Kemit Mawakana
Associate Professor of Law

Professor Mawakana teaches Contract Law to first-year law students and teaches second and third year law students in the Community Development Law Clinic.  He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Georgetown University, and a J.D. and an LL.M. at the Georgetown University Law Center.  Upon graduation from law school, Professor Mawakana clerked at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for the Honorable Deborah Robinson and then joined the firm, Anderson Kill Olick & Oshinsky, LLP where his primary practice area was corporate insurance coverage.  In 1996, he continued the practice of law at Dickstein Shapiro LLP where he represented various Fortune 500 companies in complex civil litigation and professional athletes and entertainers in numerous endeavors including negotiating and drafting agreements, formation of corporations and intellectual property matters.

As a teaching fellow at the Harrison Institute Legal Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center, Professor Mawakana taught seminars and classes and supervised student teams in legal representation of clients for transactional matters related to the acquisition of multi-million dollar, multi-family housing projects.  He continues that work today in the CDLC advocating for affordable housing, as well as working with non-profit entities and small business entrepreneurs.

Currently he serves as Faculty Advisor to the Black Law Students Association and the newly established Sports and Entertainment Student Law Association.  He has presented his academic work and other speeches at numerous events including, but not limited to:  Presenter, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference (2009); Panelist, Transactional Law Conference, George Washington University Law School (2009); Presenter, National Cooperative Bank 2008 DC Co-op Clinic (2008); Presenter, American Association of Law Schools, Clinical Legal Education Conference (2008);  Panelist, Washington Bar Association, "Learned Law - The Black Attorney in the Academic Arena” (2008); Panelist, District of Columbia Bar, Affordable Housing Section (2007); Panelist, Howard University School of Law, Community Development Forum (2007).

Professor Mawakana founded Amistad, Inc., a publishing company for community-based authors of poetry, novels and other works.  He also conducts seminars and workshops for the AYA Educational Institute throughout the United States for African-American men and women, focusing on multicultural issues including racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. After college, he played professional basketball with the Washington Wizards.  He is married and the proud father of a son, Kai.