Roger A. Fairfax, Jr., the Patricia Roberts Harris Research Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Criminal Law and Policy Initiative, has been named a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). Professor Fairfax is one of four new members for 2021.
Established in 1971, NITA is a 501(c)(3) advocacy teaching organization made up of a volunteer network of lawyers, judges, and advocates around the world with a mission of “improving the system of justice through education of law students, lawyers, judges, and the public.” It offers a wide range of training opportunities and resources, including courses, publications, and podcasts, for attorneys to hone and refine their lawyering skills outside the courtroom.
“I am honored to join such a distinguished board of federal and state judges, criminal defense lawyers, prosecutors, civil trial attorneys, and professors,” said Professor Fairfax. “I look forward to helping NITA advance its 50-year-long mission of promoting legal advocacy skills and the pursuit of justice.”
At GW Law, 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 editor of Grand Jury 2.0: Modern Perspectives on the Grand Jury and the author of Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure: Cases, Statutes, and Materials. He contributed a chapter “Grand Jury and Police Violence Against Black Men” to the recent book Policing the Black Man, and his scholarship has been published in a number of leading law journals.
Before joining the law school faculty, Professor Fairfax served as a federal prosecutor in the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Following his government service, he was a Counsel in the Washington, DC, office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. He has testified before Congress; spoken at the White House; and advised local, state, and national government officials and candidates on criminal justice policy.