Professor Erin Auerbach has worked as an education lawyer since 2010. In 2017 she joined the Bruman Group, PLLC (formally Brustein & Manasevit, PLLC) as Of Counsel. Her current practice focuses on representing public charter schools in the District of Columbia on issues related to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Prior to joining the firm as Of Counsel, Ms. Auerbach worked as an associate assisting state and local educational agencies as well as postsecondary institutions with various federal grant matters, including matters related to the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), career and technical education, Title IV of the Higher Education Act, the IDEA and Section 504.

Previously, Ms. Auerbach served as a law clerk to the Honorable Carol Ann Dalton at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. During law school, Ms. Auerbach worked at the Public Defender’s Service for the District of Columbia, Civil Legal Services Division where she assisted in advocating for juvenile clients under the IDEA. Ms. Auerbach also worked for the U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the General Counsel where she aided in representing the institutional interests of the House.

Ms. Auerbach received her Bachelor’s Degree in American Studies from the University of Maryland in 2004 and graduated from American University, Washington College of Law in 2009.

Professor Auerbach teaches Legal Research & Writing.

Adjunct Professor Dale Durrer is a Circuit Court Judge for the 16th Judicial Circuit in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he tries criminal and civil cases. Prior to his service as a judge, Mr. Durrer served as an Assistant and Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney in Culpeper County, Virginia, and a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and received his law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law in 2000. Following Mr. Durrer's graduation from law school, he joined the law firm of Davies, Barrell, Will, Lewellyn & Edwards as an Associate attorney, focusing on criminal defense and domestic relations. During Mr. Durrer's time in private practice, he served as a court-appointed attorney for indigent criminal defendants and as a guardian ad litem for juveniles. In March 2004, he debated Stephen Bright on the merits of capital punishment at the Yale Law School. Mr. Durrer is an active member of the Virginia and District of Columbia bars. He has taught in the Legal Rhetoric program since 2006. He also serves on the adjunct faculty at George Washington University Law School and the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. Mr. Durrer co-authored the Evidence casebook: Evidence Common Law and Federal Rules of Evidence, 7th Edition (LEXIS 2015) with Professor Wesley M. Oliver and Professor Kirsha W. Trychta.

Adjunct Professor RJ Hamilton is commercial real estate attorney with the Washington, DC office of Holland & Knight LLP.  Mr Hamilton primarily represents institutional owners of commercial real estate with respect to leasing, acquisitions and dispositions and financing transactions backed by commercial real estate.  Mr. Hamilton is a graduate of The George Washington University (B.A., magna cum laude with special honors) and American University, Washington College of Law (J.D.).  While in law school, Mr. Hamilton was a Legal Research and Writing Dean's Fellow.  Mr. Hamilton has been an adjunct professor in the Legal Research and Writing Program since 2007.

Kaitlyn Krall is an Attorney Advisor for the Office of Information Policy at the Department of Justice where she adjudicates FOIA administrative appeals. Prior to her current position, she clerked in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in the Program of Liberal Studies and International Economics, and received her JD from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. In her free time, Kaitlyn volunteers at the local cat shelter, crochets, travels, and attends as many concerts as she can. 

Grant Mandsager is a graduate of New York University School of Law and Amherst College. Originally from Iowa, he has lived in Arlington, VA since 2008.

He initially practiced complex commercial litigation, primarily antitrust and patent infringement, with a firm in D.C. He left the law for a time to raise his three children, and in 2023 took his second bar exam and now primarily practices consumer litigation in Virginia State Court. 

Grant was drawn to the law early, competing in Mock Trial from seventh grade through college. He enjoys the unique challenges of trial advocacy and finding creative solutions to clients' problems. 

In his spare time, such as it is, Grant enjoys cycling, reading and coffee, not necessarily in that order. 

Michael McGovern is an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. As a senior attorney in the office’s Appellate Division, Mr. McGovern represents the United States in criminal appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Before joining the Appellate Division, Mr. McGovern served as a line prosecutor in the office’s Sex Offense and Domestic Violence section. Mr. McGovern received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with highest honors from the University of Michigan in 2003, and his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 2008. Following law school, Mr. McGovern worked as a litigation associate at Davis Polk and Wardwell LLP, where he represented clients in civil litigation, white collar investigatory and enforcement matters, and various pro bono matters.

