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Board of directors names Lee Arbetman executive director of Street Law, Inc.

Lee Arbetman became involved in the Street Law program at Georgetown University Law Center as a law student over 30 years ago.

October 22, 2009 | Silver Spring, MD

Street Law, Inc.—an international leader in law, democracy, and human rights education—has named Lee Arbetman its new executive director. Arbetman served as acting executive director since December 2008, following the retirement of Street Law co-founder Ed O’Brien.

While holding the position of acting executive director, Arbetman tackled the challenging economic times head-on with unmatched experience, energy, and knowledge. Frank Clarke, chair of the Street Law, Inc. board of directors, announced the promotion, stating, "We are delighted to confirm Lee Arbetman as Street Law, Inc.'s new executive director. His hard work, strong capabilities, and great enthusiasm both as director of U.S. programs and as acting executive director this year, have made him our unanimous choice to lead Street Law into the future."

As a student at George Washington Law School, Arbetman was drawn to the idea of teaching law through a clinical program. He joined the Street Law program at Georgetown, which sent D.C. law students into local public high schools to teach practical law lessons. During his second year of participation, Arbetman was offered a part-time position at the Clinic by its co-founders, Ed O’Brien and Jason Newman. After law school, he stayed with Street Law as the program expanded to law schools outside of D.C. and received a grant from the Department of Justice to spread the program across the nation.

“I look forward to focusing on strengthening and expanding Street Law’s core programs, while bringing our mission to new audiences throughout the world by emphasizing international collaboration and technology.”

- Lee Arbetman

Over the next three decades, Arbetman helped grow Street Law in countless ways, including: helping to build the national network of statewide law-related education centers; authoring and improving future editions of the organization’s flagship textbook, Street Law: A Course in Practical Law, now in its eighth edition; and conceptualizing and launching Street Law’s Supreme Court Institutes and Seminars and Diversity Pipeline programs.

Ralph Lancaster, president of the Supreme Court Historical Society, affirmed, “Under Lee's leadership, Street Law's partnership with the Supreme Court Historical Society has trained over 1,000 educators and helped thousands of students around the country who are receiving high-quality instruction about the Supreme Court as a result of our Institutes and Seminars. The Society values Lee's tenacity and tireless striving to improve our joint programs."

Arbetman is a graduate of Grinnell College, the University of Massachusetts (M. Ed.) and George Washington University Law School (J.D.). He is a former winner of the Isidore Starr award from the American Bar Association and was an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. He is an active member of the National Council for the Social Studies and the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. He and his wife Oona live in the DC-area and have seven-year-old twin daughters.

About Street Law, Inc.

Street Law, Inc. is a nonprofit organization making great strides toward establishing a more just society through practical education about law, democracy, and human rights. For over 35 years, its programs and curricula have promoted knowledge of legal rights and responsibilities, engagement in the democratic process, and belief in the rule of law, among youth and adults. Street Law programs can be found in all 50 states and over 30 countries. For more information visit www.streetlaw.org.