CLARK D. CUNNINGHAM
W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics
Georgia State University College of Law
P.O. Box 4037
Atlanta, GA 30302-4037
Phone: (404) 413-9168
Fax: (404) 413-9082
Email: cdcunningham@gsu.edu
Home Page:http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/
Street Address for Courier Delivery:
140 Decatur Street, Suite 400
Atlanta, GA 30303
EDUCATION:
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL. Detroit, Michigan. J.D. 1981. Summa Cum Laude. Class Rank - 2nd. 3.91/4.0 GPA.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL. Chicago, Illinois. 1977-78. Floyd Mechem Scholarship. 79.6 GPA (top 5% of class). Invited to join Law Review. Joseph Beale award for excellence in first year research and writing program.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE. Hanover, New Hampshire. A.B. 1975 Summa Cum Laude. Class rank - 3rd/796. Phi Beta Kappa. Senior Fellow. Concentrations in English and Anthropology. Perkins Literature Prize. Gurdin Drama Prize. Daniel Webster Scholar. National Merit Scholar.
EMPLOYMENT:
GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW. Atlanta, Georgia. W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics. (6/02 - present). Courses: Judicial Power; Professional Responsibility: Heroes & Villains; Criminal Justice Clinic; Criminal Justice Fieldwork & Law Reform; The Future of Legal Education: Comparative Perspectives.
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW. St. Louis, Missouri. Associate Professor (7/89-6/93); Professor (7/93-5/02). Israel Treiman Research Fellow (1999-2000). Courses: Comparative Constitutional Law; Law, Language & Culture; Remedies; The Legal Profession: Heroes and Villains ; Urban Community Dynamics; Law in the Urban Community; Urban Law Clinic I and II; Criminal Justice Clinic I and II; Pretrial Practice and Procedure; Law in Context; and seminar on Law as Language, Law as Literature.
Nov 1990 SICHUAN UNIVERSITY. Chengdu, Sichuan, Peoples Republic of China. Visiting Professor of Law.
1987-89 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Clinical Assistant Professor of Law.
1987 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Visiting Adjunct Lecturer in Law. Taught "Lawyers and Clients."
1986-1987 STARK AND GORDON. Detroit, Michigan. Associate in law firm specializing in employment discrimination and civil rights litigation.
1985-1988 WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL. Detroit, Michigan. Adjunct Professor. Taught Professional Responsibility and Federal Civil Rights Litigation.
1986 INDO-AMERICAN FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. New Delhi, India. Three month fellowship as a visiting scholar at the Indian Law Institute doing comparative research on public interest litigation.
1983-1985 MICHIGAN LEGAL SERVICES. Detroit, Michigan. Staff attorney at the federally designated center for training, research and law reform for legal aid offices in Michigan. My major responsibilities were statewide training of legal aid attorneys, coordination of the Michigan Public Benefits Task Force, individual case consultation, and complex reform litigation.
1981-1983 THE HONORABLE AVERN COHN, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE. Detroit, Michigan. Law Clerk.
PUBLICATIONS:
"Valuing What Clients Think: Standardized Clients and the Assessment of Communicative Competence" (co-authored with Karen Barton, Gregory Todd Jones & Paul Maharg), 13 Clinical Law Review 1 - 65 (2006).
Book Review, The Worlds Cause Lawyers Make: Structure and Agency in Legal Practice, by Austin Sarat and Stuart A. Scheingold (eds), 16 Law & Politics Book Review 226 - 29 (2006).
"Legal Education After Law School: Lessons from Scotland & England," 33 Fordham Urban Law Journal 193 - 209 (2005) (special symposium issue on Professional Challenges in Large Firm Practice).
"The Professionalism Crisis: How Bar Examiners Can Make a Difference," 74 Bar Examiner 6 - 9 (Nov 2005) (lead article in special issue on "Other Lawyer Licensing Processes and Alternatives to the Bar Examination").
"But
What is Their Story?" 52 Emory Law Journal
1147-56 (2003).
