About
Family law raises questions of social justice with profound personal significance: Who is a parent? Who can marry? What are the rights of nonmarital couples? Who can get an abortion? Legal regulation of family life can set the financial terms of divorce, determine a person’s immigration status, or remove a child from the home for abuse or neglect.
In exploring family law's practical and policy issues at UVA Law School, students benefit from outstanding law school classroom teaching combined with clinical experience, skills training, scholarly inquiry and interdisciplinary collaboration. Family law faculty are involved in research and policy work that profoundly affects the law at the local, regional and global levels, and students have the opportunity to become involved in those activities as well.
The Law School faculty bring their distinctive insights to complex issues such as: how should the law intervene in adult intimate relationships; how should the law regulate markets for assisted reproductive technology; how should states reform the juvenile justice systems to strengthen children and families; who should qualify as a family member in wealth transfer law; and how should the law respond to family-based vulnerabilities at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, religion and age.
June Carbone
In looking at the history of family law, we locate family law – and the status of women and children within it – as a function of political economy...
We live in an age of student surveillance. Once student surveillance just involved on-campus video cameras, school resource officers, and tip lines...
Barbara Ann Atwood
In 2021 the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) gave final approval to the Uniform Cohabitants' Economic Remedies Act (UCERA). The Act provides a framework...
June Carbone
This Article considers the interaction between marriage, households, and public welfare-type benefits. In light of constant cultural and media...
Singlehood is becoming an increasingly important social identity category. Thousands of people are members of Facebook groups such as I am my Own...
June Carbone
The pathway to stable and secure middle-class status involves two elements: the ability to postpone family formation to facilitate human capital...
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Faculty Director(s)
Naomi R. Cahn
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law
Armistead M. Dobie Professor of Law
Co-Director, Family Law Center
Gregg Strauss
Professor of Law
Director, Family Law Center
Research
June Carbone
In looking at the history of family law, we locate family law – and the status of women and children within it – as a function of political economy...
We live in an age of student surveillance. Once student surveillance just involved on-campus video cameras, school resource officers, and tip lines...
Barbara Ann Atwood
In 2021 the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) gave final approval to the Uniform Cohabitants' Economic Remedies Act (UCERA). The Act provides a framework...
June Carbone
This Article considers the interaction between marriage, households, and public welfare-type benefits. In light of constant cultural and media...
Singlehood is becoming an increasingly important social identity category. Thousands of people are members of Facebook groups such as I am my Own...
June Carbone
The pathway to stable and secure middle-class status involves two elements: the ability to postpone family formation to facilitate human capital...
More
This chapter provides a brief history of the first three Restatements of Trusts, and it then offers suggestions for a Restatement (Fourth). As this...
Family law is for young people. To facilitate child rearing and help spouses pool resources over a lifetime, the law obligates parents to minor...
June Carbone
At the time Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, it joined a series of decisions about contraception, the “legitimacy” of nonmarital children, unmarried...
As this Essay shows, the fertility discourse of the last half century deals with the profound effects that come from the transformation of the economy...
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Barbara Atwood
This article reviews the legal status of nonmarital cohabitation in the United States. The recognition of cohabitants’ claims in the United States has...
June Carbone
A series of Supreme Court decisions recognize the end of the federal-state-corporate partnership that once provided a foundation for employment...
This draft book chapter, prepared as part of a symposium on The 100-Year Life by Linda Gratton and Andrew Scott, reflects on the future of family law...
This Article examines one form of property rights available to a surviving spouse, the elective share. The elective share serves as an override to a...
June Carbone
In Blumenthal v. Brewer, the Illinois Supreme Court held that it would not enforce an alleged agreement between a nonmarital couple that centered on...
This article addresses a significant challenge to federal Indian law currently emerging in the federal courts. In 2013, the Supreme Court suggested...
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat Associated System (CRISPR-Cas9) is evolving as a multi-faceted technology that can help in...
Imagine you and your two-year old child move in with your parents, and you rely on them to care for her while you work several jobs at odd hours...
This casebook captures the rapid evolution of doctrine, introduces students to emerging policy debates, and explores issues that arise in family law...
In an increasing number of states, divorce presumptively renders an ex-spouse ineligible to benefit from the testator’s will. Divorce may also impact...
This Article considers the impact of changing family structures on aging in contemporary America. It looks at two critical and interrelated aspects of...
Collecting personal data is a feature of daily life. Businesses, advertisers, agencies, and law enforcement amass massive reservoirs of our personal...
In an increasing number of states, divorce presumptively renders an ex-spouse ineligible to benefit from the testator’s will. Divorce may also impact...
June Carbone
This Article makes two basic points. First, the three-parent family is here. Once states accept that parenthood does not depend on either biology or...
June Carbone
In this article, we contrast the roles of intent, function, biology and marriage in establishing legal parenthood, focusing on differences between...
June Carbone
This article was written as a contribution to the Fordham Law Review Symposium entitled Moore Kinship. It examines the various Supreme Court opinions...
June Carbone
Now that the Supreme Court has reshaped the laws of marriage, attention is shifting to nonmarriage. The law no longer treats intimate couples who do...
Does a liberal state have a legitimate interest in defining the terms of intimate relationships? Prominent theorists have answered this question “no”...
This casebook captures the rapid evolution of doctrine, introduces students to emerging policy debates, and explores issues that arise in family law...
This article addresses the legal regime that affects donor-conceived family communities. It shows how these new relationships both reinforce and...
Resident Faculty
Resident Faculty
Disability law, health law and antidiscrimination law
Juvenile justice, child advocacy, state and local government law
Psychiatry and criminal law, mental health law, bioethics, public health
Family law, trusts and estates, feminist jurisprudence, reproductive technology, and aging and the law
Privacy, First Amendment, feminism and the law, civil rights, administrative law
Criminal law, feminist jurisprudence and women's issues
Affirmative action and equal protection, and constitutional law and theory
Contracts, property and real estate; critical race theory
Health policy, LGBTQ rights
Property, corporations and land conservation, nonprofit organizations
Education law, Civil rights, Affirmative action, Desegregation and integration, Race, Sexual discrimination and harrassment
Education, criminal justice reform, race in American institutions, the role of nonprofit organizations
Children and the law, state and local policy, special education, juvenile justice
Health law and bioethics
Special education, child advocacy and juvenile justice
Domestic relations and family law
International human rights law, Inter-American human rights system, business and human rights, transitional justice
Other Faculty
Affiliated Faculty
Robert Emery, Psychology
Emery’s research focuses on children, families, and psychological processes of special importance to families such as adopting a systems perspective, grieving relationship loss, emotional pain and parenting across two homes.
Charlotte Patterson, Psychology
Patterson’s research focuses on the psychology of sexual orientation, with an emphasis on sexual orientation, human development and family lives.
Brad Wilcox, Sociology
The director of the National Marriage Project at UVA, Wilcox focuses on marriage, fatherhood and cohabitation, especially on the ways that family structure, civil society and culture influence the quality and stability of family life in the United States and around the globe.
In a new book, “Fair Shake: Women and the Fight for a Just Economy,” University of Virginia School of Law professor Naomi Cahn and her co-authors seek to explain why the gap between men’s and women’s earnings remains, even as more women are entering the workforce than ever before.
Professors Deirdre Enright ’92 and Kelly Orians give admitted students an overview of criminal law and juvenile justice courses and programs at UVA Law.
Courses and Seminars
The following is a list of courses offered during 2022-25. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered, i.e., 2022-23 is coded (23), 2023-24 is coded (24) and 2024-25 is coded (25). (SC) stands for short course and (YR) stands for yearlong.
