Jill C. Engle

Professor of Clinical Law

Jill C. Engle is a clinical professor of law at Penn State Law in University Park. Previously, she was director of Penn State Law’s Family Law Clinic, which represents clients in domestic violence and other family law cases, and was the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2019 to 2022. The Clinic also does policy work for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, among other organizations. Professor Engle’s scholarship examines gender-based violence, economic inequality, international human rights, racial justice, and best practices in legal education. Before teaching law, Dean Engle did public interest work, including with Head Start and the National League of Cities, worked in private law in State College and Washington, D.C., and taught media law at Penn State. While in law school she was part of the legal team with Morgan Lewis in Washington, D.C. that handled a pro bono appeal for a Texas death row inmate in federal court.

Professor Engle served as a law clerk for the Honorable Neal Kravitz on the D.C. Superior Court. Besides Morgan Lewis, she has also worked at commercial law firms in Bethesda, Maryland and State College, Pennsylvania. Professor Engle remained active in pro bono work while in private practice, and was a recipient of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s 2010 Pro Bono Advocate Award. During law school at American University, Engle was granted a Marshall-Brennan fellowship to teach Constitutional Law in an impoverished Washington, D.C. high school. Professor Engle serves on numerous national, state and local boards and committees regarding legal education, social justice, and the practice of law. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Jill C. Engle

Location: University Park

Email  jne2@psu.edu

Phone  814-865-5047

CV  Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Engle in the Media

Faculty Impact


Education
J.D., American University, cum laude

B.A., Penn State


Current Courses
Constitutional Law I

Family Law

Human Rights, Intersectionality & the Law

Professional Responsibility

Engle’s Publications

Sexual Violence, Intangible Harm, and the Promise of Transformative Remedies, 79 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1045 (2022). 

There Isn’t Any Dumpster, 27 Am. U. J. Gender, Soc. Pol’y & L. 127 (2019). 

Improving Outcomes in Child Poverty and Wellness in Appalachia in the “New Normal” Era: Infusing Empathy into Law, 120 W. Va. L. Rev. (2018) 

Comparing Supreme Court Jurisprudence in Obergefell v. Hodges and Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales: A Watershed Moment for Due Process Liberty, 17 Geo. J. Gender & L. 575 (2016). 

Taming the Tigers: Domestic Violence, Legal Professionalism, and Well-Being, 4 Tenn. J. Race, Gender & Soc. Just. 1 (2015).

Mandatory Reporting of Campus Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence: Moving to a Victim-Centric Protocol that Comports with Federal Law, 24 Temp. Pol. & Civ. Rts. L. Rev. 401 (2015).

Promoting the General Welfare: Legal Reform to Lift Women and Children in the United States Out of Poverty, 16 Iowa J. Gender, Race & Just. 1 (2013).

Collaborative Law in Legal Education: No Time Like the Present, 2 Penn State Yearbook on Arbitration and Mediation 65 (2010).

Confronting Domestic Violence, The Pennsylvania Lawyer 30 (September-October 2012).

Preparing for the Challenges of Child Witnesses, 10 Children’s Rights Issue 39 ABA (2008). 


The American Bar Association has granted conditional approval for Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law to reunify and operate as Penn State University’s single law school under the name Penn State Dickinson Law with locations in Carlisle and University Park. Danielle M. Conway is the dean of the unified Penn State Dickinson Law, which will enroll a unified class in fall 2025.