Kamala Harris

Incoming Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to Teach at Georgetown Law

“I know our students will greatly benefit from his experience and insight, and I am eagerly looking forward to his arrival"

doug emhoff kamala harris
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, is set to join the faculty of Georgetown Law in D.C. next month.

Emhoff will serve as a Distinguished Visitor from Practice and teach a two-credit course in the spring semester called “Entertainment Law Disputes." He will also serve as a Distinguished Fellow of Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy. That's part of a new entertainment and media law initiative for the law school that will include a speaker series and other projects.

“Doug is one of the nation’s leading intellectual property and business litigators, and he has a strong commitment to social justice,” Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor said in a statement. “I know our students will greatly benefit from his experience and insight, and I am eagerly looking forward to his arrival.”

Emhoff had planned to leave his private law practice by Inauguration Day to focus on his White House duties as the second gentleman. He had wanted to avoid appearances of conflicts of interest because his firm, DLA Piper, has a lobbying presence in Washington.

“I’ve long wanted to teach and serve the next generation of young lawyers,” Emhoff said in the statement issued by Georgetown Law. “I couldn’t be more excited to join the Georgetown community.” 

The Biden-Harris transition team says Emhoff's role at Georgetown will be separate from his role as second gentleman and that he is working to develop a portfolio to support the work of the administration.

The incoming first lady, Jill Biden, is an educator who has said she wants to keep teaching at a community college.

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