After Dobbs (SC) (23)
Children and the Law (23,24,25)
Comparative Gender Equality (23,24,25)
Education Law Survey (23)
Estate Planning: Principles and Practice (23,24,25)
Family Law (23,24,25)
Feminism and the Free Market (SC) (24,25)
Feminist Jurisprudence (23,24,25)
Gender and Queer Equality (SC) (25)
International and Comparative Family Law (SC) (23)
Medicalization and the Law (23)
Parental Choice in K-12 Education (SC) (23)
Practical Trust and Estate Administration (23,24,25)
Religious Freedom and Reproductive Rights (24)
Reproductive Ethics and Law (SC) (23,24,25)
Reproductive Rights and Justice (SC) (24,25)
Sexuality and the Law (23,25)
Single People and the Law (25)
Therapeutic Justice and the Evolving Role of Specialty Courts (23)
Trusts and Estates (23,24,25)
Clinics
Holistic Youth Defense Clinic (23,24,25)
Youth Advocacy Clinic (YR) (23,24,25)
University of Virginia School of Law professor Naomi Cahn is a co-author of “Hot Flash: How the Law Ignores Menopause and What We Can Do About It,” examining the silence and stigma that surrounds menopause in the legal sphere.
Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson describes the school’s offerings in the education law field. This session was part of UVA Law’s 2022 Admitted Students Open House.
Clinics
Holistic Juvenile Defense Clinic
This semester-long clinic provides students an opportunity to practice holistic and zealous lawyering by representing juvenile clients on delinquency matters, as well as related school discipline and special education matters, in order to help keep youth in their homes, schools and communities with appropriate supports. Law students handle cases from the initial intake to the case disposition and subsequent appeal (if any).
Youth Advocacy Clinic
In the yearlong clinic, offered in conjunction with the JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center, students represent low-income children in the context of education and the justice system. This clinic is focused on addressing the legal needs of Virginia’s low-income children and youth both through individual client representation and broader reform efforts such as local and state policy advocacy, impact litigation and community education. Though most of the legal work will involve the representation of clients in the juvenile justice system or children being denied legally mandated educational opportunities, students may also represent children in cases involving immigration, services for incarcerated children, mental health and developmental disabilities law, and foster care and social services law. Clinic clients are often those youth most at the margins, and students will gain exposure to and a deeper understanding of the impact of race, poverty, disability and system-involvement on Virginia’s youth.
Clinic students at the University of Virginia School of Law worked with state lawmakers to draft bills on foster care, behavioral health, human trafficking and other policies that were recently signed into law.
UVA Law professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson discusses her co-edited book “The Enduring Legacy of Rodriguez: Creating New Pathways to Equal Educational Opportunity,” in which scholars also propose federal, state and local reforms. Professor Richard Schragger moderated the event, which was part of the 2023 Virginia Law Review Online symposium, “50 Years After San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez: New and Old Fights for Equity in Public Schools.”
Extracurricular
Students have an opportunity to engage in issues relating to families, gender and sexual orientation outside of the classroom through a range of extracurricular activities.
Academic Journal
Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law
This student-edited law journal publishes articles exploring the intersection of law and social policy issues. Recognizing the significance of the law and legal institutions on social conditions, the journal provides a forum in which to examine contending legal, judicial and political perspectives. Among the issues the journal addresses are: health care policy, welfare reform, criminal justice, voting rights, civil rights, family law, employment law, gender issues, education and critical race theory. Journal Website
Student Organizations
Advocates for Life at Virginia Law
AFL brings together law students eager to protect the fundamental right to life and fosters balanced and open discussion about the issue in the legal community. AFL educates and trains law students about the jurisprudence of a pro-life ethic, the attacks on the right to life and the best strategies to protect women and children from abortion and the vulnerable from embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia. By building a culture of courage and support among pro-life law students and lawyers, AFL promotes a legal environment that values and upholds the dignity of human life.