"Lessons on Affirmative Action from India," 1 The Subcontinental: A Journal of South Asian American Political Identity 51-56 (Summer 2003) (Special Issue on Affirmative Action).
"Speciality Certification as an Incentive for Increased Professionalism: Lessons from Other Disciplines and Countries," 54 South Carolina Law Review 987- 1009 (2003) (co-authored with Adrian Evans).
"How to Explain Confidentiality?" 9 Clinical Law Review 579 -621 (2003).
"The World's Most Powerful Court: Finding the Roots of India's Public Interest Litigation Revolution in the Hussainara Khatoon Prisoners Case," Liberty, Equality and Justice : Struggles for a New Social Order 83-96 (S.P Sathe ed.) (2003).
"Passing Strict Scrutiny: Using Social Science to Design Affirmative Action Programs," 90 Georgetown Law Journal 835-82 (2002) (with Glenn C. Loury & John David Skrentny)..
"Affirmative Action: Comparative Policies and Controversies," International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences 210 -214 (2002).
"Affirmative Action: India's Example," 4 Civil Rights Journal 22-27 (Fall 1999).
"Race, Class, Caste ...? Rethinking Affirmative Action," 97 Michigan Law Review 1296-1310 (1999) (with N.R. Madhava Menon) (published with a reply by Cass Sunstein).
"Evaluating Effective Lawyer-Client Communication: an International Project Moving From Research to Reform," 67 Fordham Law Review 1959-86 (1999).
"Hearing Voices: Why the Academy Needs Clinical Scholarship," 76 Washington University Law Quarterly 85-95 (1998), reprinted in Legal Education for the 21st Century (Donald B. King ed.1999).
"Rethinking Equality in the Global Society," 75 Washington University Law Quarterly 1561-1676 (1997) (transcribed conference proceedings) (edited entire transcript; authored opening and closing plenary speeches, id. at 1579, 1672).
"Taking It to the Streets: Putting Discourse Analysis to the Service of a Public Defender's Office," 2 Clinical Law Review 285-314 (1995) (with Bonnie S. McElhinny)..
"Using Common Sense: A Linguistic Perspective on Judicial Interpretations of 'Use a Firearm'," 73 Washington University Law Quarterly. 1159-1214 (1995) (with Charles J. Fillmore).
"What is Meaning in a Legal Text?" 73 Washington University Law Quarterly 800-970 (1995) (transcribed proceedings: Northwestern University-Washington University Law and Linguistics Conference).
"Bringing Linguistics into Judicial Decisionmaking," 2 Forensic Linguistics: The International Journal of Speech, Language, and the Law 81-98 (1995) (with Jeffrey P. Kaplan, Georgia M. Green, and Judith N. Levi).
"Learning from Law Students: A Socratic Approach to Law and Literature?" 63 University of Cincinnati Law Review 195-220 (1994) (Symposium on Law, Literature and the Humanities).
"Plain Meaning and Hard Cases," 103 Yale Law Journal 1561-1625 (1994) (with Judith N. Levi, Georgia M. Green, and Jeffrey P. Kaplan) (cited 114 S.Ct. 1259, 1264; 114 S.Ct. 1793, 1806; 114 S.Ct. 2251, 2255).
"Sometimes You Can't Make a Dent, But They Know You've Been There: The Lawyer As God's Witness," 106 Harvard Law Review 1962-79 (1993).
"The Lawyer as Translator, Representation as Text: Towards an Ethnography of Legal Discourse," 77 Cornell Law Review 1298-1387 (1992).
"Why American Lawyers Should Go to India: Retracing Galanter's Intellectual Odyssey," 16 Law & Social Inquiry (Research Journal of the American Bar Foundation) 777-808 (1991).
"A Tale of Two Clients: Thinking About Law as Language," 87 Michigan Law Review 2459-2494 (1989) (reprinted in Alex Hurder et al (eds.), Clinical Anthology (1997).
"A Linguistic Analysis of the Meanings of 'Search' in the Fourth Amendment: A Search for Common Sense," 73 Iowa Law Review 541-609 (l988).
"Professional Responsibility," 34 Wayne Law Review 1005-1031 (l988).
"Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court of India: A Study in Light of the American Experience," 29 Journal of the Indian Law Institute 494-523 (1987).
Legal Ethics in a Gandhian Perspective. (First Gandhi Memorial Lecture: Gandhi-In-Action International) New Delhi, India. l987. Reprinted in R. P. Misra, The Gandhian Model of Development and World Peace (1989).
SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS:
"Lessons from Gandhi on Becoming a Lawyer," presented in India on October 2, 2007 at the Regional Workshop on Clinical Teaching Methods at the National Law Institute in Bhopal; on October 6 at the Regional Workshop on Clinical Teaching Methods at the Symbiosis Law College in Pune; and on October 9 at the Government Law College, Sikkim.
"Effective Lawyer-Client Communication" and "Clinical Methods for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism," presented in India in May and October 2007 at three regional workshops on clinical teaching methods (in Bangalore, Bhopal and Pune) sponsored by the South Asia Forum of Clinical Law Teachers.
"Learning from the Mistakes of American Legal Education," Opening Keynote Address at the 2007 International Legal Education and Legal Profession Forum in Beijing, China, on August 8. The conference was sponsored by the Committee of Chinese Clinical Legal Educators and supported by the Ford Foundation.
" 'Smart Without Purpose': The Carnegie Foundation Critique of American Legal Education," presented at four Australian law schools -- Flinders, Monash, Macquarie and Griffith -- during March and April 2007. An expanded version was presented at a special faculty meeting of the University of New Mexico School of Law in September 2007.
"Using the Internet to Promote Justice Education," organized and chaired session on December 8, 2006 at the 4th Worldwide Meeting of the Global Alliance for Justice Education, held at the National University of Argentina. Also presented "Innovative Approaches to Teaching Legal Ethics" on December 7.
"The World's Most Powerful Court: Finding the Roots of India's Public Interest Litigation Revolution in the Hussainara Khatoon Prisoners Case," presented November 19, 2006 in London, England at an international conference on Comparative Constitutional Traditions in South Asia, co-sponsored by Johns Hopkins University and the University of London.
"What Clients Want from Their Lawyers," Keynote Speaker, Annual Partners Meeting of Dundas & Wilson, Scotland's largest law firm, in Edinburgh, Scotland, on November 11, 2006.
“Professionalism and the Accredited Specialist” (co-presenter with Robert Pirrie, Chief Executive, The Society of Writers to Her Majesty’s Signet, Edinburgh, Scotland), Annual Roundtable of the ABA Standing Committee on Specialization, San Antonio, March 24, 2006.
"Do We Value What Clients Think About Their Lawyers? If So, Why Don't We Measure It?" Presented October 28, 2005 at the 6th International Clinic Conference at Lake Arrowhead, California, co-sponsored by UCLA Law School and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London (co-authors: Karen Barton, Gregory Todd Jones & Paul Maharg).
"Clinical Education Changing the World and the World Changing Clinical Education: the Global Alliance for Justice Education," Keynote Address at the International Conference on Clinical Legal Education, held at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. July 14, 2005.
Conference on the Training Framework Review, Nottingham Law School, England. June 22-23, 2005. Invited discussant.
"Legal Education After Law School: Lessons from England & Scotland," presented at the Conference on Professional Challenges in Large Firm Practice held at Fordham Law School, April 15, 2005.
"Do We Value What Clients Think About Their Lawyers? If So, Why Don’t We Measure It?" 7th Annual Conference of the Learning in Law Initiative, United Kingdom Centre for Legal Education, University of Warwick, England, January 7, 2005 (co-presented with Professor Paul Maharg, Glasgow Graduate School of Law).
"Taking the Punishment out of the Process,” Marilyn Stein Bellet Conference on Ethics and the Law, Fordham School of Law and Low Country Legal Aid, Hilton Head, S. Carolina, November 12, 2004.
"The U.S. Patriot Act and the War on Terror," The Dartmouth Lawyers Association, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 11, 2004.
Third International Conference of the Global Alliance for Justice Education, Krakow, Poland, July 2004 (opening speaker).
