Faculty Impact

Our faculty is engaged in a constant quest for knowledge and wisdom it can share with our students as well as with the legal profession, scholars, policy makers, and others, consistent with Penn State’s role as a world-class research university.

Lucy Johnston-Walsh KINSHIP CARE REPORT BY CLINICAL PROFESSOR JOHNSTON-WALSH

February 2021 — Prof. Lucy Johnston-Walsh, Director of the Penn State Dickinson Law Children’s Advocacy Clinic, contributed along with other experts in the field to a report entitled “Kinship Care in Pennsylvania: Creating an Equitable System for Families,” addressing the role of kin in the child welfare system. Several children’s advocacy organizations contributed to the report, including American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law; Community Legal Services; Juvenile Law Center; Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, and Temple Legal Aid Office. Full story

Lucy Johnston-Walsh CLINICAL PROFESSOR JOHNSTON-WALSH’S FORTHCOMING ARTICLE

January 2021 — Clinical Professor Lucy Johnston-Walsh’s forthcoming article will be published in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice in March 2021. The article is entitled “Life is a Highway: Addressing Legal Obstacles to Foster Youth Driving.” Full story

Lucy Johnston-Walsh and Alison Lintal CLINICAL AND EXTERNSHIP FACULTY RECEIVE OFFER TO PUBLISH ARTICLE ON VIRTUAL EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

December 2020 — Lucy Johnston-Walsh, Clinical Professor and Director of the Children’s Advocacy Clinic and Alison Lintal, Director of Career Services and Internship Programs co-authored an article entitled, “Tele-Lawyering and The Virtual Learning Experience: Finding the Silver Lining for Remote Hybrid Externships & Law Clinics after the Pandemic” which has been accepted for publication in the Akron Law Review. Full story

Kortright and Johnson-Walsh BACK TO THE FUTURE: CHALLENGES TO THE USAGE OF TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY BY FOSTER YOUTH

October 2020 — In this post published on the University of Michigan Law's Journal of Law and Mobility blog, Professor Lucy Johnston-Walsh and Emily Kortright ‘21 explore the transportation challenges faced by foster children and the ways in which new and emerging forms of transportation may impact those challenges. Full story

Lucy Johnston-Walsh CLINICAL PROFESSOR JOHNSTON-WALSH PARTNERS WITH LAW STUDENT KORTRIGHT ON BLOG RELATED TO FOSTER YOUTH TRANSPORTATION

October 2020 — Clinical Professor Lucy Johnston-Walsh recently co-authored a blog post for a University of Michigan law journal. The topic was foster youth transportation. Full story

Lucy Johnston-Walsh PROFESSOR JOHNSTON-WALSH HELPS CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY STUDENTS DEVELOP A BLOG TO ADDRESS IMPACT OF PANDEMIC

April 2020 — As the pandemic spread across our country, Children’s Advocacy Clinic students buckled down to analyze the impact of the pandemic on their clients, as well as foster youth across the state. Professor Lucy Johnston-Walsh determined that one of the best ways the clinic could respond was to haves clinic students create blog posts in which they shared information about the impact of the pandemic. Full story

Lucy Johnston-Walsh PROFESSOR JOHNSTON-WALSH DISCUSSES COVID-19 IMPACT ON FOSTER YOUTH

April 2020 — Clinical Professor Lucy Johnston-Walsh presented on the topic of “COVID-19’s Impact on the Legal Rights of Youth in the Foster Care System” during the University of Oklahoma Law’s Fifth Mini-Conferences on Coronavirus and the Law. Full story

Children's Advocacy Clinic Meeting CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CLINIC CELEBRATES PASSAGE OF FOSTER CARE YOUTH COLLEGE TUITION WAIVER

July 2019 — When Professor of Clinical Law Lucy Johnston-Walsh founded the Children’s Advocacy Clinic at Dickinson Law in 2006, her vision included taking on policy projects addressing systemic issues in the legal system that impact children. It took more than a decade, but one of the first things the Clinic advocated for—waiving college tuition for foster children at Pennsylvania colleges—has finally come to fruition.

Lucy Johnston-Walsh CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY CLINIC DIRECTOR JOHNSTON-WALSH CELEBRATES TUITION WAIVER PASSAGE

July 2019 — Clinical Professor Lucy Johnston-Walsh recently partnered with youth advocates across the state to work towards the passage of tuition waiver legislation for foster youth and celebrated the new law in June of 2019. Pennsylvania foster youth now are entitled to tuition waivers at colleges across the state. This program will provide a huge benefit for foster youth and represents years of advocacy work. Full story

Lucy Johnston-Walsh PROF. RECEIVES 2019 PENN STATE ACHIEVING WOMEN AWARD

April 2019 — Clinical Professor of Law Lucy Johnston-Walsh received the 2019 Achieving Women Award in the Faculty category from Penn State. This prestigious award recognizes Penn State women who have shown notable leadership and accomplishment in their fields and have gone beyond the requirements of their employment duties and responsibilities in support of the University’s diversity efforts, promotion of equal opportunity, or contribution to human causes and public service activities. Full story