Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff will join the Georgetown University Law Center faculty as a distinguished visitor from practice to teach an entertainment law course starting in January 2021.

Emhoff, the first second gentleman of the United States, has worked with media, entertainment and intellectual property matters throughout his nearly 30-year law career and will serve as a distinguished fellow of Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy. His two-credit course, titled “Entertainment Law Disputes,” will be available to law students for the spring semester. 

Emhoff looks forward to teaching at Georgetown in the spring, according to a Law Center press release.

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

Emhoff’s work at the Institute for Technology Law and Policy will be part of a new entertainment law and media initiative at Georgetown Law that will include a speaker series and other projects, according to the press release. 

Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor believes Emhoff will make an excellent addition to the Law Center’s faculty, according to the press release.

“I am delighted that Douglas Emhoff will be joining our faculty. Doug is one of the nation’s leading intellectual property and business litigators, and he has a strong commitment to social justice,” Treanor said in the press release. “I know our students will greatly benefit from his experience and insight, and I am eagerly looking forward to his arrival.”

Emhoff’s appointment at the Law Center comes after a Nov. 23 open letter from Georgetown faculty calling for university administrators to develop accountability criteria for former Trump officials before offering campus invitations and appointments.

While Emhoff is excited for the upcoming semester, he remains committed to his role in the Biden transition and administration, according to a Biden transition team spokesperson.

“This role at Georgetown will be separate and apart from his official role as Second Gentleman, and Mr. Emhoff continues to work with the Biden-Harris transition team to develop the portfolio he will focus on to support the work of the Administration,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.