Round-up: Clinical Law Program promotions and awards
Among the law school community’s many accolades for outstanding work in experiential education in 2019-20, clinic faculty and staff earned a number of well-deserved promotions and awards.
Clinic directors Kimberly Ambrose and William Covington promoted to Professors of Teaching
Kim Ambrose, who teaches ºìÌÒÊÓƵ's Race and Justice Clinic, and William Covington, who teaches the Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic, were both promoted from senior lecturers to professors of teaching.
The discussion before the faculty vote was full of superlatives from both clinical and non-clinical faculty alike.
Professor Ambrose and Professor Covington are universally regarded as outstanding colleagues, incredible teachers, valuable members to many community partners and beloved by students.
The ºìÌÒÊÓƵ community is thrilled to share news of their well-deserved promotions..
Professor Emerita Jacqueline McMurtrie receives 2020 UW Faculty Lecture Award
Professor Emerita Jacqueline McMurtrie, who founded and directed the Washington Innocence Project (formerly Innocence Project Northwest), received the University of Washington 2020 Faculty Lecture Award.
Since 1976, this annual award has honored current or emeritus faculty whose research, scholarship or art has been widely recognized by their peers and whose achievements have had a substantial impact on their profession, the research or performance of others, and society as a whole.
Faculty from all disciplines of the UW are eligible for this award. It is a tremendous honor for the law school and the clinic faculty that Professor McMurtrie was honored in this way.
Her lecture, which was postponed due to current restrictions on gathering, focuses on government accountability, the ethical responsibility of lawyers and judges to acknowledge mistakes, and the importance of pursuing reform until our criminal justice system is truly just.
Her work with students over her decorated career led to the exoneration of 15 people who collectively served over 100 years in prison for crimes they did not commit, as well as successful advocacy efforts for laws to protect the innocent.
CAYAC team earns 2019-20 Clinical Legal Education Association Outstanding Student Award
In 2019, students Sydney Bay, Kylie Fisher and Noelle Symanski traveled from Seattle, Washington, to Dilley, Texas, with Lisa Kelly, director of the Children and Youth Advocacy Clinic (CAYAC), to work for a week in ICE’s South Texas Family Residential Center where they assisted women and children preparing for their credible fear interviews.
As part of a team of volunteers, including social work faculty and students from the University of Washington and UCLA, they showed remarkable stamina, collaborative interdisciplinary spirit and excellent client interviewing and counseling skills.
This work required them to put into practice the substantive knowledge and skills learned in the seminar component of the clinic where they were always engaged and thoughtful participants.
For their outstanding efforts, the students were honored with the 2019-2020 Outstanding Student Award.