CLINIC NEWS

TRANSITION AT PENN LAW:  DOUGLAS FRENKEL TO STEP DOWN AS CLINICAL DIRECTOR; LOUIS RULLI TO SUCCEED HIM

Douglas Frenkel

Douglas Frenkel, director of the Gittis Center for Clinical Legal Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, has announced his intention to step down, effective June 30. Frenkel, who has led Penn’s nationally renowned clinical program since 1980, will be succeeded by Louis Rulli, a Practice Professor of Law who joined Penn Law in 1995 and currently teaches clinical courses in litigation and legislation, announced Dean Michael A. Fitts.

“As the architect of our program, Doug Frenkel has built one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated ‘teaching law firms’ at an American law school,” Fitts said. “Doug has been a pioneer in the role of clinical education here and around the country.

Under Frenkel’s leadership, Penn Law has built a program that now offers clinical courses in litigation, criminal defense, business/transactional representation, mediation, legislation, child advocacy, and transnational lawyering, including partnerships with Penn’s Wharton School and the schools of Medicine and of Social Policy and Practice.

“During Doug’s tenure, the clinic program’s faculty, facilities, funding, and enrollments have grown dramatically,” Fitts added. “Generations of students have benefitted from Doug’s commitment to preparing the best possible lawyers.”

Frenkel said: “I’ve been privileged to be able to do this work for the past 28 years and blessed with great colleagues in that effort. During that time, Penn Law became one of the preeminent law schools in the country and our program has grown with it. The real measure of this work, however, is its impact on our students and on the clients they served as students and continue to represent. The kind of lawyers and professional leaders that many of our program’s alums have become is a source of great pride.”

Frenkel, an expert in dispute resolution, is the author of widely used teaching materials and videotapes and frequently serves as a mediator in employment, commercial, institutional and community matters.  His multi-media book, “The Practice of Mediation: A Video-Integrated Text,” will be released this spring by Aspen Publishers.  Co-authored with James H. Stark of the University of Connecticut School of Law, it will be the first clinical book in which textual theory and analysis interact with illustrative DVD excerpts.

Frenkel’s other major area of expertise is legal ethics, having been a founding faculty member of the Penn Law School Center on Professionalism. He teaches courses in legal ethics and consults with lawyers on matters of professional responsibility and lawyer liability. While at Penn, Frenkel has also served as a visiting professor at the New York, Columbia and Fordham law schools and at the University of Sydney Faculty of Law.  On relinquishing the directorship, Frenkel will continue on the Penn Law faculty, focusing on his teaching, writing and dispute resolution work.

Frenkel holds bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

Frenkel’s successor as clinic director, Lou Rulli, specializes in public interest law, legislation, litigation, and clinical legal education.  He has written and lectured extensively on the subject of access to justice for the poor. In 2006, he received the university-wide Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Lou Rulli

“With Lou at the helm, the clinic will not miss a beat,” said Dean Fitts.  “Lou’s entire career has been spent in service to the public and in preparing law students for the practice of law.  His background, expertise and interests make him the ideal person to assume leadership of our clinic.”

Prior to joining the Penn Law faculty, Rulli was the executive director of Community Legal Services in Philadelphia and a public interest lawyer for more than 20 years. He is a past chairman of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention, a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s House of Delegates, and co-chair of the statewide PBA task force on Loan Forgiveness and Repayment Assistance.

He is the immediate past chairman of the board of directors of Philadelphia Legal Assistance and a frequent trainer and consultant to civil legal assistance programs. He served as the consultant to the Chancellor’s Commission on Pro Bono Legal Services of the Philadelphia Bar Association, and he was a founding member of the Pennsylvania Lawyer Trust Account Board, on which he served from 1988 until 1995.

“I am honored by the exciting opportunity to lead the Penn Law clinical programs,” Rulli said.  “The clinic is the place where legal education and community needs intersect.  This is an essential function for Penn Law and our students, and a vital service for Philadelphia and its residents.”

Rulli is a recipient of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to an individual who has a long history of pro bono representation and leadership in the creation and continuation of pro bono programs.

Rulli has received numerous other awards, including the first Philadelphia Bar Foundation Award, the Medal of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Leaders for Justice Award from Pennsylvania Legal Services, the first Andrew Hamilton Award for public interest lawyering, the Mary Philbrook Award, and a Citation from the City of Philadelphia for leadership on behalf of the legal needs of the City’s poor. He was selected by Philadelphia magazine as one of Philadelphia’s best attorneys for public interest law.

Rulli holds bachelor’s and law degrees from Rutgers University.