Jerome Hughes
Associate Professor of Law & Director of Community Development Law Clinic
Jerome Hughes is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law and directs the Community Development Law Clinic. As the director of UDC’s Community Development Law Clinic, he supervises students in the representation of local entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and cooperative housing developments. Through an intensive clinical experience, student attorneys build foundational skills in business and transactional lawyering, including client interviewing and counseling, contract drafting, organizational formation, legal research, and the management of multiple and complex client matters.
Jerome’s career has focused on community, economic, and equitable development with an emphasis on affordable housing and shared ownership. Prior to legal practice, he supported social and economic development in the Blackbelt and Gulf Coast regions. Jerome transitioned to legal practice after completing graduate research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he researched employee and shared ownership arrangements.
Jerome’s legal practice has emphasized affordable housing development, financing, and shared equity transactions, including work as an attorney with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Jerome’s scholarship explores how the organizational law of cooperatives, social enterprise, and employee ownership impact inequality and poverty. As part of the US Fulbright program, Jerome studied stakeholder institutions in South Africa. Jerome is licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and New York.