Fordham Law School is pleased to announce that Norrinda Brown Hayat, one of clinical legal education’s rising stars and an award-winning housing advocate, has been appointed to the full-time faculty. She will join the faculty in the fall and will be teaching a housing-related clinic in the upcoming spring semester.
“I am excited to join Fordham’s wonderful faculty and to teach and engage with students interested in aiding the right to counsel in eviction cases and joining the fight for the right to housing in New York City and beyond,” said Professor Hayat.
Hayat comes to Fordham Law from Rutgers Law School, where she was an associate professor of law and taught courses in Property Law, Critical Race Theory, and Landlord Tenant Law. There, she also served as director of the Civil Justice Clinic and as advisor to the African and Black Law Students Association and the Newark Housing Rights Coalition.
“We are fortunate to have Professor Hayat join our outstanding faculty,” said Fordham Law Dean Matthew Diller. “Her expertise on housing law issues will be a vital addition. I look forward to the important contributions she will undoubtedly make both in the classroom and via her scholarship that will enrich our Law School community and beyond.”
Hayat received Pratt Grants in both 2019 and 2021 for the development and oversight of the Newark Anti-Eviction Project. She represented Rutgers Law earlier this year at the White House summit on the efforts made by law schools to answer U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s call to action to address the eviction crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hayat’s research focuses on the intersection of law and issues of race, gender, and access to housing, and her work has appeared in journals such as the California Law Review, the NYU Journal of Law and Social Change, the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, and the Clinical Law Review. She has authored numerous op-eds for and offered commentary to various news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Shelterforce, and the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
Previously, Hayat served as an assistant and then associate professor at University of the District of Columbia’s David A. Clarke School of Law, where she taught Critical Race Theory and Black Lives Matter & the Law, as well as a seminar and clinic in housing. She was a co-convener of “FHA@50: Renewing our Commitment to Housing Equity,” a symposium held in 2018 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act and explore the present-day challenges to achieving its promise.
Hayat began her legal career in private practice at Hogan & Hartson, DLA Piper, and Booth & Tucker, and worked as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section. During her nearly decade-long tenure at the Civil Rights Division, Hayat led a case that resulted in the DOJ’s first combined police practices and fair housing settlement.
Hayat serves on various professional service committees, including the Executive Committee of the Clinical Section of the American Association of Law Schools—the largest section in the organization. She was awarded the Junior Faculty of the Year award by the Society of American Law Teachers in 2021.
Hayat received her A.B. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law.
