Professor Allen founded the School of Law’s Housing Clinic, which he directed from 1991 until his retirement in 2015. He was granted professor emeritus status in 2016. Under his supervision, the Housing & Consumer Law Clinic successfully argued a number of appellate housing issues of first impression, some of which (e.g. tenants’ rights in bankruptcy proceedings) have nationwide implications. For a decade, he directed the Housing Clinic at Antioch School of Law, the predecessor of the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law. From 1975 to 1977, Professor Allen served as a managing attorney of the Legal Aid Society’s Housing Office.

Professor Allen, who was a Fulbright scholar, has written and lectured about housing discrimination and local rent control laws. In 2006, he was awarded the Jerrold Scoutt Prize for sustained, full-time service to under-represented people in the District of Columbia.

Professor Allen earned a B.A. from Amherst College and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1975.