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CURRICULUM
The Charles Hamilton Houston Pre-law Institute was
founded in 1979 by attorney Donald Temple one year
after his graduation from the University of Santa Clara school of law. In 1980,
attorney Temple joined forces with Attorney Everett Bellamy, then a first year Associate Dean at
Georgetown Law Center.
Classes have been held at the Law Center ever since.
Temple and Bellamy jointly coordinated and taught CHH's five week summer program
until it was extended to seven weeks in 2005.

The Institute was named after the late civil rights Attorney Charles
Hamilton Houston,
as a tribute to his advocacy on behalf of civil rights and
equal justice and is taught in the spirit of
Houstonian jurisprudence.
The CHH Institute, as it is affectionately
called, offers
students a rigorous introduction
to the study
of law. Its orientation
familiarizes students with the substantial legal
accomplishments of Charles Hamilton Houston and the road leading to
Brown v. Board of Education. During
the rigorous a seven (7) week summer course (100 plus class hours),
CHH's demanding professors and, extensive course
work
develops students' legal analysis, legal writing skills, oral
advocacy and study skills. The course also develops self-confidence and
positive attitudes about the study of law.
CHH professors include
a list of accomplished and dedicated
African-American lawyers and educators
including Attorney and present District of
Columbia Bar President, Kim Keenan; Harvard Law,
Professor Charles Ogletree; Law Professor Tanya
Washington; Dean Everett Bellamy; Administrative Law Judge
Jennifer Long; Attorney David Simmons, and Donald
Temple. Additionally, many Washington, D.C. metropolitan area judges and
lawyers support the program and participate in CHH's annual moot
court competition.
The Institute's guest speakers have included,
among others, the late Dean Wiley Branton
(Former Dean of Howard University School of
Law), Attorney James Cobb (former President
of the National Bar Association), The
Honorable William Coleman (Former Secretary
of the Department of Treasury), the
Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, Attorney
Lennox Hinds, Attorney Timothy Jenkins, the
late Thomas Duckenfield (former President
of the National Bar Association), the late Attorney
Frederick Abramson (former President of the
District of Columbia Bar
Association), Law Professor Angela Davis, Professor
John Brittain, the
Honorable Judge William Pryor, the Honorable
Theodore Newman, the Honorable Inez Smith
Reid, Professor Michael Higginbotham,
Attorney Themba Mthetwa, the Honorable
Gerald Bruce Lee and the Honorable Alexander
Williams. Department of Justice Attorney
Felicia Chambers, former president of the
Washington Bar Association, is shown
lecturing to CHH students in the photo
above.
The first week of the CHH program covers an in-depth
Introduction to the Study of Law. During this class,
students are introduced to American jurisprudence, federal and
state court systems, critical legal vocabulary, the civil
litigation process, and case analysis methods. Students
are assigned specific readings in Statsky on Case Analysis
and also required to brief the reported Dred Scot case.
This CHH segment provides students a preliminary understanding
of civil procedure and civil litigation, a sound framework for
development of legal analysis techniques and management of law
school expectations. During the second week, students are
introduced to legal research and writing.
Additionally, they begin the first of three
first year courses: civil procedure, torts
and contracts. In weeks three and four,
students are lectured on appellate advocacy and
assigned an appellate issue to brief and
argue. Appellate briefs are submitted in
week six and argued before a panel of judges
and/or lawyers in formal moot court settings. Students are
required in week seven to take law
school examinations followed by a formal law
school graduation program. All classes are held at
Georgetown Law Center in the evenings, Monday through Friday,
and occasionally on Saturday mornings The
Institute celebrated its 30th consecutive
year in 2009 and its graduates have attended more than sixty
different law schools across the country.
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