Jeffrey R. Baker

Biography

Professor Baker is the School of Law's Director of Clinical Education and is an Associate Clinical Professor of Law. He directs the clinical program which includes the legal clinics, externships and practicum courses. He supervises and teaches the Community Justice Clinic, and he teaches other courses.

In the Community Justice Clinic, Professor Baker practices with law students to provide pro bono legal services to local nonprofits and international nongovernmental organization dedicated to justice, human rights, and community empowerment among vulnerable and marginalized populations. The Clinic serves clients at work in fields of homelessness and poverty, gender-based crimes and women's empowerment, sustainable agriculture and rainforest conservation, human trafficking and access to education, farm-worker rights and access to justice.

Professor Baker graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School before returning to his home state of Mississippi where he had a diverse trial and appellate practice in complex litigation with the firm of Watkins & Eager. From 2006-2013, Baker was an associate professor of law and Director of Clinical Programs at Faulkner University Jones School of Law in Montgomery, Alabama, where he was Professor of the Year in 2011-2012. Professor Baker is a mediator and regularly teaches and consults on negotiation and conflict resolution.

His scholarship addresses domestic violence and gender justice in families, including intersecting fields of moral philosophy, religion, legal history, social science, and multidisciplinary professional responses. Professor Baker speaks and writes regularly on clinical education, professional formation, public interest lawyering and social justice. He also edits the Clinical Law Prof Blog and is actively involved with the Clinical Legal Education Association and the Section on Clinical Legal Education of the Association of American Law Schools.

In Alabama, he received the Montgomery Advertiser's Martin Luther King Spirit Honors Award and the Justice for Victims Award from the area domestic violence shelter. There he also served in leadership and direction for nonprofits, community and professional organizations.

In California he serves on the boards of nonprofits committed to access to expanding justice, resources, and health for vulnerable communities. He is active in church and neighborhood ministries.

He is a member of the Mississippi, Alabama and California bars.

Education

• J.D., Vanderbilt University, 2000
• B.A., Harding University, 1997, magna cum laude