New Faculty 2011–2012
Paul Schiff Berman, Dean; Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law
A.B., Princeton University; J.D., New York University
Paul Schiff Berman serves as the 18th dean of The George Washington University Law School, a school dedicated to teaching and scholarship that emphasizes law in action in the nation’s capital. He joined GW Law in 2011, bringing experience as both an academic administrator and as a renowned teacher and scholar. Dean Berman’s scholarly work focuses on the ways in which globalization affects the intersection of legal systems.
From 2008 to 2011, Dean Berman served as dean and Foundation Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he helped to transform the school and build an innovative and expansive model for 21st century public legal education. Among his many accomplishments Dean Berman exponentially increased programmatic offerings and pathways for students while significantly raising the national and international profile of the school. Previously, Dean Berman was the Jesse Root Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law. For the 2006–07 academic year, Dean Berman was a visiting professor and visiting research scholar at Princeton University in the Program in Law and Public Affairs. He also has served on the Organizing Committee of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities.
Laura A. Dickinson, Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law
A.B., Harvard University; J.D., Yale University
Laura A. Dickinson joined GW Law in 2011 as the Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law. Previously, Professor Dickinson was the Foundation Professor of Law and the faculty director of the Center for Law and Global Affairs at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University (ASU). Her work focuses on human rights, national security, foreign affairs privatization, and qualitative empirical approaches to international law. Prior to her position at ASU, Professor Dickinson was on the faculty of the University of Connecticut School of Law, where she taught from 2001 to 2008, and she was a Visiting Research Scholar and Visiting Professor in the Law and Public Affairs Program at Princeton University in 2006-2007. She served as a senior policy adviser to Harold Hongju Koh, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. Department of State, and is a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Harry A. Blackmun and Stephen G. Breyer, and to Judge Dorothy Nelson of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Professor Dickinson has served as a member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, and co-organizer of a Collaborative Research Network on Empirical Approaches to International Human Rights Law, convened under the auspices of the Law & Society Association.
Visiting Faculty 2011-2012
Nancy Craig, Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law; Friedman Fellow
As a student at The George Washington University Law School, Nancy Craig participated in the Domestic Violence Clinic, the International Human Rights Law Clinic, and was a member of the George Washington Law Review. She graduated in 2006 with highest honors and Order of the Coif. She also received the Richard C. Lewis Memorial Award for extraordinary dedication to The Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics.
Following graduation, Professor Clark clerked in the civil division at DC Superior Court for the Honorable Brook Hedge. She went on to practice employment law and international law at Crowell & Moring, LLP. During her tenure there, she also provided extensive pro bono assistance on asylum matters and served as a member of the diversity committee.
Wyatt A. Feeler, Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law; Friedman Fellow
B.A., Truman State University; J.D., Georgetown University
Wyatt Feeler joined the Law School in 2011 as a visiting professor of clinical law and a Friedman Fellow with the Federal, Criminal, and Appellate Clinic. Before joining GW Law, Professor Feeler was a Soros Justice Fellow at the Capital Punishment Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. In that role, he represented clients on appeal from death sentences in Alabama, Georgia, and Texas, and worked on a successful amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Holland v. Florida. Professor Feeler also developed training materials on death penalty voir dire for use by capital defense lawyers in five states. Prior to his time at the ACLU, Professor Feeler clerked for Judge Ellen Burns of the Federal District of Connecticut.
During law school, Professor Feeler represented clients as a student attorney in Georgetown's Criminal Justice Clinic. He also worked at the Georgia Capital Defender, the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition.
H. Tomás Gómez-Arostegui, Visiting Associate Professor of Law
B.A., J.D., University of Southern California; LL.M., University of Oslo
H. Tomás Gómez-Arostegui is an associate professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School, in Portland, OR where he has taught for the last five years. Before joining Lewis & Clark, he served as a Visiting Researcher and Lecturer at the Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Law. Professor Gómez-Arostegui clerked for Judge Edward Rafeedie of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California from 1997 to 1998, and for Judge John C. Porfilio of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 1998 to 1999. He then practiced law at O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Century City, CA, and Hogan & Hartson LLP in Denver, CO. As part of his practice, he litigated matters relating to toxic torts, copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, and publicity rights. Professor Gómez-Arostegui's research interests lie primarily in the history of intellectual property and in the remedies awarded in intellectual property cases.
Sarah Rajec, Frank H. Marks Visiting Associate Professor of Law
B.S., Brown University; J.D., University of Michigan
Sarah Rajec returned to the Law School as a visiting associate professor of law in 2011. Her primary research interests are in the areas of patent law, international trade law, and the intersection of the two fields. She has taught "TRIPS, Patents and Public Health" at GW Law's Munich IP Summer Program, and also teaches torts.
Professor Rajec held a visiting associate professor position during the 2008-2009 academic year. She returns to GW Law following a clerkship with the Honorable Alan D. Lourie of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She previously clerked for the Honorable Donald C. Pogue of the U.S. Court of International Trade and practiced patent law at Fish & Richardson, PC in Boston.
Caroline Rogus, Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law; Friedman Fellow
B.A., Wellesley College; J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School
Caroline Rogus joined the Law School in 2011 as a visiting professor of clinical law and a Friedman Fellow with the Family Justice Litigation Clinic. Prior to teaching at the Law School, Professor Rogus litigated complex commercial matters, as well as domestic violence and family law cases, while an associate at the law firm WilmerHale. More recently, she served as a domestic violence attorney and a guardian ad litem with the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project. She has also worked on policy issues affecting women and their families with the National Women's Law Center in DC, and the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia.
Professor Rogus clerked for the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick of the United States Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Hon. Carol A. Dalton of the District of Columbia's Superior Court.
Anne Smetak, Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law; Friedman Fellow
B.A., Kenyon College; J.D., The George Washington University Law School
Anne M. Smetak is a visiting professor of clinical law and Friedman Fellow with the Neighborhood Law and Policy Clinic. She supervises students on civil cases related to housing, benefits, and reentry issues. Previously, Professor Smetak worked extensively in the area of affordable housing preservation. She most recently directed the Affordable Housing initiative at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. In that position she engaged in litigation and policy advocacy at the local and federal level to preserve and expand affordable housing in the District of Columbia. She was the 2010 recipient of the Housing Justice Network Award, which recognizes new talent in the field of affordable housing.