Peter Edelman

Peter B. Edelman "is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches constitutional law and poverty law. A member of the faculty since 1982, he has served in all three branches of government. He took leave during President Clinton's first term to serve as Counselor to HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and then as Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

"Professor Edelman has been Associate Dean of the Law Center, Director of the New York State Division for Youth, and Vice President of the University of Massachusetts. He was a Legislative Assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and was Issues Director for Senator Edward Kennedy's Presidential campaign in 1980. Prior to working for Robert Kennedy, he was a Law Clerk to Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg and before that to Judge Henry J. Friendly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He also worked in the U.S. Department of Justice as Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General John Douglas in the Civil Division, and was a partner in the law firm of Foley & Lardner.

"Mr. Edelman's book, Searching for America's Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope, is available in paperback from the Georgetown University Press. He has written extensively on poverty, constitutional law, and children and youth. His article in the Atlantic Monthly, entitled "The Worst Thing Bill Clinton Has Done," received the Harry Chapin Media Award. With Harry Holzer and the late Paul Offner, he recently co-authored Reconnecting Disconnected Young Men, published by Urban Institute Press.

"Professor Edelman has chaired and been a board member of numerous organizations and foundations. In addition to serving currently as board president of the New Israel Fund, he is chair of the recently created District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission and board chair of the National Center for Youth Law. He is also a board member of the Public Welfare Foundation, the Center for Law and Social Policy, the American Progress Action Fund, and a number of other nonprofit organizations. He is currently a member of the American Bar Association Presidential Task Force on Access to Justice.

"Mr. Edelman has been a United States-Japan Leadership Program Fellow, was the J. Skelly Wright Memorial Fellow at Yale Law School, and has received numerous honors and awards for his work, including the William J. Brennan, Jr. Award from the D.C. Bar in 2005. He grew up in Minneapolis , Minnesota , and graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School."


 * OSI: Board of Trustees, Advisory Boards, and Committees (Listing as of May 1, 2002)
 * Director, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights
 * Chair, Public Welfare Foundation
 * Director, Equal Rights Center
 * Director, Innovations in Civic Participation
 * Advisory Council, JStreet

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 * Marian Edelman