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Biography
Derek Black is an Assistant Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law, where he teaches Education Law, Social Justice Lawyering, and Torts. He has also taught Civil Procedure at Howard and Legal Rhetoric as an adjunct Professor at American University Washington College of Law. He is the author of law review articles including, Matching Equal Protection Doctrine with Meaning: How Deliberate Indifference Cures the Intent Standard’s Failures, The New Compelling Governmental Interest: Improving Educational Outcomes, Picking Up the Pieces After Alexander v. Sandoval: Resurrecting a Private Cause of Action for Disparate Impact, and The Power of Small Schools: Achieving Equal Educational Opportunity Through Academic Success and Democratic Citizenship.
He also published an article in the National Bar Association Magazine’s 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education Issue, entitled Beyond Brown: Its Impact Upon American Education and Culture. His future scholarly interests include a continued focus on securing quality educational opportunities for students in public schools and assessing equal protection and discrimination standards generally.
Professor Black is also involved with several public interests efforts and groups at the law school. He is currently assisting the Student Hurricane Network, organizing and supervising students in providing assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Similarly, he has assisted in the public interest auction to raise funds for students’ summer internships. Recently, he also co-authored the Howard Civil Rights Clinic’s amicus brief before the Supreme Court in the voluntary desegregation cases,
Prior to teaching law school, Professor Black was a staff attorney for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. While there, he litigated, NAACP v. Thomasville School District, a case on behalf of African Americans who alleged that the school district had been racially segregating students into separate schools and classrooms and providing them unequal education ever since Brown v. Board of Education. The case is currently on its second appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, where he continues to participate as pro bono counsel. Similarly, while at the Lawyers’ Committee, Professor Black was involved litigation to encourage school districts’ voluntary desegregation and diversity efforts. In addition, he represented students in disciplinary hearings, worked in coalitions to change statewide disciplinary procedures, analyzed state educational systems under state constitutions to determine whether they are delivering an adequate education to minority students, and delivered numerous presentations on minority students’ access to quality education.
Prior to working for the Lawyers’ Committee, Professor Black was an honors attorney at the United States Postal Service, where he litigated employment disputes. He primarily practiced before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, filing and arguing several briefs, but also practiced before the other Courts of Appeals. In addition, he has been a consultant to the Rural Education Finance Center and on issues of educational adequacy and equity.
Professor Black is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he majored in African American Studies, Political Science and Philosophy. Afterward he attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the law review for two years, was awarded the Dan Pollitt ACLU fellowship in his third year, and graduated with highest honors.
Professional Contributions