Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. was appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts to the Judicial Conference of the United States Advisory Committee for the Rules of Criminal Procedure. He will hold this appointment for a three-year term.
The Judicial Conference is the national policy-making body for the federal courts. The conference operates through a network of committees created to address a wide variety of subject areas from information technology to probation and pretrial services.
Within the Judicial Conference, the Advisory Committee for the Rules of Criminal Procedure is responsible for the promulgation, revision, and study of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which govern all criminal cases in federal courts in the United States.
"My work on the committee will allow me to bring new insight into the classroom as I engage with my students, who will emerge from the skills-based coursework in Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure even better prepared for practice," Professor Fairfax said.
Currently, Professor Fairfax is working on a subcommittee that focuses on Rule 16, which regulates the discovery process in federal criminal cases.
His scholarship and research interests in federal rules and criminal process directly relates to his new appointment, and his new textbook, Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure: Cases, Statutes, and Materials, focuses on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and how they regulate the adjudicative process.
Professor Fairfax teaches courses in criminal law, constitutional and adjudicatory criminal procedure, criminal litigation, prosecutorial and criminal defense ethics, and seminars on the grand jury, white-collar criminal investigations, criminal defense, and criminal justice policy. He conducts research on discretion in the criminal process, the grand jury, prosecutorial ethics, and criminal justice policy and reform.
Professor Fairfax is the Founding Director of the Criminal Law & Policy Initiative, which is designed to illuminate career pathways in criminal law and policy for GW Law students and alumni and to promote academic inquiry, professional engagement, and scholarly research on cutting-edge criminal law issues.