The Housing and Community Development Law Pathway is designed as a guided curriculum that will prepare you for a broad array of transactional legal work, including contracts, business formation, real estate and economic development, nonprofit law, environmental justice, zoning and land use planning, and intellectual property. It will also prepare you for advocacy and litigation for the preservation of affordable housing for low-income communities. Housing and community development lawyers work in many arenas, from government planning and economic development agencies to small community-based law firms and legal services organizations. Students who elect this pathway will hone their skills in legal research and writing, drafting, client counseling, and negotiation with multiple constituencies. In addition, students specializing in housing law will refine their trial advocacy skills.

When law classrooms are filled with people from different cultural, economic, spiritual, geographical, sexual, and racial backgrounds, the result is a legal mind that has been challenged and is ready to take on the complexities of the legal field. more...

Brandon Wallace, ‘16
Committee on Business and Economic Development,
Council of the District of Columbia

At UDC, you are responsible for your cases and real lives are hanging in the balance. Slowly but surely, you build the skills necessary to serve your clients in the best way possible, under the guidance of brilliant and experienced clinical professors. more...

Madeline McKeller, ‘14
Staff Attorney,
Homeless Persons Representation Project

 

Faculty Advisors

Professors Norrinda Hayat, Louise Howells, Saleema Snow, and Etienne Toussaint

Curriculum

Community Service/Summer Fellowships/Externships

UDC Law has extensive connections with non-profit organizations and governmental agencies in the DC metropolitan region that provide students with the opportunity to spend a semester actually working in their chosen fields. The following are some examples of relevant placements students have obtained with outside organizations and agencies: