GW Law is thrilled to announce several changes in its Clinical Program Leadership. Beginning on July 1, 2025, Professor Jessica Steinberg and Dean Carmia Caesar will assume leadership of the Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics. Professor Jessica Steinberg will serve as Faculty Director of the Clinics, where she will mentor our next generation of clinical faculty, supporting their scholarship and their pedagogy.
As the founding director of GW Law's Prisoner and Reentry Clinic, Professor Steinberg brings insight into innovative clinic design and pedagogy. She is a leading scholar on access to justice and the empirical study of lawyerless courts, and was recently recognized with the 2025 AALS Deborah L. Rhode Award for her work as a trailblazer in legal education and the profession. Since 2023, Professor Steinberg has been teaching in the doctrinal curriculum. We are ecstatic to have her back in the Clinical world as well.
Dean Carmia Caesar will serve as GW Law's Clinic Director. Dean Caesar will also continue to serve as Associate Dean of Experiential Programs and Equity. Dean Caesar has been actively engaged with the academic legal community, chairing the Clinicians of Color sub-committee of the Clinical section of the AALS and spearheading the creation and chairing of the Section for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Professionals. She has practiced domestic violence, family, housing, and education law for children involved in the juvenile criminal system, including children serving sentences in adult facilities. Dean Caesar will bring her decades of experience in experiential learning to the Clinics, where she will serve on the faculty of the Access to Justice Clinic and oversee the Clinics' operations, compliance, communications, and development. Dean Caesar and Professor Steinberg will collaborate on strategy and innovation. GW’s excellent Managing Attorney, Andrea Johnson, will continue to support this team and bring her considerable insight to the Clinic’s law practice management.
This leadership change follows the departure of Dean Laurie Kohn from Clinic leadership. After serving as the Jacob Burns Foundation Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs since 2019, Dean Laurie Kohn is moving to the Law School Dean's Office as the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs for Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew. Dean Kohn will be the first clinician to serve in this role at GW Law. During Dean Kohn's Clinic leadership, she and her administrative team and faculty doubled the GW Clinics in size, now enrolling around 260 students annually and offering in-house clinical opportunities in more than 25 practice areas.