Douglas L Smith
Degrees
University of Texas, Austin, J.D.University of Massachusetts, Amherst, B.A.
Expertise
Legal Pedagogy, Lawyers' Socialization, Experiential Learning, Law and Social Movements, Law and Economics, Conflict Resolution, Lawyering, Movement Lawyering, Law and Organizing, Immigration, Human Rights, Comparative Legal Systems, Indigenous and Cthonic Legal Systems, Native American Tribal Law, Federal Indian Law, Emergent Legal Ordering, Storying, Policy Analysis.Profile
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Doug began teaching at Brandeis in 2004 as a Guberman Teaching Fellow for the Introduction to Legal Studies course. He has taught Brandeis Legal Studies courses on Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Indigenous Legal Systems and Immigration and Human Rights. Doug is also the Legal and Educational Programs Director at the Right to Immigration Institute, an independent non-profit immigrant community advocacy program in Waltham which trains and supervises students from any college and community leaders to become Department of Justice Accredited Immigration Representatives who represent aspiring Americans in immigration proceedings, trials and appeals. Doug began his teaching career at the University of Miami Law School, where he taught appellate advocacy as well as Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Law and Psychology. He was clinic director at Suffolk Law School from 1991-2000 and a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at the University of Denver from 2000-2003 and the University of Minnesota Law School from 2004-2005. Doug was Director of Experiential Learning and Clinical Legal Education at University of North Dakota Law School from 2005-2007, and taught online and hybrid Tribal Legal Studies courses through the Project Peacemaker Program from 2006-2015. He regularly teaches--or has taught--as well at Tufts, UMass-Amherst, Stonehill College, Lesley University, and Harvard, including courses on labor movements, women and law, refugee rights clinics, trial skills, advocacy skills and values, and business law His research interests have centered on legal pedagogy, Native American Tribal Law, the social construction of legal systems, consumer law movements, cooperatives, and law and social movements. His latest article, written with Christine Cimini of the University of Washington School of Law, assesses the relative efficacy and autonomy effects of litigation and social movements, and it will be published in Fall 2020. Doug is also a Union Steward for SEIU local 509 here at Brandeis.
Courses Taught
| LGLS | 122b | Native American Tribal Legal Studies |
| LGLS | 123b | Immigration and Human Rights |
Awards and Honors
2019-2020 CULJP award for "Innovation and Excellence in Interdisciplinary Legal Studies Teaching" from the International Consortium on Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs (2019 - 2020)
2004 Gary Bellow Scholar Designation for Outstanding Research and Teaching in Clinical Legal Education. El Centro Humanitario Para Los Trabajadores: Worker’s Center’s Narrative Project. (2003)
Clinical Legal Education Association Outstanding Program or Project, Denver University Predatory Lending Project. (2002 - 2003)
2000 Millennial Outstanding Human Rights Writing Award. Rochester Human Rights Conferences. (2000)
Scholarship
Smith, Douglas L, Cimini Christine. "Movement Lawyering’s Efficacy for Social Change: An Immigration Enforcement Case Study." Georgetown Journal of Immigration Law 35. 1 (2021). (forthcoming)
Smith, Douglas L. "Order (for Free) In the Courtroom: Re-conceiving Law as a Dynamic Complex Adaptive System." Emergence: Complexity in Organizations 7. 1 (2005): 105.
Smith, Douglas L. "Millennium Outstanding Paper Award: Human Rights Discourse Regarding Asylum Claims Based on Gender in the case of R-A.." Rochester Human Right Conferences, Rochester New York. 2000.
Smith, Douglas L., Colton, Roger. "Applying the Mitigation Principle to Utilities: The 'Duty' of a Public Utility to Mitigate Damages from Nonpayment by Offering Conservation Programs and Payment Plans." Boston University Journal of Law and Public Policy 4. 1 (1993): 239.
Smith, Douglas L, Colton, Roger. "Co-op Membership and Utility Shutoffs: Service Protections That Arise as an Incident of REC Membership." Idaho Law Review 29. 1 (1992): 1.
Smith, Douglas L. Colton, Roger. "Protection for the Low- Income Customer of Un-Regulated Utilities: Using Federal Fuel Assistance as More Than Cash Grants." Hamline Journal of Law and Public Policy 13. 1 (1992): 263.