2024-2025 CLEA Committees


If you are interested in joining this committee, please email the co-chair to learn more about the process.


  • Co-Chairs: Sarah Wolking and Serge Martinez

    Committee Members:  Caitlin Barry, Andy Budzinski, Davida Finger,  Melina Healey, Ronie Hochbaum, Kendall Kerew, Kate Kruse, Robert Kuehn, Mary Lynch, Joy Radice, Michael Vastine, Ian Weinstein, and Cindy Wilson

    This Committee advocates in a variety of external venues on issues of importance to clinical legal education. Its work includes tracking proposals in the ABA and state bar commissions that regulate and affect legal education and clinical legal education. In addition, the ABA and Bar Standards Advocacy Committee coordinates CLEA's public comments and creates an organized and multi-faceted response on issues affecting legal education.

  • Chair: Gautam Hans and Tameka Lester

    Committee Members:  Elizabeth Grant, D’lorah Hughes, Genevieve Mann, Talia Peleg, Cindy Wilson

    The primary responsibility of the Awards Committee is to solicit nominations for and select the recipients of three awards: (1) Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers; (2) Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project; and (3) Outstanding Student (one student per law school). The Committee also periodically reviews the eligibility requirements and rules for the awards and proposes changes, as needed.

  • Co-Chairs:  Benjie Louis and Lauren Rogal 

    Committee Members: Kaci Bishop, Laila Hlass, Carrie Kaas, Allison Korn, Emily Suski, Anna Cominsky, Megan Bess, Genevieve Mann

    The Best Practices Committee was formed shortly after CLEA’s 2007 publication of Best Practices for Legal Education. The Committee commissioned a second Best Practices book, Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World, which was published by LexisNexis in 2015. The committee continues share best practices in pedagogy to the experiential community through webinars, conferences, trainings and online resources.

  • Chair:  Madalyn K. Wasilczuk and Davida Finger

    Committee Members: Jeff Baker, Amanda Cole, Tanya Cooper, Ronie Hochbaum

    This Communications Committee is charged with proposing and developing CLEA’s communications policies and strategies, utilizing a variety of modes that currently include the organization’s website, Facebook page, Newsletter and Best Practices Blog.

  • Co-Chairs:  Kara Finck and Talia Peleg

    Committee Members: Jodi Balsam, Eden Harrington, Margaret Johnson, Mike Murphy, Jeffrey Pokorak, Bob Probasco, Christina Scott

    The Conference Committee oversees the application process for organizations that seek support for regional and national conferences. In 2017, pursuant to the Strategic Plan, the Conference Committee will be charged with undertaking several new initiatives, in collaboration with the Communications and Best Practices in Pedagogy Committees.

  • Co-Chairs:  Valeria Gomez and Shobha Mahadev

    Committee Members:  Jocelyn Cazares Willingham, Lia Sifuentes Davis,Jennifer Fernandez, Anju Gupta, Gautam Hans, Neha Lall, Shobha Mahadev, Aimee Maldonado, and Tomica Saul

    The Committee on Faculty Equity and Inclusion is tasked with proposing ways to reverse the diversity crisis within clinical legal education. The Committee will work to raise and educate various stakeholders about the lack of racial/ethnic diversity among clinical professors and propose avenues for change.

  • Chair: Reena Parikh and Crystal Grant

    Committee Members:  Jenna Cobb, Shobha Mahadev, Sarah Shalf, and Kirby Tyrell

    The Elections Committee is a mandatory committee of CLEA and is responsible for carrying out the elections requirements in CLEA’s bylaws. Under the bylaws, the Elections Committee is responsible for soliciting nominations, verifying eligibility of candidates and voters, creating and distributing ballots, overseeing the ballot count, and certifying and announcing election results.

  • Co-Chairs:  Dena Bauman and Kate Devlin Joyce

    Committee Members:  Jodi Balsam, Carolyn Kaas, Kendall Kerew, Denise Platfoot Lacey, Neha Lall, Matthew McGovern, Ashley Menendez, Melissa Redmon, Amy Sankaran, Anne Sidwell, June Tai, Cindy Wilson

    The Externship Committee advocates on behalf of CLEA and its members with respect to issues related to field placement programs. For example, together with CLEA’s ABA and Bar Standards Advocacy Committee, the Externship Committee represents CLEA in connection with ABA accreditation standards and state bar admissions requirements that have an impact on field placement programs. In addition, the Committee promotes increased awareness within the legal education community about the similarities, differences, and overlap between externships and law clinics.

  • Co-Chairs: Sarah Shalf and Tomica Saul

    Committee Members: Valeria Gomez, Neha Lall, and Talia Peleg

    The Membership Committee serves as the liaison between the CLEA board’s work and CLEA members. The committee updates the status of its members every year and responds to members’ comments and questions with respect to CLEA’s work. The committee also prepares membership materials, and helps members stay connected to the work of the organization and members of the clinical community.

  • Co-Chairs: Paul Radvany and Nickole Miller

    Committee Members:  Kathryn Banks, Crisanne Hazen, Praveen Kosuri, Sue Schechter, Shanda Sibley, Anita Sinha, Kele Stewart, Wendy Vaughn, Danny Schaffzin, Amy Sankaran, Chante Brantley, Kate Raven, Gautam Hans, Larry Stein

    The primary work of the New Clinicians Committee is to offer support, orientation, and an introduction to clinical education to those who are new to clinical teaching. Committee members plan and present CLEA’s New Clinicians Conference every two years (in odd years), before the start of the AALS Clinical Conference, and developed a series of workshops designed for new clinicians during the two most recent national Externships Conferences. Working with CLEA’s Advocacy Training Committee, the New Clinicians Committee will continue to explore other ways in which it might help to educate and train new clinicians.

  • Chair:  Ronie Hochbaum

    Committee Members: Nickole Miller, Susan Donovan, and Allison Wang

    The CLEA Newsletter Committee publishes two issues each year. Besides featuring reports on CLEA's advocacy work and announcing clinicians' good news, including promotions, new arrivals, transitions, awards, honors, books and publications, the committee aims to publish shorter articles on clinical teaching and creative writing on social justice topics, and evolve into a venue where clinicians can publish shorter articles that might count towards tenure requirements in schools that recognize broader definitions of "scholarship" for clinicians.

  • Chair:  Gautam Hans and Lynnise Pantin

    Committee Members: Crystal Grant and Davida Finger

  • Co-Chairs:  Jennifer Fernandez and Shanda Sibley

    Committee Members:  Crystal Grant, Gautam Hans, Gowri Krishna, Mike Murphy, Reena Parikh, Madalyn Wasilczuk