"Confidentiality and Clients," ABA National Conference on Professional Responsibility, Naples, Florida, June 4, 2004.
“40th Anniversary Panel, Is the Process Still the Punishment 25 Years Later?” Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Chicago, May 28, 2004.
“Using Specialty Certification to Promote Professionalism,” Annual Roundtable of the ABA Standing Committee on Specialization, New Orleans, March 26, 2004 (Keynote Speaker).
“After the Grutter Decision Things Get Interesting! The American Debate over Affirmative Action Is Finally Ready For Some Fresh Ideas from Abroad,” Affirmative Action: An International Perspective on a Global Dilemma, Annual Law Review Symposium, University of Connecticut, November 6, 2003 (Opening Speaker).
2003 Symposium on Advanced Issues in Dispute Resolution, Hamline University School of Law, November 2-3, 2003 (discussant).
“Re-Examining the Bar Exam: A Workshop to Explore Alternative Licensing Proposals,” Society of American Law Teachers, University of Minnesota Law School, October 11, 2003 (discussant).
“What is Their Story?”, 2003 Conference on Ethics and Professionalism, Emory Law School.
“From Ideology to Facts: Shifting Legal Discourse about Affirmative Action in U.S. Higher Education,” International Conference on Discrimination, Diversity and Public Policy, Washington University in St. Louis, March 29 - 30, 2003.
"Taking the Punishment out of the Process," 4th Annual Public Law Conference, Duke Law School, December 13-14, 2002.
"Conference on Problems in Discovery and Professionalism," University of Georgia Law School, November 14 -15, 2002 (invited discussant).
"The Effective Lawyer-Client Communication Project," Hispanic National Bar Association, Annual Meeting, Atlanta, October 17, 2002.
"National Conference on Professionalism," Stanford Law School & University of South Carolina School of Law, Charleston, South Carolina, September 27-29, 2002 (invited participant).
"Taking the Punishment out of the Process," American Council of Chief Defenders, Austin, Texas, September 18, 2002.
"Conference on Restorative Justice," New College Law School, San Francisco, August 30 -September 2, 2002 (invited participant).
"Impact of Alabama v Shelton in Georgia," Chief Justice's Commission on Indigent Defense, Atlanta, July 26, 2002.
"The Reach of Law in India," Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Vancouver, May 29 - June 2, 2002 ( chaired panel discussion).
Second Worldwide Conference of the Global Alliance for Justice Education, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, December 2001 (facilitator for pre-conference workshop and post-conference training program on teaching legal ethics).
"How to Explain Confidentiality," Fifth International Clinical Conference, UCLA Law School, November 2001 (also chaired session on international clinical education).
"Passing Strict Scrutiny: Using Social Science to Design Affirmative Action Program," Fall 2001 Research Workshop Series, Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston University, November 2001 .
"Law and Narrative as Ways of Creating and Remembering Vast Meaning," Law as Literature Conference, University of Frankfurt, Germany, October 2001.
"Adarand Constructors v Mineta," Annual Supreme Court Preview, William & Mary Law School, September 2001.
"The Client's Perspective on the Initial Interview: A Social Science Appraoch," Hart Legal Workshop, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, June 2001 (also chaired session entitled, "The Attorney-Client Relationship: An Increasingly Important Topic for Legal Education, Research and Law Reform").
"Why the U.S. Supreme Court Should Cite the Supreme Court of India in Its Next Affirmative Action Case," Law and Society in Contemporary India Conference, Harvard University, May 2001.
"Why a Future Lawyer Should Study Literature," Dartmouth College, February 2001 (campus-wide lecture co-sponsored by the English Department and the Daniel Webster Legal Society).
Supervision Skills Workshop, Vermont Law School, February 2001 (co-sponsored by the Clinical Legal Education Association, provided training to clinical law teachers from around the United States on lawyer-client communication).
"Assessing Quality Legal Services: The Client's Perspective," Clinical Legal Education Association, New York City, July 2000 (organized and chaired workshop held in conjunction with annual meeting of the American Bar Association).
" 'What is Their Story?' Using Steven Spielberg's Amistad to Improve Lawyer-Client Communication," 2000 Conference on Law, Culture & the Humanities, Georgetown University Law Center, March 2000.
"Linguists in the Supreme Court and the Jail Cell," The Dartmouth Lawyers Association Speakers Series: Law and the Liberal Arts, Dartmouth College, January 1999.
"Race, Class, Caste... Rethinking Affirmative Action," Department of Government, Dartmouth College, January 1999.
"Evaluating Effective Lawyer-Client Communication: an International Project Moving From Research to Reform," Worldwide Advocacy Conference, Inns of Court School of Law, London, England (July 1998) (plenary address); also presented at The Conference on The Delivery of Legal Services to Low-Income Persons: Professional and Ethical Issues sponsored by the American Bar Association, Open Society Institute, and The Legal Services Corporation (Fordham Law School, New York City December 1998), the Annual Meeting of the International Client Counseling Competition Board (March 1999), the Midwest Clinical Teachers Association (October 1999), Inaugural Conference of the Global Alliance for Justice Education (December 1999), New York University Law School (September 2000).
International Seminar of Legal Clinics, Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 1997. Inaugural meeting of faculty and students from seven South American law schools (Argentina, Chile and Peru), funded by the Ford Foundation, to discuss promotion of public interest law through law school clinics. I was one of several North American commentators.
"Rethinking Equality in the Global Society," Washington University, St. Louis, November 1997. (Co-organized this 3-day conference with Marc Galanter and N.R. Madhava Menon and delivered the opening and closing plenary addresses. The conference included over 30 leading legal scholars and social scientists from the United States, South Africa, and India. See the conference web site: http://law.wustl.edu/Conferences/Equality/
"A Modest Proposal: Cross-National Empirical Research on Lawyer-Client Communications." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association (June 1997); the Fourth International Conference on Clinical Legal Education and Scholarship sponsored by UCLA and the University of London (October 1997); University of South Pacific Department of Law (March 1998); Bond University School of Law, Griffith University School of Law, Queensland University of Technology Law Faculty; Centre for Legal Education, Australia (March 1998).
"50 Years of Indian Independence," Bangalore, India, May 1997. (Five day workshop on constitutional law, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Indian Constitution. I was part of a workshop faculty that included two former Indian Supreme Court Justices, the Solicitor General of India, a former Attorney General of India, a former President of the Bar Council of India, and the Dean of the National Law School of India.)
"Empirical Studies of Attorney-Client Communications," Faculty Seminar, University of Sydney Law School, Australia, September 5, 1996.
"Innovations in Clinical Education: The International Law Reform Competition," Clinical Education Conference, Association of American Law Schools, Miami, May 20, 1996.
"Using Linguistics to Interpret Laws: the Problem of Disciplinary Boundaries," presentation to the Law and Social Science Group, Northwestern University, May 9, 1996.
"Arguing and Deciding Hard Cases with the Help of Linguistics: Some Recent Supreme Court Cases," presentation to the American Bar Foundation, May 8, 1996.
"An Auspicious Time: Public Interest Litigation and Legal Education," presentation to the International Institute of Public Interest Law in New Delhi, India, December 7, 1995.
"Northwestern University-Washington University Law and Linguistics Conference," co-chaired three day conference in Evanston, Illinois, bringing together 13 leading American linguists and law professors on the topic, "What is Meaning in a Legal Text?" (March 31-April 2, 1995), and organized subsequent symposium issue on law and linguistics: 73 Washington University Law Quarterly, 769-1313 (1995).
"Taking It to the Streets: Putting Discourse Analysis to the Service of a Public Defender's Office," presented to the New York Clinical Theory Workshop, March 17, 1995.
