Lula Hagos

Lula Hagos is an Associate Professor of Clinical Law and the Director of the Criminal Defense and Justice Clinic, which she launched in Fall 2021. The clinic’s focus is to provide high-quality representation to indigent clients charged with misdemeanor offenses in D.C. Superior Court. Professor Hagos’s scholarly interests explore issues that lie at the intersection of criminal law and procedure, race, and access to justice. Her research is inspired by her more than decade-long career in criminal defense – as a public defender at the state and federal levels and as a clinician.

Prior to her faculty appointment at GW Law, Professor Hagos worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, where she represented indigent clients in a wide range of cases, including complex fraud and terrorism-related offenses. Prior to that, Professor Hagos worked as an attorney in the Trial Division at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) for seven years. While there, she advocated for adults and juveniles facing the most serious offenses, while also helping them navigate various collateral issues including mental health services and conducted trainings for new lawyers. During her time in practice, Professor Hagos served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, co-teaching a course on criminal trial advocacy.

Professor Hagos was also an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center. In that role, she taught and supervised third-year law students in their representation of youth involved in the delinquency system, while also maintaining her own caseload and representing clients at trial. Professor Hagos holds a BA with distinction from the University of Virginia and JD and LLM degrees from Georgetown University Law Center.