Professor Colleen F. Shanahan

Colleen F. Shanahan is Associate Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia Law School where she directs the Community Advocacy Lab.  Her research focuses on access to justice, empirical studies of civil courts, and the intersection of civil and criminal law including the use of fines and fees in justice systems. She is recognized nationally for her innovative approach to clinical pedagogy as both a teacher and a scholar.  She was named a Bellow Scholar for her empirical access to justice scholarship and currently co-chairs the Bellow Scholar Program. Professor Shanahan was previously on the faculty at Temple University Beasley School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. 

Shanahan has both public and private sector experience. After graduating from the Law School, as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, she clerked for Judge Michael Baylson on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Judge Jane R. Roth on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. She then worked as a litigator for Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. and Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller in Philadelphia.