Forman, Sarah Jane
Clinical Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Youth Justice Clinic
Contact
- Room: Clinic
- Telephone: 313-596-9805
- E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- J.D. Boston College '05
- B.A. University of Michigan '97
- Curriculum Vitae
Sarah Jane is an Assistant Professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law where she teaches the Youth Justice Clinic and a Juvenile Justice course. As Director of the Youth Justice Clinic, Professor Forman supervises third year law students as they provide high quality representation to indigent youth in the juvenile court. The clinic follows a youth development approach to advocacy such that clinic students work closely with youth, their families, schools, and social service providers to maximize positive outcomes for clients.
Prior to joining the faculty at University of Detroit, Professor Forman was a faculty fellow at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis where she taught the Criminal Justice Clinic and a juvenile justice seminar. She is currently a fellow with the National Juvenile Justice Network’s 2011-2012 Youth Justice Leadership Institute. Professor Forman has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. She began her legal career in the juvenile unit of the Boston public defender‘s office. She also has experience in private criminal defense practice, in the Environmental Justice division of the Environmental Protection Agency, and as a law clerk at the Nature Conservancy.
Professor Forman’s research interests focus on the intersection of juvenile justice, criminal procedure and school policy. Her most recent article, Countering Criminalization: Toward a Youth Development Approach to School Searches will be published in the fall of 2011 in The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Minority Issues. A follow-up piece, Ghetto Education is forthcoming in the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy.
Professor Forman is a member of the AALS Clinical Legal Education Section and the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. She is licensed to practice in Massachusetts, Missouri and Michigan. Professor Forman serves on the boards of the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Griot Museum of Black History in St. Louis.
Publications:
Ghetto Education, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF LAW AND POLICY (Fall 2012).
Countering Criminalization: Toward a Youth Development Approach to School Searches, 14 THE SCHOLAR: ST. MARY'S REVIEW ON MINORITY ISSUES 301 (2011).
Presentation:
Working group leader, Juvenile Law Working Groups at the AALS 2012 Conference on Clinical Legal Education: Takeaways for Clinical Teaching and Assessment in a Changing Environment; Los Angeles, California; Spring 2012.
News Items:
Quoted in wired.com article: Uncompromising Photos Expose Juvenile Detention in America, April 11, 2012.