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Michelle Engert Senior Scholar in Residence Department of Justice, Law & Criminology

Contact
Michelle Engert
SPA | Justice, Law & Criminology
Kerwin Hall 249
By appointment
Additional Positions at AU
Academic Pre-Law Advisor, SPA
Affiliate Faculty, History Department, CAS
Degrees
JD, University of New Mexico School of Law
BA, Humanities, University of Texas at Austin

Bio
Michelle Engert joined JLC as a full-time faculty member of JLC after a diverse career as a trial attorney and as a policy advisor. Michelle began her legal career as a trial attorney with the New Mexico Public Defender Department in Santa Fe, before her appointment as an assistant federal public defender in the Offices of the Federal Public Defender for the District of New Mexico and later for the District of Maryland in the Baltimore Division. She has also worked in the national criminal justice policy arena as a senior counsel in the Office for Access to Justice at the United States Department of Justice and as an attorney advisor at the Defender Services Office in the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. In both positions, she worked on issues concerning the Sixth Amendment right to counsel for those who cannot afford retained private lawyers. While practicing law, Michelle taught at AU in an adjunct capacity in the departments of Justice, Law, and Criminology and also in History and American Studies. Michelle was an assistant professor at the America Institute at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, Germany and continues to teach there every summer semester offering courses on criminal law and justice, policing, US government and social and economic inequality. She has been regularly invited to serve as faculty to teach continuing legal education seminars for attorneys in federal practice throughout the United States. In her life outside of the law, Michelle has published and lectured in the US and Europe on Bob Dylan's live performances and cultural significance.
See Also
SPA Department of Justice, Law and Criminology
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Spring 2024

  • HNRS-398 Honors Challenge Course

  • JLC-104 Intro to Systems of Justice

  • JLC-104 Intro to Systems of Justice

Fall 2024

  • JLC-104 Intro to Systems of Justice

  • JLC-410 Topics in Legal Theory: Bob Dylan's Justice