done in response. Recently, Abu El-Haj transformed her scholarly expertise into social action, co-authoring an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court after the Fifth Circuit Court’s decision in McKesson v. Doe. The Texas-based court held that Black Lives Matter protest organizer DeRay McKesson was civilly liable in tort for violence committed by an unknown protest participant. In the brief supporting McKesson, Abu El-Haj showed that the Court’s decision had upended centuries-old First Amendment precedent and could smother political dissent. On November 1, the Supreme Court, in a 7-1 decision, ruled in favor of McKesson. Read about Abu El-Haj’s response to this potential chilling and her suggested solutions, here.
Additional news from Professor Abu El-Haj • In May 2019, a Columbia Law Review Online Symposium focused on Abu El-Haj’s scholarship about First Amendment rights and the pursuit of responsive party government. • In March 2019, Abu El-Haj explored campaign finance law at Geography, Identity & Campaign Finance a symposium at William & Mary Law School.
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Professor David S. Cohen Professor David S. Cohen focuses on the constitutional right to reproductive freedom. He blends high-profile legal scholarship with a passion for legal advocacy, making an impact both in the courthouse and the halls of academia. In February 2020, Cohen and Carole Joffe, sociologist and professor at University of California – SanFrancisco, published Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion in America. The book describes the labyrinth of barriers facing women seeking an abortion. The book draws from patients’ stories and interviews with medical personnel and women’s health advocates from every state in the country to capture what it’s like navigating both formal and informal barriers and burdens designed to block women from exercising their constitutional rights. Learn more about the book and Cohen’s scholarship here.
Additional news from Professor Cohen • Testified in favor of a New Jersey confidentiality law in July 2019. • Won Pennsylvania Supreme Court Case involving pregnant woman’s drug abuse in January 2019. • Cohen and Women’s Law Project filed suit against Pennsylvania’s Medicaid abortion ban in January 2019.
Cohen and Joffe’s exploration of both the formal and informal restrictions to abortion shows just how difficult it is for many women to access legally protected healthcare services.
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Student Accomplishments Our faculty’s high level of engagement with our students combined with the caliber of students attending Kline School of Law has fostered a community of legal scholars engaged with the important legal issues of today. Several of our students have been recognized regionally and nationally for their research and leadership in various focus areas. Below are a few highlights from our students’ work throughout the past two years. In May 2019, Justin Hollinger ’19 won a prestigious Independence Foundation Fellowship, a program in public interest law that enables top law school graduates to pursue their passion for public interest service. In his work with Regional Housing Legal Services, Hollinger helps community groups navigate zoning laws and helps local organizations create land trusts and form cooperatives — all in an effort to ensure the availability of affordable housing in Philadelphia. Read the full story here.
Justin Hollinger ’19
2018-2020 Student Awards and Recognition • In May 2020, Desjeneé Davis ’21 was awarded the 13th Annual Carl “Tobey” Oxholm Summer Fellowship, which supported her summer internship with the Code & Public Nuisance Litigation Unit at Philadelphia’s Office of the City Solicitor. • In May 2020, Akhurapa Ambak ’20 was featured in a Teen Vogue article on how law students helped push for the cancellation of classes on election day. • In April 2019, Nina Gurak ’19 was awarded a Reproductive Justice Fellowship, which supported her work with Healthy and Free Tennessee, a coalition in Nashville that promotes sexual health and reproductive freedom.
Desjeneé Davis ’21
• In the 2018-2019 academic year, Cassie Grainge ’19 received an Outstanding Service Award from the Public Interest Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association and organized a conference titled “Liberty and Justice: Moving from Some to All” in collaboration with other law students throughout the city.
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