Adjunct Professor Belgin Palaz is an Assistant Public Defender at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. She currently works in the Forensics Division handling specialized and complex challenges to scientific evidence and expert testimony. She graduated from Wellesley College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and received her law degree from American University Washington College of Law. Following her graduation from law school, she clerked in the Circuit Court for Charles County, Maryland before joining the Public Defender’s Office.

Shannon Roddy is a member of the Pence Law Library faculty and serves as the Student Services Librarian. In addition to Legal Research & Writing, Prof. Roddy also teaches Advanced Legal Research and Family Law. Prior to entering academia, Prof. Roddy practiced family law in Washington, DC and Maryland and clerked in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She is an alumna of AUWCL.

Professor Sweet was raised in Massachusetts.  He received a B.S.F.S. degree from Georgetown University, and a J.D. degree from Stanford Law School.  After graduating from law school, Professor Sweet clerked for the Honorable Judge Nina Gershon, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and the Honorable Judge Jane Roth, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  Then, he served as an Associate and Senior Associate at Goodwin Procter, LLP, a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and a Trial Attorney at the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, National Courts Section.  Professor Sweet was appointed to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals as an Administrative Judge in 2016. He has been an Adjunct Professor teaching Legal Research and Writing at American University, Washington College of Law since 2018. Professor Sweet also is a Master of the Bench at the George Mason American Inn of Court.

Martin M. Tomlinson is an Assistant General Counsel with the Department of Justice's Justice Management Division. Mr. Tomlinson's practice primarily consists of advising and counseling DOJ management personnel on regulatory matters, as well as representing the interests of DOJ before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Government Accountability Office. Prior to his current position, Mr. Tomlinson was a Senior Trial Counsel with the DOJ's Civil Division for almost ten years, handling matters of constitutional law, administrative law, employment discrimination, and government contracts law in federal courts nationwide. Prior to joining DOJ in 2013, Mr. Tomlinson worked for the Wyche Law Firm in Greenville, South Carolina, handling commercial litigation matters, and clerked for Judge Michael A. Chagares of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Patrick Michael Duffy of the District Court for the District of South Carolina. He is a graduate of Yale Law School (J.D. 2007), where he was Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and the College of Charleston (B.A. & B.S., 2004). He lives in Silver Spring with his wife and two children.

Adjunct Professor Ruth Vernet began her legal career in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Following her first tour of military service, Ms. Vernet served as a federal judicial law clerk, a public defender, and a federal prosecutor. After completing a second tour of military service with the Navy, Ms. Vernet served as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division (Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section) of the U.S. Department of Justice. She is now a sole practitioner specializing in federal appellate litigation.

Ms. Vernet received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and her L.L.M (National Security Law and International Trade) from the Georgetown University Law Center. She is a board member and past president of the Federal Bar Association (District of Columbia Chapter).

Julie Wilson is a criminal defense attorney who practices in federal and local/state courts in the District of Columbia and Virginia, representing clients who are under investigation or charged with criminal offenses. Professor Wilson’s practice is focused on equal access to justice in the criminal legal system, and she is on the Criminal Justice Act Panel for both the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Prior to starting her criminal defense practice, Professor Wilson spent nearly twenty years working for the federal judiciary. For over a decade, she was legal counsel to the Judicial Conference of the United States Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure and its Advisory Committees on Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, Criminal, and Evidence Rules.

For several years, Professor Wilson served as a career law clerk to Magistrate Judges James E. Bradberry and Douglas E. Miller in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Norfolk).

Professor Wilson began her career with the federal judiciary as a pro se law clerk, first for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Corpus Christi) and, second, for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Norfolk).

Professor Wilson earned her Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Political Science with a concentration in International Politics from the University of Florida in 1997, and her Juris Doctor magna cum laude from the William and Mary School of Law in 2000, where she was on the William and Mary Law Review, served as an editor on the Environmental Law and Policy Review, and served on the Moot Court Board