Professor. Lawyer. Speaker.

Professor Yvette Pappoe writes on anti-discrimination law with a focus on the intersection of race and gender and how the legal system tackles those complexities in administering justice. Professor Pappoe’s scholarship examines the ways in which historically disadvantaged minority groups are impacted by existing social and legal structures. Her most recent article, “The Shortcomings of Title VII for the Black Female Plaintiff,” published in the University of Pennsylvania’s Journal of Law and Social Change, examines existing social and legal regimes to analyze how they disadvantage minority groups with a focus on Black women and nondiscrimination jurisprudence in the employment context. Professor Pappoe currently teaches Torts, Advanced Torts, and Professional Responsibility at the University of The District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC Law). 

After law school, Professor Pappoe clerked for the Honorable Douglas R. M. Nazarian on the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland and practiced civil litigation in the Products Liability & Mass Torts Group at Miles & Stockbridge, P.C. She has received several awards and accolades for her commitment to excellence, scholarship and the community, including the Elizabeth Maxwell Carroll Chestnut Prize at University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Law Student of the Year by the National Jurist and “Top 40 Under 40” by the National Black Lawyers Association. Prior to joining UDC Law, Professor Pappoe served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at her alma mater, the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she taught Torts and Critical Race Theory. She was selected "Professor of the Year" by Carey Law’s Black Law Students Association.  

Professor Pappoe earned a B.A., magna cum laude, in Sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.  

She is admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia.