Tamar Meekins
Associate Professor, Clinic Director and Supervising Attorney
Professor Tamar M. Meekins joined the faculty of Howard University School of Law in July 2002 as an Associate Professor. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia Law School, Professor Meekins directs the Howard Clinical Law Center. Following her graduation from law school, Professor Meekins worked as an associate attorney in the Washington, DC office of the law firm of Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood, where she gained experience in corporate and commercial real estate transactions and general litigation. She then joined the nationally renowned District of Columbia Public Defender Service (PDS) as a staff attorney. During her 12 year tenure at the Public Defender Service, Professor Meekins litigated dozens of juvenile and adult trial cases, including over 50 serious felony cases in which she was lead or sole trial counsel. She also argued several appellate matters in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, litigated parole matters before the D.C. Board of Parole and the United States Parole Commission and worked on several civil case matters that affected individual or groups of PDS clients. Professor Meekins also served for four years as the Chief of the Trial Division of PDS where she managed the day to day operations of the office’s largest division and supervised 50-60 attorneys. She was later appointed to the position of Chief of Legal Services, where she was responsible for training, management and coordination of the Agency’s 100 attorneys who worked in the Trial, Juvenile, Civil, Mental Health, Parole and Special Litigation Divisions. After leaving the D.C. Public Defender Service in October 2001, Professor Meekins joined the Office of Citizen Complaint Review (“OCCR”) as Deputy Director. The OCCR is an independent, District of Columbia Government agency charged with the investigation, resolution and mediation of some citizen allegations of police officer misconduct. As Deputy Director, she was responsible for the training of Agency investigative and legal research staff, the drafting of agency regulations and the management of the day-to-day operations of the office, including personnel responsibilities.
Professor Meekins is active in the legal and greater Washington, D.C. community. She continues to act as a trainer for new attorneys, supervisors and investigators at the D.C. Public Defender Service, and has helped to train public defenders for the Georgia State Public Defender Council. Additionally, she has made professional presentations at the Criminal Practice Institute, the Neglect Practice Institute, community reentry panels and other legal and community events. She has served as a chairperson of a Hearing Committee for the DC Court of Appeals Board of Professional Responsibility, in which she coordinates some litigation of attorney discipline complaints. Professor Meekins has previously served on the Board of the Greater Washington Urban League, and as President and Community Service Coordinator of its auxiliary, the Urban Roundtable. She continues to act as a tutor in the Roundtable’s elementary age tutoring program, a five year old program that she helped to develop.
Currently at Howard Law, Professor Meekins directs the Clinical Law Center, an experiential learning center for law students that encompasses seven separate academic and public interest programs. She teaches in the Criminal Justice Clinic, where she trains law students to become outstanding defense advocates. Additionally, she teaches first year criminal law and a second year course in evidence. Professor Meekins is the recipient of the 2006 Warren Rosmarin Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service. This award is given to one law school professor each year at the annual commencement exercises. The staff of the Law School also awarded her a new award in June 2005 for excellence in service to the University, the Law School and the surrounding community. Her research interests are in the areas of criminal law, lawyering skills, the administration of criminal justice, trial litigation and ethics. Professor Meekins is the author of “This is Your Mind on Drugs,” Legal Times, July 2003; “Are the New Good Courts Too Good to Be True?”, a book review, ABA Criminal Justice Magazine, Spring 2006; “You Can Teach Old Defenders New Tricks: Sentencing Lessons from Specialty Courts,” ABA Criminal Justice Magazine, Summer 2006; “Specialized Justice: The Over-Emergence of Specialty Courts and the Threat of a New Criminal Defense Paradigm,” Suffolk Law Rev. (forthcoming 2006)