Professor of Law Cortney Lollar has joined Georgia State University College of Law as the new Faculty Director of the Center for Access to Justice (A2J). The center educates and trains students interested in pursuing public interest or pro bono work while also conducting and facilitating research to help identify and better understand the difficulties low-income individuals face in navigating the legal system.
“We are thrilled to welcome Professor Lollar,” said Darcy McLean, deputy director of A2J and director of public interest programs. “Her background and experience position her well to further the center’s research and community engagement, and we are so fortunate to have her joining our faculty.”
Lollar teaches and researches in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence, with a focus on the intersections of criminal law, remedies, race, gender, sexuality, and social science. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court as well as other federal and state courts. Prior to joining Georgia State Law, Lollar was the inaugural Norman and Carole Harned Law and Public Policy professor at the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law, where she received the university-wide Great Teachers Award in 2022. She previously represented adult and juvenile defendants at the trial and appellate level at the Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Georgia and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
Lollar has served as a legal consultant in India for I-MAK, and a research assistant to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women.
“I have always desired to use my legal knowledge and my position as a professor in a manner that is influenced by, and has an impact on, what’s happening on the ground in communities and courtrooms,” Lollar said. “For the law to be an effective tool, it must be responsive to the needs of people in our communities, particularly those who have historically struggled to access the legal system. If we want the law to be an instrument of change, we must engage in an ongoing dialogue with the communities most impacted by particular laws.”
College of Law students volunteer at the Judge Romae T. Powell Juvenile Justice Center for Alternative Spring Break.
The Center for Access to Justice has made an impact in addressing issues affecting communities in and around the southeast, Lollar said, and she is excited to help continue to move that work forward as its Faculty Director.
“I would love to see the center continue to be at the forefront of legal issues highlighting deficiencies in access to justice and working on ways to improve that access,” Lollar said. “I intend to maintain those commitments. I also anticipate the center will remain a space where community leaders and academics come together in conversation to help envision and create a fairer, more just community. Finally, and most importantly, I’m excited for the center to remain a central hub for public interest students and pro bono opportunities within GSU and in the communities we serve.”
In addition to running A2J, this fall Lollar will teach “Alternative Visions of Criminal Justice.” The seminar was inspired by events of the past few years and the public dialogue that has emerged, much of which has focused on racial injustices in our criminal legal system, she said.
A2J was founded in 2016 by former Georgia State Law Professor Lauren Sudeall, who served as its director until May 2023; Sudeall now teaches at Vanderbilt Law School.
Through the center, faculty and students conduct research and host community education programs to explore and address obstacles to access justice in both civil and criminal courts. The center also houses an award-winning pro bono program, Alternative Spring Break trips, and a Public Interest Law and Policy certificate (PILP).
Darcy McLean, Assistant Director of the Center for Access to Justice, volunteers with College of Law students at the Atlanta Community Food Bank
Through the center, students have provided more than 6,500 hours of pro bono service to about a dozen organizations. More than 140 students have participated in spring break trips, including working with Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) to represent families facing eviction, the state public defender in Mississippi to document access to counsel in lower-level criminal courts, Georgia Legal Services Program to produce short videos with information for rural litigants navigating court without counsel, the Victims Legal Assistance Network (VLAN) to learn how to serve families and survivors of domestic violence, Georgia Team Ready on disaster preparedness and relief issues, and the Southern Poverty Law Center to represent immigrants in detention in South Georgia.
-Written by Stacey Evans (B.A. '02)