Susan Bennett

Currently Teaching

• LAW-518-001B Property
• LAW-756-003 Clinic Sem: Comm Economic Dev
• LAW-768-001 Community Economic Dev.Clinic

Areas of Specialization

• Clinical Education
• Community and Economic Development
• Public Interest Law

Degrees & Universities

• J.D., Columbia University School of Law 1979
• M.A., Yale University 1975
• A.B., Yale University 1973

• Selected Publications

  • Susan Bennett, Creating a Client Consortium: Building Social Capital, Bridging Structural Holes, 13 Clin. L. Rev. 45 (2006).
  • Susan Bennett, Little Engines That Could: Community Clients, Their Lawyers, and Training in the Arts of Democracy, 2002 Wis. L. Rev 469 (2002).
  • Susan Bennett, Embracing the Ill-Structured Problem in a Community Economic Development Clinic, 9 Clin. L. Rev. 45 (2002).
  • Susan Bennett, The Possibility of a Beloved Place: Residents and Placemaking in Public Housing Communities, 19 St. Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 257 (2000) (reprinted in Representing the Poor and Homeless: Innovations in Advocacy 55, ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty (2001)).
  • Susan Bennett, On Long-Haul Lawyering, 25 Fordham Urb. L.J. 771 (1998).
  • Susan Bennett, No Relief But Upon the Terms of Coming Into the House: Controlled Spaces, Invisible Disentitlements, and Homelessness in an Urban Shelter System, 104 Yale L.J. 2157 (1995).
  • Susan Bennett, The Threat of the Wandering Poor: Welfare Parochialism and Its Impact on the Use of Housing Mobility as an Anti-Poverty Strategy, 22 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1207 (1995).
  • Susan Bennett & Kathleen Sullivan, Disentitling the Poor: Waivers and Welfare, 26 Mich. J. L. Reform 741 (1993).
  • Susan Bennett, Heartbreak Hotel: The Disharmonious Convergence of Welfare, Housing and Homelessness, 1 Md. J. Contemp. Leg. Issues 27 (1990).

• Selected Presentations

  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Constructing the Social Impact Statement to Measure the Full Cost of Urban Renewal (Program on Affordable Housing and Public/Private Partnerships, University of Colorado Law School, Boulder, Colo., Oct. 19 - 20, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Interviewing and Establishing the Client-Lawyer Relationship (D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers, New Lawyer Training, Wash., D.C., Oct. 4, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Bellow Scholar Project Research Workshop (University of Maryland, School of Law, Balt., Md., Sept. 28, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Faculty and Full Day Consultation on Developing Transactional Law Clinics (Wake Forest University Law School, Winston Salem, N.C., Sept. 20, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Co-Presenter & Team Member, Establishing and Enhancing Clinical Legal Education in China: Faculty Workshop Presented by Washington College of Law, American University (South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, P.R.C., July 16 - Aug. 3, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Commentator, Interschool Junior Faculty Workshop on Poverty Law (American University Washington College of Law, Wash., D.C., June 1, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Affordable Housing Development for Persons with Limited English Proficiency (Annual Meeting, ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, Wash., D.C., May 25, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, What is the Place of Poverty Law in the Law School Curriculum? (Fordham University Law School Symposium, N.Y.C., N.Y., Mar. 5, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Janet R. Spragens Memorial Symposium: Low-Income Workers and the Federal Tax System (American University Washington College of Law, Wash., D.C., Feb. 23, 2007).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Insuring Access to Housing for Persons with Limited English Proficiency (ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, Program on Creating Healthy Communities: Ending Homelessness, St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 23, 2006).
  • Susan Bennett, Presenter & Co-Organizer, Project on Clinical Legal Education in China (Zhejiang Gonshang University School of Law, Hangzhou, P.R.C., Dec. 13 - 16, 2006).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Symposium on Poverty Under International and Domestic Law: The Responsibility of Lawyers (American University Washington College of Law, Wash., D.C., Mar. 27, 2006).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Law School Clinics and Training in Issues of Linguistic Diversity (District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission, Conference on Language Access, Wash., D.C., Nov. 2, 2005).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, The Community Lawyer: Enhancer of Social Capital, Manager of Structural Holes (Sixth International Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Lake Arrowhead, Cal., Oct. 30, 2005).
  • Susan Bennett, Presenter, Panel on Language Access (Mid-Atlantic Clinical Teachers’ Conference, Wash., D.C., Sept. 23, 2005).
  • Susan Bennett, Group Leader, Evaluating Students and Evaluating Outputs (AALS Annual Meeting, S.F., Cal., Jan. 6, 2005).
  • Susan Bennett, Panelist, Economic Development and Racial Justice in the New Millennium (AALS Conference on Racial Justice in the New Millennium, Portland, Or., June 15, 2004).
  • Susan Bennett, Panelist, Community Lawyering (AALS Annual Meeting on Section on Clinical Legal Education, Vancouver, British Columbia, Can., May 2003).
  • Susan Bennett, Moderator, Fourth Annual Peter Cicchino Awards Ceremony (American University Washington College of Law, Wash., D.C., Apr. 3, 2003).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Public Interest Law Initiative New Teacher Training (Riga, Lat., Oct. 2001).
  • Susan Bennett, Panelist, Lawyers and Community Development (Philadelphia Bar Association, Phila., Pa., Oct. 1, 2001).
  • Susan Bennett, Panelist, Social Capital(ism) and Heavy Lifting (Annual Meeting of Law & Society Association, Budapest, Hun., June 5, 2001).
  • Susan Bennett, Panelist, Legal Educators; Practice Division Program (ABA Annual Meeting of Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Economic Development, Wash., D.C., June 1, 2001).
  • Susan Bennett, Speech, Symposium on Lawyering for a New Democracy (University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, Wis., May 31, 2001).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Find a City, Fiind Myself a City to Live In: A Symposium on Urban Revitalization and Housing Policy (American University Washington College of Law, Wash., D.C., Mar. 22, 2001).
  • Susan Bennett, Panelist, Piano Lessons: Laying on Of Hands, Panel on Essays on Life and Work: Energy, Experience, Context (Annual Meeting, Law & Society Association, Miami, Fla., May 29, 2000).
  • Susan Bennett, Panelist, Legal Educators' Practice Division Program (ABA Annual Meeting of Forum on Affordable Housing and community Economic Development, Wash., D.C., May 26, 2000).
  • Susan Bennett, Presentation, Coprorate Social Responsibilty (Congressional Hunger Center, Mickey Leland Hunger Fellows Program, Wash., D.C., Apr. 28, 2000).
  • Susan Bennett, Speech, Poverty Kills: An International Conference on Poverty and Human Rights Law (American University Washington College of Law and Center for the Global South of the School of International Service, Wash., D.C., Apr. 4-5, 2000).
  • Susan Bennett, Speech, The Possibility of a Beloved Place: Residents and Placemaking in Public Housing Communities (American Bar Association, Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, Symposium on Representing the Poor and Homeless: Innnovations in Advocacy, St. Louis, Mo., Mar. 25, 2000).
  • Susan Bennett, Speech, Homelessness: A Perpetual American Dilemma? (American University Washington College of Law, Office of Community Action and Social Justice, Wash., D.C., Feb. 15, 2000).
  • Susan Bennett, Speech, Supervision Models for Community Economic Development Law Clinics (Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting, Wash., D.C., Jan. 1, 2000).