Child Advocacy Research and Education
CARE brings together law students interested in taking a legal approach to issues affecting children, including education, juvenile justice, foster care and immigration. Through partnerships with local and national children’s law and advocacy organizations and CARE-generated projects, we assist in the direct representation of children and strive for broader systemic change through policy research and advocacy.
Domestic Violence Project
The Domestic Violence Project is a pro bono project led by law students. DVP addresses the problem of domestic violence both directly (through pro bono service) and indirectly (through educational efforts to raise awareness and understanding of the issue). DVP educates the Law School community about issues of domestic violence through speakers, discussion panels, films and other events. DVP volunteers also monitor domestic violence-related criminal justice proceedings in Charlottesville, Albemarle and several other surrounding jurisdictions through the Shelter for Help in Emergency's Court Monitoring Program, and assist the Commonwealth's Attorney Offices of Charlottesville and of Albemarle in their prosecution of domestic violence cases by interviewing victims of domestic violence through the Commonwealth's Attorney's Project. In addition, DVP participants volunteer for the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society Pro Bono Domestic Violence Project, organize police ride-alongs and more.
Feminist Legal Forum
The Feminist Legal Forum is dedicated to advancing feminist discussion and awareness at the Law School, and provides a place for law students to examine legal issues that affect women, clarify what feminism means to young lawyers, and unite to eradicate sexism in the legal profession and within the Law School.
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice at UVA Law
If/When/How is a pro-choice, pro-information student organization that educates, organizes and supports law students to ensure that a new generation of advocates will be prepared to protect and expand reproductive rights as basic civil and human rights. It is the organization’s position that reproductive justice will exist when all people can exercise the rights and access the resources they need to thrive and to decide if, when and how to create and sustain their families with dignity and free from discrimination, coercion or violence.
Lambda Law Alliance
Lambda Law Alliance provides an academically and socially supportive network for members of sexual minorities and their allies enrolled in the Law School. The organization also heightens awareness throughout the Law School, as well as the University community, about legal issues relevant to sexual minorities. Lambda informs the community of its interests and concerns and pushes for the expansion of equal civil rights for all.
Virginia Law Families
Virginia Law Families supports and promotes the interests of students facing the challenges of attending law school while raising children. Among its primary objectives are promoting social interaction and the sharing of information, including among both current and prospective parents. Issues of specific concern include child care, medical resources and family activities or community events, with particular emphasis on low-cost options to help those on a tight budget. Virginia Law Families also supports the Law School admissions staff by encouraging individuals with families to apply for admission and attend the School of Law, and by serving as an information resource for potential attendees.
Virginia Law Women
VLW is primarily designed to support and promote women in their endeavors and to understand their unique challenges by providing forums for them to interact with faculty, administration and other students; providing opportunities to create social networks with their fellow members; and exposing members to women working in professional, legal capacities.
Women of Color
Women of Color provides social support to the diverse population of women at the Law School; promotes the welfare of its members through educational, professional, cultural, social and community service programs; and provides a forum for the discussion of issues affecting women of color in the Law School and the University community as a whole. Women of Color organizes service projects and fundraisers benefiting the University community and the greater Charlottesville-Albemarle community, social gatherings to promote fun and friendship, and open communication and involvement with the administration, professors, other student organizations and the undergraduate community.
The American Law Institute recently approved a restatement on children and the law co-authored by Professor Richard Bonnie ’69, among other achievements and recognition for members of the University of Virginia School of Law community.
Professor Melissa Murray of the New York University School of Law delivers the keynote address for the symposium “Dobbs and Democracy.” UVA Law professor Bertrall Ross moderated the discussion. The event was co-sponsored by the Journal of Law & Politics and the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.
News
December 17, 2024
Professor Naomi Cahn of the University of Virginia School of Law discusses the legal background behind the Murdoch family trust dispute.
December 5, 2024
One year later, the Education Rights Institute at the University of Virginia School of Law is in full swing, with reports out on harassment in schools and the need to close funding gaps.
October 23, 2024
University of Virginia School of Law professor Naomi Cahn is a co-author of “Hot Flash: How the Law Ignores Menopause and What We Can Do About It,” examining the silence and stigma that surrounds menopause in the legal sphere.
July 17, 2024
New courses offered this fall at the University of Virginia School of Law include Artificial Intelligence and Democracy, International Settlement of Disputes, and Single People and the Law.
July 5, 2024
University of Virginia School of Law faculty discuss news-making rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court term that ended Monday.
June 17, 2024
Clinics at the University of Virginia School of Law shaped public policy, helped clients in court, appealed cases to the Supreme Court and more in the 2023-24 academic year.
June 13, 2024
In a new book, Professor George Rutherglen of the University of Virginia School of Law looks at three of the most high-profile recent Supreme Court decisions — on abortion, affirmative action and religious accommodations — and attempts to predict how they might play out in future employment litigation.
May 23, 2024
The American Law Institute recently approved a restatement on children and the law co-authored by Professor Richard Bonnie ’69, among other achievements and recognition for members of the University of Virginia School of Law community.
May 10, 2024
In a new book, “Fair Shake: Women and the Fight for a Just Economy,” University of Virginia School of Law professor Naomi Cahn and her co-authors seek to explain why the gap between men’s and women’s earnings remains, even as more women are entering the workforce than ever before.
May 2, 2024
Clinic students at the University of Virginia School of Law worked with state lawmakers to draft bills on foster care, behavioral health, human trafficking and other policies that were recently signed into law.
April 19, 2024
A National Academies committee chaired by University of Virginia School of Law professor Margaret Foster Riley released a report that recommended including pregnant and lactating women in clinical research. The news is among other achievements and recognition for members of the Law School community.
February 29, 2024
The University of Virginia School of Law’s Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition team has advanced to the international rounds, among other achievements and recognition for members of the Law School community.
February 9, 2024
University of Virginia School of Law professors Naomi Cahn and Barbara “Bobbie” Spellman discuss the legal implications of singlehood as Valentine’s Day rolls around.
January 8, 2024
Dean Risa Goluboff of the University of Virginia School of Law was elected to the Association of American Law Schools Executive Committee and named a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation trustee. The news is among other achievements and recognition for members of the Law School community.
October 2, 2023
Members of the University of Virginia School of Law community have recently been singled out for excellence. Among the accolades, Professor Michael Livermore will be in Paris this school year through a fellowship dedicated to addressing looming global challenges.
July 5, 2023
University of Virginia School of Law faculty discuss news-making rulings from the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court term.
June 5, 2023
During the past year, students in clinics at the University of Virginia School of Law won asylum for a transgender immigrant, negotiated reduced charges for juveniles and helped localities reform their government operations, among other accomplishments. Virginia’s 24 legal clinics , many of which
April 27, 2023
Kimberly Jenkins Robinson, a nationally acclaimed education law and policy expert, has won an All-University Teaching Award from the University of Virginia.
February 13, 2023
A symposium at the University of Virginia School of Law will explore how a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has shaped clashes over equity in education, both past and present.
February 9, 2023
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has shaken the public’s belief in the court’s legitimacy, political scientist James L. Gibson explains on the latest episode of “Common Law,” a podcast of the University of Virginia School of Law.
In a new book, Professor George Rutherglen of the University of Virginia School of Law looks at three of the most high-profile recent Supreme Court decisions — on abortion, affirmative action and religious accommodations — and attempts to predict how they might play out in future employment litigation.
Brown University professor Prudence Carter, Florida International professor Anindya Kundu, Stanford University professor Sean Reardon and Georgetown University research professor Marguerite Roza discuss understanding educational opportunity gaps at the launch of the Education Rights Institute. ERI director and Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson moderated. Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, gave a video introduction.