CLARK
D. CUNNINGHAM
Social Justice
www.ClarkCunningham.org
EMPLOYMENT:
GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW. Atlanta, Georgia. Professor of Law and W. Lee Burge Chair in Law & Ethics. (6/02 - present). Courses: The Client Relationship, Fundamentals of Law Practice, Transition to Practice, Judicial Power; Professional Responsibility: Heroes & Villains; Criminal Justice Clinic; Criminal Justice Fieldwork & Law Reform;
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: Urban Community Dynamics; Law in the Urban Community; Urban Law Clinic I and II; Criminal Justice Clinic I and II; Law in Context.
1987-89 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Clinical Assistant Professor of Law.
1986-1987 STARK AND GORDON. Detroit, Michigan. Associate in law firm specializing in employment discrimination and 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.
PUBLICATIONS:
“Supreme Court of Georgia Dramatically Expands Student Practice: Supporting Experiential Education and Broadening Access to Justice,” Georgia Bar Journal 50 (February 2016).
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).
"The World's Most Powerful Court: Finding the Roots of India's Public Interest Litigation Revolution in the Hussainara Khatoon Prisoners Case," in 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).
"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).
"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).
"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).
"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 AND PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS:
“Implementation of the New Student Practice Rule,” presented January 16, 2016, Georgia Supreme Court - Georgia Board of Bar Examiners Meeting, St. Simons Island, Georgia.
“Courage, Compassion and Commitment: Two Ethical Decisions that Changed History,” The 2015 Judge Harry J. Wilters, Jr. Lecture on Constitutional Law and Professional Ethics, University of South Alabama, September 2015.
"Public Interest Litigation in India," presented at 8th Worldwide Conference of the Global Alliance for Justice Education, Turkey, July 2015.
“Proposed New Student Practice Rule,” presented January 17, 2015, Georgia Supreme Court - Georgia Board of Bar Examiners Meeting, St. Simons Island, Georgia.
“Lessons from Gandhi on Professional Responsibility,” presented January 13, 2015, Workshop on Consumer Protection and Public Interest Advocacy, National Law School of India University, Mangalore, India.
“Kapila Hingorani: India’s First Public Interest Lawyer,” presented January 11, 2015, First Kapila Hingorani Memorial Lecture, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, India.
“Courage: Operationalizing Research on Virtue Ethics and Moral Development for Professional Education,” presented January 7, 2015, Varieties of Virtue Ethics Conference, Oriel College, University of Oxford, UK.
“Vison 2016: Legal Education,” June 27, 2014, Annual Meeting of the Florida Bar, Orlando, Florida (invited discussant).
“Access to Justice, Legal Education & Incubators,” March 3, 2014, Bleckley Inn of Court, Atlanta, Georgia (co-presented with Hulett Askew).
Workshop on Moral Courage, Opening Speaker, Teach Legal Ethics UK, The City Law School, London, England, July 12, 2013.
"Anti-Money Laundering, Ethics and Professional Judgment: A Teaching Exercise," presented November 2, 2011, Annual Conference of the International Bar Association, Dubai (Joint Session of the Academic & Professional Development Committee and the Anti-Money Laundering Legislation Implementation Working Group).
"Anti-Money Laundering, Ethics and Professional Judgment: A Teaching Exercise," presented October 29, 2011, Teaching Ethics in the Law Curriculum, The City Law, City University London. Also served as co-organizer of the workshop.
"Deciding to Let the Windmill Win: the Baby Jessica Adoption Case," presented in Madrid, Spain, on October 7, 2009, at a Joint Session of the Academic and Professional Committee and the Judges Forum on Tilting at Windmills, Annual Meeting of the International Bar Association.
"The Justice Education Initiative," organized and chaired half-day workshop on December 7, 2008, Fifth Worldwide Conference of the Global Alliance for Justice Education held at the Ateneo de Manila University Law School, the Philippines.
"The Justice Education Initiative of the Global Alliance for Justice Education," presented June 19, 2008 at the Annual Conference of the Consortium for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), hosted by the University of Maryland School of Law.
"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.
"Using
the Internet to Promote Justice Education," organized and chaired session
on December 8, 2006 at the Fourth Worldwide Conference 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.
"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.
"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).
“40th Anniversary Panel, Is the Process Still the Punishment 25 Years Later?” Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association, Chicago, May 28, 2004.
"Taking the Punishment out of the Process," 4th Annual Public Law Conference, Duke Law School, December 13-14, 2002.
"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).
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.
"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.
"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.
"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)
"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).
AWARDS:
2013 JAMES SHEEHAN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, United Community Housing Coalition, Detroit, Michigan. (In recognition of “your founding efforts to establish the United Community Housing Coalition and the Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corporation, your work as a civil rights litigator, and as clinical director at the University of Michigan and Washington University, and your current work as the W. Lee Burge Professor of Law & Ethics at Georgia State University of Law.”)
Kareem Allen v. State (Supreme Court of Georgia) (argued July 5, 2010) (amicus brief).
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.
Pratt v Brown Machine Co., 855 F.2d 1225 (6th Cir. 1988) ($152,000 verdict for intentional infliction of emotional distress by employer; co-counsel at trial).
Falls v. Sporting News Co., 834 F.2d 6ll (6th Cir. 1987). 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 (1987). 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:
Member, Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Lawyers for Equal Justice, Inc. (Georgia State University representative to non-profit corporation supported by the State Bar of Georgia and all five Georgia law schools to provide post-graduate training and support to recent law school graduates committed to serving low and moderate income persons)(2015 – present).
Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE). Steering Committee, 1997-99; 2007 - 2009. Convenor, 2007 - 2009. 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
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.
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).
1987-89 Michigan Housing Trust Fund. Secretary, Board of Trustees. I was a founding member of MHTF, an innovative charitable foundation which financed housing construction and rehabilitation for persons at or below poverty level.
1982-89 Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corporation. Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer (1982-87), Secretary (1987-88), 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.
1980-1985 Detroit Community Services Commission. Elected representative to this federally mandated Community Action Board for the Detroit Neighborhood Services Department.
1979-1987 Concerned Citizens of Cass Corridor. Board of Trustees. 4Cs was a non-profit community organization which advocated for low-income residents of an inner city neighborhood and works with the City of Detroit in the expenditure of federal community development funds.
1975-77, 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.