"Empirical Studies of the Legal Profession," Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting (1994) (Joint Session of Section on Professional Responsibility and Section on Clinical Legal Education) (co-chaired session with Marc Galanter)
"Linguistic Analysis of Supreme Court Cases" and "Social Science and the Law School Clinic," Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association (1994) (co-chaired both roundtable sessions)
"Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court of India: The Problem of Remedy," National Law School of India (1994) (also scheduled for presentation to the International Institute of Public Interest Law on 1/27/94 immediately after the inaugural address by the Chief Justice of India)
"Plain Meaning and Hard Cases," Institute for Legal Studies, University of Wisconsin (1993)
"A Plea for Empiricism in the Study of American Law," Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association (1993)
"The Client's Voice: Using Narrative in Traditional and Clinical Teaching," Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting (1993) (Joint Session of Committee on Curriculum and Research and Section on Clinical Legal Education).
"Social Science and the Law School Clinic," Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association (1992) (organized and chaired roundtable program).
"The Lawyer-Client Relationship: Individual Dynamics," Hastings Law School Conference on the Theoretics of Practice (1992) (discussant).
"Crossing the Waters: Transcending International and Interdisciplinary Barriers in the Study of Law and Religion," University of Iowa Conference on Religion and Law in Independent India (1991).
"A New Way of Practicing Law: The Lawyer as Translator." Various versions presented to: the Second International UCLA-Warwick Clinical Conference (1989); the Law & Society Program, Macalaster College (1990); the Institute for Legal Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1990); the Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association (1990); Annual Cornell Law Review Symposium (1992).
"The Ethnography of Legal Discourse," Annual Mid-West Clinic Conference (1990).
"Whether to See the Wizard: The Choice Between Federal and State Forum," Federal Litigation Conference: Legal Services Committee on Regional Training (1990) (opening address).
"Developing Scholarship out of Clinical Education,"Mid-West Clinic Conference (1989).
"Teaching and Practicing Law as if Words Matter: Epistemology, Semantics, Metaphor and Legal Reasoning," Symposium on Legal Narrative (University of Michigan Law School 1989).
"In Search of Common Sense, A Linguistic Approach to Fourth Amendment Law," Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting (1988).
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS:
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN LAW SCHOOLS SCHOLARLY PAPER. Winner of 1988 Competition.
FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR: INDIA. Selected for a Senior Scholar Award to be a visiting professor at the National Law School of India for the 1993-94 academic year. Award declined.
McKesson Information Solutions LLC v. Duane Morris LLP (Fulton County Superior Court, Georgia) (Order of Disqualification November 8, 2006) (as independent expert, testified that purported waiver of future conflicts in engagement letter was inconsistent with Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct)
Snapping Shoals Elec. Membership Corp. v. RLI Ins. Corp., 2006 WestLaw 1877078 (N.D.Ga. 2006)(order disqualifying major national law firm for conflict of interest) (served as expert witness in support of motion to disqualify)
ETS Creditors’ Litigation Trust v. Charles Edwards et al (N.D. Ga.) (expert witness for plaintiff, appointed by bankruptcy court to represent victims of one of the largest investor scams of the decade, the ETS Payphone scheme; retained to evaluate the ethical conduct of law firm that represented the ETS corporation and its sole stockholder).
East Main Baptist Church v. Union Planters Bank,142 S.W.3d 729 (Mo. 2004) (expert witness for defendants in opposition to motion to certify class on grounds that class counsel created non-consentable conflict of interest by accepting payment of fees from potential defendant) (Missouri Supreme Court ruled for defendants, denying class certification, consistent with my expert opinion).
State of Georgia v. Michael Abernathy, 630 S.E.2d 421 (Ga. App. 2006) (expert witness on conflict of interest in support of motion for new trial) (denial of new trial motion affirmed on appeal).
Adarand Constructors v Mineta, 122 S. Ct. 511 (2001) (filed amicus brief in Supreme Court on behalf of Social Science and Comparative Law Scholars).
Monsanto Company v. Eugene Stratemeyer, S.D. Ill., Case No. 99-4197-GPM (expert witness in support of motion to disqualify; motion granted)
United States v. X-Citement Video, 115 S.Ct. 464 (1994) (filed amicus brief on behalf of the Law & Linguistics Consortium providing the Court with a linguistic analysis of the disputed provision of the federal child pornography act)
Lindsay v. Jones, Parton v. White (E.D. Mo. 1993) (effected major reform of prison health care in Missouri through two consolidated class actions).
