Emily R. Sutcliffe

Emily R. Sutcliffe is Associate Dean for Public Interest and Executive Director of the Toll Public Interest Center at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Emily leads the law school’s efforts to anchor and expand its public interest initiatives, made possible by the Robert and Jane Toll Foundation’s $50 million gift—the biggest donation of its kind to a law school. As steward of the oldest and largest pro bono requirement in the country, she works to ensure that Penn Carey Law’s commitment to service and experiential learning remains vibrant and attuned to the modern realities of injustice, and that all PCL graduates are inspired and equipped to utilize their law degrees, in any sector, to meaningfully advance the public good.

A proud Penn alumna, Emily earned a PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology and holds master’s degrees in Nonprofit Leadership and Teaching, Learning, and Leadership. She regularly researches, writes, and speaks on matters of race, social class, religion, and belonging. Emily teaches courses on social change, group dynamics, and leadership at Penn Carey Law and SP2. She has served as a content area expert on transformational and participatory learning methodologies for the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative and has led trainings for human rights attorneys and Supreme Court Justices in Malaysia, Zambia, Ghana, and Burkina Faso.

Emily serves on several nonprofit boards in Philadelphia and was a founding board member of the Youth Sentencing and Re-Entry Project (YSRP). Early in her career, she worked in refugee resettlement at the Nationalities Service Center, served as a nonprofit consultant for the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office, and spent three years as a private English teacher for the Al Saud and Al Sudairi royal families in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.