معرفی
Kate Skolnick is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University, joining the faculty in 2025. Her work bridges legal scholarship, clinical teaching, and advocacy in criminal justice reform. She previously served as an Acting Assistant Professor in the Lawyering Program at New York University School of Law, where she taught first-year lawyering and a reading group on prison and police abolition.
Her educational background includes a BA from Stanford University, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a JD from Columbia Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of The Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual and received Kent and Stone Scholar designations and the Lowenstein Fellowship.
Professor Skolnick’s research critically examines the criminal legal system, with a focus on dismantling mass incarceration and promoting reintegration and societal participation for those impacted by the carceral system. Her work intersects with sentencing reform, post-conviction advocacy, and abolitionist theory. She has published in leading legal journals such as the NYU Law Review.
Her recent publications explore discretionary resentencing, pathways from incarceration to higher education, and the treatment of prisoners with mental illness. These works reflect a consistent engagement with systemic inequities, institutional reform, and epistemic justice within legal processes.
- 2022 Award for Outstanding Achievements in Promoting Standards of Excellence in Mandated Representation from the New York State Bar Association
She has advised and taught law students through clinical programs and reading groups, particularly focusing on public defense, abolition, and legal empowerment. Her professional experience includes nearly fifteen years as a post-conviction public defender at the Center for Appellate Litigation (CAL), where she litigated appeals, collateral attacks, resentencing petitions, and sex offender registration hearings. She also taught in the Appellate Criminal Defense Clinic at Cornell Law School. Her fellowship at Columbia Law School involved research on programs supporting formerly incarcerated individuals in accessing higher education.
Professor Skolnick’s work is deeply rooted in institutional and social change, combining frontline legal practice with scholarly critique and pedagogical innovation. She continues to contribute to transformative justice discourse through teaching, writing, and advocacy.