Wade v. City of Festus Housing Authority (E.D. Mo. 1992) (successful class action challenge to lack of due process in public housing eviction procedures).
Rahman v. Matador Villa Associates, 821 S.W.2d 102 (Mo. 1991) (on behalf of four amicus law professors, successfully urged the Missouri Supreme Court to review and reverse a decision barring tenants from pursuing personal injury claims if not raised as counterclaims in summary eviction proceedings.)
Will v. Mich. Dept. of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989). Co-counsel on certiorari petition and brief for petitioner Will. Issue: whether a state or a state official can be sued in state court for federal constitutional violations under 42 U.S.C. §l983.
Falls v. Sporting News Co., 834 F.2d 6ll (6th Cir. l987). Counsel for appellant. Case of first impression regarding scope of the employment discrimination provisions of the Michigan Civil Rights Act.
In re Contempt of Dougherty, 429 Mich. 8l, 4l3 N.W.2d 392 (l987). Counsel for Michigan bishops of the Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches appearing as amici curiae. Issue raised by amici was the First Amendment right to refuse to promise future compliance with an injunction to refrain from anti-nuclear civil disobedience when such a promise would violate deeply held religious beliefs.
Tyrna v. Adamo Inc., l59 Mich. App. 592, 407 N.W.2d 47 (l987). Counsel for appellant. Case of first impression regarding right to sue under the Michigan Whistleblowers' Protection Act for retaliation arising out of the reporting of occupational health violations.
Detroit Base Coalition for Human Rights of the Handicapped v. Mich. Dept. of Social Services, 431 Mich 172, 428 N.W.2d (1988). Landmark decision interpreting the Michigan Administrative Procedures Act, applying it to policies used by the Michigan Department of Social Services in welfare cases and specifically invalidating policy of denying in-person hearings because not promulgated as a rule under the APA. I served as co-counsel at the trial level.
Kelley v. Salem Mortgage Co., 34 Bankr. Rep. 902 (E.D. Mich. l983), 4l Bankr. Rep. 420 (E.D. Mich. l984), 783 F.2d 626 (6th Cir. l986). Lead counsel for a consortium of legal services attorneys opposing a proposed federal class action settlement affecting over 2500 low-income homeowners victimized by illegal mortgage lending practices. After extended litigation over both the merits and issues of bankruptcy jurisdiction, on a second appeal to the Sixth Circuit in l988 a new settlement was negotiated, substantially increasing benefits to the homeowner class members.
Ayres v. Dempsey (E.D. Mich). Co-counsel in statewide federal class action challenging Michigan policy of denying welfare benefits to children receiving mental health care.
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization v. Dempsey (E.D. Mich). As lead counsel representing a coalition of welfare rights organizations, negotiated federal consent judgment resulting in major reforms to Michigan welfare application procedures.
OTHER EXPERIENCE:
Academic Consultant to the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet in the development of a new specialty accreditation program for lawyers in Scotland. The Society, one of the oldest professional bodies in the world, is an independent membership organization for lawyers based in Edinburgh (2005 - present).
Director, National Institute for Teaching Ethics & Professionalism (NIFTEP) (June 2005 - present). NIFTEP is a consortium of five nationally-recognized centers on ethics and professionalism: The Louis Stein Center for Law & Ethics at Fordham University; The Mercer University School of Law Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism; The Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism at the University of South Carolina; The Stanford Center on Ethics; and The W. Lee Burge Endowment for Law & Ethics at Georgia State University. NIFTEP is also sponsored by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism and the Georgia Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism. See the NIFTEP web site: http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/Professionalism/NIFTEP/
Chair, Selection Committee, National Award for Innovation & Excellence in Teaching Professionalism, American Bar Association/Conference of Chief Justices (2003 - present). See the Award web site: http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/Professionalism/Award-Home.htm
The Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism, Supreme Court of Georgia. Member (August 2002 - present).
