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The Non-Profit Leadership Institute at Francis Marion University

Instructors

Clinical Professor 

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law

 

Professional Experience:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law—Clinical Professor 

· Planned, launched and now directs a Community Development Law Clinic in which upper level students provide business counsel to North Carolina nonprofit organizations (2001-present). 

· Co-direct Externship Program (1999-2002). 

· Research and publication on the Law of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Organizations, Community Economic Development, Comparative Law, and the Law of Emerging Nations. 

· Courses taught include The Law of Nonprofit Organizations and A Narrative Approach to Legal Ethics. (1999 – present)

 

Duke University Center for Documentary Studies

Director of Community Programs

· Founded and directed an award-winning, university-based, community-focused program that used oral history, documentary photography and film as tools for community-building, leadership development, and education. 

· Supervised a large staff, raised more than $1,000,000 to support programs, coordinated numerous field projects, managed a large and complex budget. (1994-1999)

 

Foley, Hoag & Eliot

Litigation Associate

· General corporate practice in a premier Boston law firm. (1992-1994)

 

United States Peace Corps

Volunteer

· Supervised a team of agriculture extension agents and approximately 500 farmers in a USAID-funded seed multiplication project in the Republic of Niger.  Lived in a grass hut in a village of 450 people. (1986-1988)

 

Education

Northeastern University School of Law

· Juris Doctor, 1991 - Concentration in Public International Law

 

Harvard University

· Bachelor of Arts, 1984 - Major in Government

 

Publications

Forthcoming Law Review Article:

· Cell Phones and Oracles: Legal Globalization Meets the Marabout’s Mystical Justice in the West African Republic of Niger.

 

Published Law Review Articles

· Rediscovering Vulgar Charity: A Historical Analysis of America’s Tangled Nonprofit Law, 73 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 2437 (May 2005).

· Squeezing Parakeets Into Pigeon Holes: The Effects of Globalization and State Legal Reform in Niger on Indigenous Zarma Law, 34 NYU JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND POLITICS 635 (Spring 2002).

 

Other Publications

· Blame Henry VIII for Charity’s Conundrum, THE CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY (August 7, 2003).

· At What Cost Research?, THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION (October 6, 2001).

· There’s No Such Thing as ‘Bad’ Charity, THE CHRONICLE OF PHILANTHROPY (August 9, 2001).

· The Case of the Purloined Millet, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW SCHOOLS AFRICA SECTION BULLETIN (July 2001).

· The Road to Niamey, BROTHERS, Hyperion/Esquire (1999).

· Bargaining for Meat in the West African Bush, ESSAYS THAT WORKED FOR LAW SCHOOL, ed. Boykin Curry, Mustang Press (1988).

 

Distinctions and Awards

· Fulbright Scholar (Lecturing and Research Award) in the Republic of Niger.  Visiting Professor of Law at Abou Moumouni University (University of Niamey), 2003-2004.

· Recipient of Competitive Junior Faculty Development Award from UNC-Chapel Hill Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost to support fieldwork on the effects of globalization and state legal reform on rural people of Niger, 2003.           

· Grant from UNC-Chapel Hill University Research Council to support research on customary law, state law, and land tenure reform in Niger, 2000-2001.

· Grant from UNC-Chapel Hill Center for International Studies/US Department of Education to support field research on conceptions of justice and dispute resolution in rural Niger, 2000.

· Fellowship with the Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership (“NGL”) Program, which prepares “the next generation of leaders to sustain and strengthen democracy in the United States and abroad.”  Included fact-finding missions to South Africa and Mozambique, 1997-1999.  (Served on NGL selection panel in 2001 and as a consultant to the program in 2002.)

· Grant from the Trent Foundation to support fieldwork on land tenure reform in rural Zarma villages in Niger, 1996.

· Passed all levels of the United States Foreign Service Exam, including security check, 1994.

· Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University, awarded for outstanding instruction as a teaching fellow in Robert Coles’ course “A Literature of Social Reflection,” 1991.

· Lyndhurst Foundation Young Career Prize, a cash grant awarded by the Foundation to young people who “show passion and promise in their intended careers,” 1990.

 

Civic and Professional Activities

· Member of North Carolina and Massachusetts (retired) bars.

· School of Law delegate to UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Council, 2002-2003.

· Member of the Inclusionary Zoning Taskforce of the North Carolina Triangle J Council of Governments, 2002-2003.

· Member of the African Studies Association, 2003-present.

· Member of the Africa Section of the American Association of Law Schools, 2000-present.

· Member of the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development, 2000-present.

· Board Member, UNC-Chapel Hill Academic Affairs Institutional Review Board, which screens research involving human subjects, 2000-2003.

· Board Member, Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers (TROSA), 1996-2001 (Board Chair 1998-2000).                                                                                     

Trustee, National Community Service Trust, 1996-1998.

· Board Member and Secretary, EquiLibreUSA, an international humanitarian relief organization, 1994-1998.

 

Selected Speeches and Presentations

· “Understanding the Unrelated Business Income Tax,” Conference on Social Enterprise: Developing Earned Income Strategies to Enhance Social and Community Impact, Duke University, June 2005.

· “Oracles and Cellphones: Conflict Between Legal Globalization and Custom in the West African Republic of Niger,” Faculty Seminar on Ecology and Social Process in Africa, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, March 2005.

· “International Community Economic Development and Gender: Where in the World is it Working?”  Eighth Annual Conference on Race, Class, and Ethnicity, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, February 2005.

· “Community Economic Development as a Civil Rights Movement: I Still Have a Dream,” Eighth Annual Conference on Race, Class, and Ethnicity, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, February 2005.

· “Evolving Justice and ‘Legal Modernization’ in Niger: Impressions of an American Jurist” (presented in French), American Cultural Center, United States Embassy of Niger, July 2004.

· “Beyond Community Development Block Grants: Structuring Joint Ventures Between For-Profit and Nonprofit Entities,” North Carolina Community Development Academy, Chapel Hill, NC, January 2003.

· “Inclusionary Zoning and Affordable Housing in North Carolina: What Will the Law Permit?” Housing Opportunities in the Triangle Conference, Raleigh, NC, January 2003.

· “The Effect of State Legal Reform in Niger on Indigenous Zarma Law,” (presented as part of a panel on State and Customary Law in a Neo/Post Colonial World), Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, June 2002.

· “Intellectual Property Law: What Visual Artists Need to Know,” a learning module presented at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, May 2002.

· “The Nuts and Bolts of Starting a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation,” a learning module offered through Duke University’s Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management and numerous conferences and gatherings, 1999.

· “Africans’ University Experience In the United States: Strategies for Getting There and Advice On How To Survive” (presented in French), American Cultural Center in Niamey, Niger, May 2000.

· “Media Perils: A Practical Guide to Avoiding Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, and Copyright Infringement,” presented at the Festival of Legal Learning sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 

Languages

 

· French and Zarma (speaking, reading – fluent).  German (rusty).

Dr. Thomas Kelley III