Stacy L. Brustin
Associate Professor
brustin@law.edu
Stacy Brustin teaches in the General Practice Clinic where she supervises students handling domestic relations, employment, and public benefits matters. She also conducts presentations on access to justice and professional responsibility. Stacy Brustin has published articles in the areas of family law, professional responsibility, and clinical legal education.
Professor Brustin came to the Columbus School of Law in 1991. While at Catholic University, Professor Brustin also taught The American Litigation Process at the American Law Institute, Jagellonian University, Krakow, Poland. Professor Brustin is active in the D.C. Bar. She is an appointed member of the D.C. Child Support Commission and the Child Support Rules Committee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She served as Co-Chair of the D.C. Child Support Task Force from 2003-2005.
Stacy Brustin received her B.A. from Tufts University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She was awarded a Ferguson Post-Graduate Fellowship from Harvard to study human rights and community legal education in Mexico. Upon her return to the United States, she began working as a staff attorney at Ayuda, Inc., a non-profit legal services agency serving the immigrant and refugee community in Washington D.C. Her practice included domestic violence, domestic relations, immigration, and public benefits matters. In 1991, she founded the Hermanas Unidas (Sisters United) Community Education Project, a program of Ayuda, Inc., designed to help immigrant survivors of domestic violence advocate for themselves and their families.
Selected Publications
Child Support – Shifting the Financial Burden in Low Income Families, forthcoming, GeorgetownJournal on Poverty Law and Policy, December 2012..
Bias in the Legal Profession, Learning from Practice: A Professional Development Text for Legal Externs (ed. J.P. Ogilvy, Leah Wortham, Lisa G. Lerman) (2nd ed. 2007)
More Than a Witness: The Role of Custodial Parents in the IV-D Child Support Process, 26 Children's Legal Rights Journal 37 (Winter 2006).
The Intersection Between Welfare Reform and Child Support Enforcement: DC's Weak Link, 52 Catholic University Law Review 621 (2003).
Legal Services Provision Through Non-Profit Multidisciplinary Practice: Encouraging Holistic Advocacy while Protecting Ethical Interests, 73 University of Colorado Law Review 787 (2002).
Legal Responses to Teen Dating Violence, 29 Family Law Quarterly 331 (1995).
Images of Women in U.S. Immigration Policy: The Paradox of Domestic Violence, Proceedings of The American Society of International Law 454 (1994).
Expanding Our Vision of Legal Services Representation: The Hermanas Unidas Project, 1 American University Journal of Gender and the Law 39 (1993).
Select Presentations
“Analyzing Access to Justice from the Hallways of the Courthouse -- Integrating Doctrinal Concepts and Community Based Projects”, Society of American Law Teachers Annual Conference, October 2012.
Moderator, “Strengthening the Link Between Child Support Enforcement and Employment Assistance”, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, June 2012.
“Teaching Multicultural Competence in a Clinical Setting”, LL.M Fellows Training Program, D.C. School of Law, April 14, 2011.
“Accessing Effective Legal Representation and Accurate Legal Information”, Breast Cancer Survivors Support Group, Catholic Charities, Dec. 9, 2009.
“Working with Students: Non-Classroom Learning”, American Bar Association, Associate Deans’ Conference: The Changing Role of the Associate Dean, Denver, Colorado, June 12, 2008
“Ethical Challenges to Implementation of Multidisciplinary Collaboration”, presented at conference entitled Promoting Justice Through Interdisciplinary Teaching and Practice, Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri, March 15, 2003
Multidisciplinary Practice and Nonprofits – A National Perspective, Presentation, Virginia State Bar Annual Pro Bono Conference, May 18, 2001
Developing Alternative Lawyering Skills Through International Exchange, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, January 2000