Associate Dean for Experiential Education
Professor of Law and 
Director, Community Development Clinic
jlee@ubalt.edu
410.837.5390
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 418
Administrative Assistant:
Terry Berk
410.837.5762
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 200
Education
J.D., Harvard University, 1999
B.A., cum laude, Yale University, 1994
Curriculum Vitae
Areas of Expertise
Community Development Law
Business Organizations
Nonprofits, Small Businesses, Social Enterprises and Cooperatives
Affordable Housing
Lee joined the faculty in 2011 and teaches Business Organizations and the Community Development Clinic . CDC student attorneys provide creative transactional and regulatory legal services to local organizations that promote social and economic equity. Lee’s scholarship examines barriers faced by low-income people within contemporary legal systems, analyzes how systems meant to benefit the poor are frequently subverted or distorted, and proposes ways to combat such subversion. Lee’s scholarly writings have been put into practice through the CDC’s coalition work on water justice in the City of Baltimore, which resulted in the creation of an innovative governmental accountability structure. In 2020, the CDC’s water justice work received Honorable Mention for Excellence in a Public Interest Project by the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA).
Prior to joining the University of Baltimore faculty, Lee taught in the Community and Economic Development Law Clinic at American University, Washington College of Law and was a partner at a boutique law firm in Washington, D.C. specializing in federal affordable housing law, policy, finance, and public-private partnerships. Lee also clerked for Judge Marvin Katz in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, trained and served as a mediator, and was an editor of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review.
Selected Publications
Articles and Essays
Author, Turning Participation into Power: A Water Justice Case Study, 28 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 1003 (Spring 2021)
Author, From Socrates to Selfies: Legal Education and the Metacognitive Revolution, 12 Drex. Law Rev. 227 (2019-2020)
Co-Author (with Renee Hatcher), Building Community, Still Thirsty for Justice: Supporting Community Development Efforts in Baltimore, 25J. Aff. Housing 1 (2016)
Poverty, Dignity, and Public Housing, 47 Col. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 2 (2016)
Rights At Risk In Privatized Public Housing, 50 Tulsa L. Rev. 759 (2015)
Can You Hear Me Now?: Making Participatory Governance Work for the Poor, 7 Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 405 (2013).
Talks and Presentations
Cooperative Baltimore Academy (incubating local low- and moderate- entrepreneurs of color), Faculty Presenter, “Fundamental Elements of An Employee Cooperative” (January 2020)
Clinical Law Review Writers’ Workshop, Presenter, “Making Local Government More Responsive Through Public Participation: A Theory Refined By Practice” (Sept. 2019)
The Real News Network, Quoted in “Debates Over Water Affordability Rages On,” by Dharna Noor (July 26, 2019)
Testimony before the Taxation, Finance, and Economic Development Committee of the Baltimore City Council in support of the Water Equity and Accountability Act (July 25, 2019)
The Indypendent, Quoted in “The Vultures Are Circling NYCHA,” by Rico Cleffi (February 1, 2019)
Transactional Clinical Conference, Co-Presenter, “Innovations in CED Clinics for Social Justice to Challenge the Status Quo” (April 2018)
GAO Report to the Ranking Member, Committee on Financial Services, House of Representatives, “Rental Assistance Demonstration: HUD Needs to Take Action to Improve Metrics and Ongoing Oversight,” Expert Interviewee, GAO 18-123 (February 2018)
“20/20, Jobs, and Baltimore’s Economy,” Co-Author, published in connection with the Baltimore Housing Roundtable’s 20/20 Campaign for community land trust support (February 2018)
Cooperative Baltimore, Presenter and Host Institution Liaison, “Legal Considerations for Coop Startups,” part of a 3-workshop series organized by Network for Developing Conscious Communities (October 2017)
The Baltimore Sun, Quoted in “Heads Of Housing Agencies Named: Mayor Pugh Splits Housing Authority, Community Development Responsibilities,” by Ian Duncan (June 23, 2017)
Documentary screening of Food for Change, Panelist, hosted by the Network for Developing Conscious Communities at the University of Maryland School of Social Work (April 2017)
Fourth Annual University of Baltimore School of Law Faculty Teaching Workshop, Workshop Co-Chair and Presenter, “Effective and Efficient Assessment Techniques” (February 2017)
22nd Mid-Atlantic People Of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, Planning Committee Member and Works-In-Progress Commentator (January 2017)
The Baltimore Sun, Quoted in “Youth Fund Among 11 Measures: But Critics Say Voters Aren't Being Told How The Money Will Be Overseen Or Spent,” by Yvonne Wenger (October 7, 2016)
The Baltimore Sun, Quoted in “For Perkins Homes, A New Identity Looms: Redevelopment Planned For Aging Public-Housing Complex,” by Yvonne Wenger (June 26, 2016)
Testified upon invitation by Congresswoman and Ranking Member Maxine Waters before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, on “The Future of Housing in America: A Comparison of the United Kingdom and United States Models for Affordable Housing” (May 2016)
Partners For Justice Conference, Co-Presenter, “Public Housing Privatization: The Rental Assistance Demonstration Program”(May 2016)
AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Co-Presenter, “Lessons from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.: Working with Community-Based Organizations to Build Capacity and Fight for Economic Justice” (May 2016)
Transactional Clinical Conference, Planning Committee Member and Host Institution Liaison (April 2016)
The Baltimore Sun, Quoted in “Agency Dropped Inspector General / Housing Authority Cites Budgetary Considerations,” by Mark Puente and Yvonne Wenger (November 1, 2015)
AALS Clinical Section Membership, Outreach, and Training Committee, Co-Chair, 2015-2018 (Member, 2013-2014)
Third Annual University of Baltimore School of Law Faculty Teaching Workshop, Co-Presenter, “Teaching Self-Reflection for Lifelong Learning” (February 2016)
“Poverty Law: Academic Activism” conference Seattle University School of Law (upcoming February 2016)
AALS Annual Meeting, Co-Presenter, The Value of Clinical Legal Education (upcoming January 2016)
“The Present and Future of the Civil Rights Movement” Conference, Duke University, Panelist (November 2015)
“ClassCrits VIII, Emerging Coalitions: Challenging the Structures of Inequality” Conference, University of Tennessee School of Law, Panelist (October 2015)
UB School of Law’s Constitution Day 2015 Program: The Supreme Law of the Land in Today’s Baltimore, Discussant (September 2015)
15th Annual Transactional Clinical Conference, Planning Committee Member (to be held at the University of Baltimore School of Law in April 2016)
AALS Clinical Section Mentoring, Outreach, and Training Committee, Co-Chair (2015-16)
AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Co-Presenter, Creating, Adapting and Assessing Clinical Experiences (April 2014)
Mid-Atlantic People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, Commenter, Work-in-Progress (January 2014)
Teaching and Learning Day, Panelist, Real World Experiential Learning, sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, and Technology (Fall 2013)
Cross Campus Entrepreneurship Cohort, Participant, Teaching Entrepreneurship Across the Curriculum, sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Technology (Summer-Fall 2013)
AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Co-Presenter, Multidimensional Lawyering, Social Justice & Curriculum Design: Incorporating Goals for Structural Change within Diverse Clinical Models (May 2013)
AALS Annual Meeting, Presenter, Making Clinical Education Work for Part-Time Students (January 2013)
Society of American Law Teachers (SALT)/LatCrit Faculty Development Workshop, Planning Committee Member (October 2012)
Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Co-Discussant, Educating Social Justice Lawyers (August 2012)
AALS New Law Teachers Workshop, Section of Women in Legal Education Speaker (June 2012)
AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Co-Presenter, Teaching Takeaways: Teaching Identity in Non-Litigation Clinics (June 2012)
DC Bar Community Economic Development Pro Bono Project, Presenter and Advisor, Training for Volunteer Lawyers For Childcare Initiative (September 2011)
AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Co-Facilitator, Legislative and Policy Lawyering Working Group (June 2011)