Monica Teixeira de Sousa

Monica Teixeira de Sousa
Monica Teixeira de SousaDistinguished Research Professor of LawDirector of the Housing Policy Clinic

Contact Information

401-254-4518mteixeiradesousa@rwu.edu

Education

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
B.A., Brown University

Monica Teixeira de Sousa is a Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law where she teaches Property, Family Law, and Race & the Foundations of American Law.  Prior to joining the RWU Law faculty in 2022, Monica was a tenured professor at New England Law | Boston where she created and served as the director of the First Generation Students Program.  Before her academic career, Professor Teixeira de Sousa was a staff attorney at Rhode Island Legal Services, where she began practicing in 2002 as a Skadden Fellow and created a school-based legal clinic at her former elementary school in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She represented parents and students in school discipline and special education cases, as well as public benefits and eviction defense matters.

Professor Teixeira de Sousa has written and presented on issues of equity and education law and policy. In 2014, she took a sabbatical from academic teaching and worked as a volunteer attorney in the Public Benefits Unit at Rhode Island Legal Services. Her current pro bono work includes volunteering in the Housing Unit at Rhode Island Legal Services through a collaboration with the law school's Feinstein Center for Pro Bono & Experiential Education.  Professor Teixeira de Sousa has served as a member of the Rhode Island College Upward Bound Program Alumni Scholarship Committee since 2013. She also serves on the board of directors of both the Cape Verdean American Lawyers Association and the nonprofit Justice at Work.  Professor Teixeira de Sousa earned her JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002 and her BA from Brown University in 1998.  

Articles 

"Class Houses: Fragility and Disunity in the Ranks of Academe or Democratizing the Future of Legal Education According to the Vision of Ivan Illich," 15 Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal 1 (2018) 

"Violence Against Women and the Law," 10 Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought (2017)(with David L. Richards and Jillienne Haglund)

"Compelling Honesty: Amending Charter School Enrollment Laws to Aid Society's Most Vulnerable," 45 The Urban Lawyer 105 (2013) 

"The State of Our Unions: How President Obama’s Education Reforms Threaten the Working Class," 50 University of Louisville Law Review 201 (2011) 

"A Race to the Bottom? President Obama’s Incomplete and Conservative Strategy for Reforming Education in Struggling Schools or The Perils of Ignoring Poverty," 39 Stetson Law Review 629 (2010)  

"The Politics of Supplementing Failure Under NCLB: How Both Left and Right Are Forcing Low-Income Children to Choose Between a Deficient Education and Working Overtime," 10 Nevada Law Journal 118 (2009) 

Close Course Type Descriptions

Course Types

We have classified RWU Law classes under the following headers. One of the following course types will be attached to each course which will allow students to narrow down their search while looking for classes.

Core Course

Students in the first and second year are required to take classes covering the following aspects of the law—contracts, torts, property, criminal law, civil procedure, and constitutional law, evidence, and professional responsibility.  Along with these aspects, the core curriculum will develop legal reasoning skills.

Elective

After finishing the core curriculum the remaining coursework toward the degree is completed through upper level elective courses.  Students can choose courses that peak their interests or courses that go along with the track they are following.

Seminar

Seminars are classes where teachers and small groups of students focus on a specific topic and the students complete a substantial research paper.

Clinics/Externships

Inhouse Clinics and Clinical Externships legal education is law school training in which students participate in client representation under the supervision of a practicing attorney or law professor.  RWU Law's Clinical Programs offer unique and effective learning opportunities and the opportunity for practical experience while still in law school.