The Effective Lawyer-Client Communication (ELCC) Project. Director. Pilot project to develop a model methodology for evaluating initial client interviews. See the ELCC web site: http://law.gsu.edu/Communication/
Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE). Steering Committee, 1997-99; 2007 - present. Convenor, 2007 - present. Chair, Communication Committee (2006 - 2007); Chair, Constitution Committee, 1999- 2001. Organized and co-chaired the 1996 Working Group Meeting in Sydney, Australia which developed this international organization to promote socially relevant legal education. See web site: www.gaje.org
Fulton County Criminal Justice Blue Ribbon Commission. Member (January 2005 - October 2006).
Co-Reporter,
The Chief Justice's Commission on Indigent Defense, Supreme Court of Georgia (Final
Report Issued September 1, 2004).
1999
International Client Counseling Competition, Chicago, Illinois. Served as a judge
for international law student competition sponsored by the International Bar Association.
1999 Special City Counselor, Law Department, City of St. Louis. Appointed to represent the City of St. Louis on major cases involving the city's innovative ordinances to stabilize neighborhoods by proceeding against property used for drug sales and other crimes under a public nuisance theory.
1998 - 2001 Urban Families and Community Development Program, Washington University Supervisory Council for inter-disciplinary graduate program bringing together faculty from social work, public health, public policy, education, law and architecture to provide innovative approaches to empowering low-income urban communities.
1996-98 Enforcing Human Rights Through Law School Clinics, Project Director. Ford Foundation project to develop law school clinics in India designed to enforce human rights, with emphasis on women's rights and criminal justice.
1996 Parsons Visiting Scholar, University of Sydney School of Law, Australia.
1995 South Asia Course on Clinical Legal Education, National Law School of India. (Was one of eight members of an international faculty of a 3 week course for law professors from India, Nepal and Bangladesh to expand use of clinical teaching methods in South Asia legal education).
1994 Consultant on Clinical Education, National Law School of India.
Washington University Program on Social Thought and Analysis, Law School Representative to Executive Committee (1990- 2002). Chair, Study Sites Committee (1994-98). Senior Search Committee for first STA Professor (1993-94).
Washington University School of Law. Chair, Committee on Foreign Study (1999 - 2002); Chair, International Programs Committee (1998-99); Chair, Faculty-Student Relations Committee (1996-97); Chair, Computer Committee (1995-96); member, Personnel Committee (1992-94), Curriculum Committee (1990-92, 2000-01); Marketing Committee (1998-99). Institute for Global Legal Studies (1999 - 2002). Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (1999 - 2002).
Association of American Law Schools. Member of 1989 Scholarly Paper Competition Selection Committee. Member of Committee on the In-House Clinic. Member of Committee on Clinical Scholarship. Member of Planning Committee for 1996 Clinical Conference emphasizing international and interdisciplinary perspectives.
l987-89 Michigan Attorney Discipline Board. Hearing Panel Member.
l987-89 Michigan Housing Trust Fund. Secretary, Board of Trustees. I was a founding member of MHTF, an innovative charitable foundation which finances housing construction and rehabilitation for persons at or below poverty level.
l982-89 Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corporation. Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer (l982-87), Secretary (l987-88), Board of Directors. CCNDC is a community-based, non-profit corporation which rehabilitates apartment buildings for low income tenants using a combination of federal and private funds.
l980-l985 Detroit Community Services Commission. Elected representative to this federally mandated Community Action Board for the Detroit Neighborhood Services Department.
l979-l987 Concerned Citizens of Cass Corridor. Board of Trustees. 4Cs is a non-profit community organization which advocates for low-income residents of an inner city neighborhood and works with the City of Detroit in the expenditure of federal community development funds.
l975-77, 1978-80 United Community Housing Coalition. Detroit, Michigan. UCHC is a non-profit, community based corporation devoted to improving inner city housing conditions. I was originally assigned to UCHC as a federal VISTA volunteer in 1975, at which time UCHC had no paid staff. I wrote successful grant proposal, recruited board of directors, and incorporated UCHC. In 1977 I served as the first executive director, hiring and directing full-time staff of seven. I left to attend law school and then returned in 1978 as special projects director, a position I retained while completing law school.