Assistant Dean for Pro Bono and
Public Interest Programs. Dean Klothen earned her undergraduate degree at
the University of Michigan in 1972 and her J.D. from the Vanderbilt University
School of Law in 1975. She is a member of the Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania
bars. After graduation, Dean Klothen became a staff attorney and subsequently
managing attorney for Georgia Legal Services. She then went to Washington,
D.C., to serve as a federal agency fraud litigator. Most recently she served as
the founding director of Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program (VIP)
and director of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, both of which have been
honored with national and state awards.
A consultant for the American Bar Association and private
law firms, Dean Klothen has been recognized for her work with the Robert Drinan
Award for Outstanding Public Service from the AALS in 2009 and was honored by
Philadelphia VIP for her critical role in the organization's success at
its 30th anniversary celebration in 2011. She was the
recipient of the Pro Bono Coordinator of the Year Award from the National
Association of Pro Bono Coordinators; the Equal Justice Award from Community
Legal Services in Philadelphia; the Outstanding Service Award from the
Pennsylvania Bar Association; and the Excellence Award from Pennsylvania Legal
Services. She is frequently invited to speak about pro bono program design and
implementation at national conferences such as AALS, Equal Justice Works (EJW),
American Bar Association, National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA)
and others.
Selected other professional activities include
appointments to the Federal Judicial Nominating Commission for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania; the Civil Justice Advisory Committee for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania United States District Court; and membership, with a
year as chair, on the University of Pennsylvania Law School Public Service
Advisory Committee. Dean Klothen also serves on the board of City Year
Greater Philadelphia and on the national board of MAZON: a Jewish Response to
Hunger, among others.
Her publications include
"Building the Ethic of Public Service--Penn Law School's Mandatory Public
Service Program Completes Its Fifth Year" (The Philadelphia Lawyer, 1996);
"Why Pro Bono? Why Us? Why You?" (Younger Lawyers Section,
Pennsylvania Bar Association Newsletter, 1988); "Nowhere Else to
Turn," a documentary on the need for legal services in Pennsylvania, 1988;
and "In the Child's Best Interest...A Guide to Custody Proceedings,"
a documentary for pro se custody litigants, 1992.
