Richard H. Frankel
Director of Appellate Litigation Clinic
Associate Professor of Law
Biography
Richard Frankel studies the intersection of civil rights, civil procedure and federal courts. He is the founder of the law school's Appellate Litigation Clinic.
Professor Frankel previously served as a teaching fellow and supervising attorney for the Georgetown University Law Center’s Appellate Litigation Program. While there, he supervised students litigating before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit as well as the Board of Immigration Appeals. His clinical interests include consumer law, appellate advocacy, landlord-tenant law, immigration law, public benefits, civil rights and prisoners’ rights.
Previously, he was the Goldberg-Deitzler Fellow for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in Washington, D.C., where he litigated class-action consumer protection and civil rights cases.
Professor Frankel’s publications include "The Disappearing Opt-Out Right in Punitive Damages Class Actions," Wisconsin Law Review, “Regulating Privatized Government through Section 1983,” University of Chicago Law Review, “The Failure of Analogy in Conceptualizing Private Entity Liability Under Section 1983” University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review, "Undue Deference," in Trial, "Proposition 209: A Stronger Civil Rights Act?," Yale Law & Policy Review and “Illusory Arbitration Clauses,” (co-author) in The Employee Advocate.
A graduate of Yale Law School, he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal, articles editor of Yale Law & Policy Review and student director of the Community Legal Services Clinic.
He clerked for Judge William C. Canby Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.