Washington: 50 Under 50

Tanya Washington, associate professor of law, has been named to Lawyers of Color's "50 Under 50" list, a comprehensive catalog of minority law professors under the age of 50, who are making an impact in legal education.

"I have worked with thousands of students of color over the past 15 years in various programs designed to ensure that law schools and the legal profession benefit from the diverse experiences, talent and skill that these students have to contribute," says Washington, who was humbled by the honor. "I am motivated to do so because others made similar investments in me, and I am committed to paying it forward."

Washington's scholarship explores the U.S. Supreme Court's jurisprudence on issues of equality in education, as well as children's rights in the context of family law. She also has co-written several pieces exploring the effectiveness of pedagogical interventions she has designed that provide students with the skills set to excel in law school and beyond.

Washington teaches courses on Family Law, Civil Procedure and Race Law. "I am grateful to be teaching at an institution like Georgia State values faculty research focused on enhancing the educational experience and improving educational outcomes for all students by increasing diversity," she says.

Before joining the faculty at Georgia State University College of Law 10 years ago, Washington served as both the Albert M. Sacks and A. Leon Higginbotham Research fellows before completing her LL.M. at Harvard Law School. She also was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.

"I was inspired to become a law professor because of teachers' ability to empower students to appreciate and realize their potential," Washington says. "Teachers bring the very best out of their students in ways that inspire them to believe in themselves. That is the kind of educator I aspire to be, and this award signals that my efforts have not been in vain."

Also an educator, her grandmother always reminded Washington that, "you are not where you are by or for yourself." She notes, "As a legal academician of color, I feel a personal responsibility to not only hold the doors of opportunity open for others but to also help walk them through those doors."

Source: Gsu

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David Dante Troutt | Rutgers School of Law-Newark

David Dante Troutt

Professor of Law and Justice John J. Francis Scholar

David Dante Troutt is professor of law (Justice John J. Francis Scholar ) and the founding director of the Rutgers Center on Law in Metropolitan Equity (CLiME). He teaches and writes in four areas of primary interest: the metropolitan dimensions of race, class and legal structure; intellectual property; Torts; and critical legal theory. His major publications (noted below) include books of fiction and non-fiction, scholarly articles and a variety of legal and political commentary on race, law and equality. A member of the faculty since 1995 after practicing corporate and public interest law in New York and California, Troutt founded CLiME in 2013 in order to provide a research resource for students and the public interested in the growing challenges of municipalities and families trying to sustain middle-class outcomes amid growing fiscal constraints and rapid demographic change.

Several themes characterize Troutt's work. A key feature of his writing and teaching about the intersections of race, class and place concerns identifying blind spots in conventional analyses of spatially determined opportunity through structuralist and interdisciplinary analysis. This work involves inquiries about meanings of colorblindness, the role of inequity in persistent marginalization, and the utility of civil rights theories in addressing concentrated poverty. Troutt is conducting ongoing research on developing the principle of mutuality in public law. Key themes in Troutt's writing about intellectual property include personhood and authorship in copyright and trademark. Key aspects of his work in critical theory include the uses of narrative methodology, cultural constructions of marginalization and the dynamic life of stereotypes.

Professor Troutt is a frequent public speaker and contributor to a variety of national periodicals, including Politico, Huffington Post, Reuters and The Crisis. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his juris doctor from Harvard Law School. An avid drummer, carpenter, photographer and ichtheologist, he lives with his wife and family in Montclair, NJ.

Major Writings

The Price of Paradise: The Costs of Inequality and a Vision for a More Equitable America (NYU Press, Fall 2013) (a national exploration of the legal and political assumptions that guide residential organization in metropolitan America, the fiscal stresses that result from localism and segregation and a mutuality-based argument for regional equity policies).

After the Storm: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina (The New Press, August 2006), a collection of one dozen essays primarily by black legal scholars on a wide array of issues arising from the disaster, relief effort and reconstruction. Troutt's essay, "Many Thousands Gone, Again," is an analysis of legal and historical facts on the ground in New Orleans which demonstrate how the convergence of race, class and spatial disadvantages created a systematic vulnerability for many hurricane survivors reflective of persistent poverty in many U.S. cities.

Source: Rutgers

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