Robert Fellmeth, JD

Professor

University of San Diego

L9 THE STATUS OF ABUSED CHILDREN AND THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL

Professor Robert Fellmeth graduated from Stanford University and the Harvard Law School.  He worked for Ralph Nader from 1968-73, starting what the press has called  “Nader’s Raiders” - groups of young lawyers who investigated federal agencies, wrote health and safety laws, and formed part of the consumer movement in the 1970s.  In 1973, Professor Fellmeth became a public prosecutor in San Diego, later cross- commissioned as an assistant US Attorney.  For the past 25 years he has been a tenured professor at the University of San Diego, School of Law, where he now holds the Price Chair in Public Interest Law.

In 1989 Professor Fellmeth created the Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI), a statewide law firm for children.  CAI is also an academic center at the University of San Diego Law School and trains child advocates.  CAI publishes the California Children’s Regulatory Law Reporter, the annual Children’s Report Card on Legislators, and regular analyses of federal, state and local public spending on children (Children’s Budgets).  See www.caichildlaw.org

Professor Fellmeth’s scholarship includes 14 books and treatises, and 150 articles, op eds and columns.   He has drafted and co-sponsored fifty federal and state statutes – ranging from sunshine, special prosecutor and campaign reform proposals to antitrust and consumer law measures. His litigation background includes 40 reported appellate cases. He teaches a survey course on child rights using his text: Child Rights and Remedies (Clarity, 2002, 2d ed. 2006).   

He has served on the :Board of Directors of Consumers Union and California Common Cause, and currently serves as the Chair of the Public Citizen Foundation in Washington, D.C., and as Secretary to the National Association of Counsel for Children. He is counsel to the Board of Voices for America’s Children and serves on the Board of Foundation of America – Youth in Action, the Maternal and Child Health Access Foundation, and First Star.