Michael Foreman

Director, Civil Rights Appellate Clinic and Clinical Professor of Law

Michael Foreman focuses on appellate representation in civil rights issues and employment discrimination cases and directs Penn State Law’s Civil Rights Appellate Clinic, which has served as counsel of record on numerous cases in United States Supreme Court and the federal appellate courts.

In addition to other merits work in the employment area, the clinic has served as counsel on amicus briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court in many of its key employment cases including Groff v. Dejoy; Southwest Airlines Company v. Saxon; Our Lady of Guadalupe v. St. James School; Comcast Corporation v. National Association of African American Owned Media; Fort Bend County v. Davis; Encino Motor Cars LLC v. Navarro et. al.; Mach Mining Inc. v EEOC; Nassar v. Southwestern Medical Center; Vance v. Ball State; Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP; Staub v. Proctor Hospital; Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson; Gross v FBL Financial Services, Inc.; Ricci v. DeStefano; and Pyett v. 14 Penn Plaza, LLC.

In the circuit courts, most recently his clinic has served as counsel on the merits, or for amici in Jeffords v. Navex Global Inc. (9th Cir. No. 23-35271), and Fitzgerald v. Roncalli High School (7th Cir. No. 22-2954). Other circuit court work includes Doe v. the Law School Admissions Council, (3rd. Cir. Nos 17-3230 and 3357); Baptiste v. Lynch (3rd Cir. No. 14-4476); Jones v. The City of Boston, (1st Cir. No. 15-2015); Lopez v. The City of Boston (1st Cir. No. 14-1952); DeMasters v. Carilion (4th Cir. No. 13-22278); and Ellis v. Ethicon (3d. Cir. Nos. 10-1919, 12-1361).

Professor Foreman has frequently been called upon to testify before Congress and the EEOC on the impact of the Supreme Court decisions affecting civil rights and employment issues. He also teaches the Advanced Employment Discrimination and The Employment Relationship courses.

Prior to joining Penn State Law, he was Deputy Director of Legal Programs for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Professor Foreman was also acting Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, where he served as the lead attorney for the Commission’s investigation of the voting irregularities in the 2000 presidential election. A recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Outstanding Heroism, Professor Foreman has been honored by Shippensburg University with the Jesse S. Heiges Distinguished Alumnus Award. He was also selected by Harvard Law School to as a Wasserstein Fellow, which recognizes dedicated service in the public interest field.