Law Talks

Penn State Dickinson Law Professor Emeritus Bob Rains will give a series of informal talks on different aspects of the law. No prior legal knowledge is required. Bob will not answer any questions about individuals’ legal problems.

Session topics include:

10/3: The U.S. Supreme Court, with a look at how it operates, selected decisions from the 2023-2024 term, and a preview of the 2024-2025 term.

10/10: Pennsylvania Family Law, the basics: marriage, divorce, custody and support.

10/17: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), standards and procedures. 

After he graduated Harvard Law School in 1974, Bob Rains served as a Deputy Attorney General in the Pennsylvania Department of Justice for five years, working primarily in the human services area. From 1979 to 1983, he was in private practice with his wife, Andrea Jacobsen. Bob joined the full-time faculty of the Dickinson Law School (now Penn State Dickinson Law) in 1983. In addition to teaching a full load of academic courses, he served as co-director of the law school’s Family Law Clinic for thirty years. He also founded the law school’s Disability Law Clinic in 1985 and served as its director until he retired from the law school in 2013. In both clinics, he supervised upper-level law students representing indigent clients in administrative proceedings and court. He has written and lectured widely on legal issues both in the United States and overseas.