Gregg Strauss

Gregg Strauss is a professor of law and the co-director of the Family Law Center. His scholarship explores the intersections of family law, private law, jurisprudence and political philosophy, especially the limits of legitimate law in situations of disagreement about family life. Strauss has published extensively on the regulation of adult relationships and the justification for marriage in liberal states.

His recent book, Reconstructing Parentage (Cambridge University Press, 2025), investigates the moral foundations of legal parenthood. Drawing on liberal political philosophy, Strauss argues the community must ensure children’s basic rights, including their right to parental care and guidance. While denying that anyone has a natural right or duty to parent based on genetics, procreation, care-giving or intentions, the book reassembles these intuitive bases into a pluralistic system of parentage law fit for contemporary family life.

Before joining UVA Law in 2015, Strauss was a visiting assistant professor at Duke Law School. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy and J.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated summa cum laude and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He completed his undergraduate studies at Emory University, graduating summa cum laude and earning election to Phi Beta Kappa. Following law school, Strauss clerked for Judges Barbara Crabb and William Conley in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.