Family, Gender & Children

Over the past 30 years, feminists have struggled to make domestic violence a public issue. But in a recent Yale Law Journal article, Assistant Professor Jeannie Suk ’02 takes a critical look at the use of protection orders by a criminal justice system that may now be too involved in private life.

Janet Halley spent six years writing "Split Decisions: How and Why to Take a Break from Feminism" (Princeton University Press, 2006), a groundbreaking book examining the contradictions and limitations of feminism in the law.

Hill Harper ’92 heard the same questions again and again. A graduate of Harvard Law School and the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and an actor currently starring on the hit TV show “CSI: NY,” Harper frequently visited schools to talk to black youths, many of whom told him how difficult and often hopeless it seemed to stay in school or pursue a career.

Women are still second-class citizens in the legal profession. What can be done about it?

When Melissa Patterson ’06 signed up for a clinical placement through the school’s new Child Advocacy Program this year, she was looking for something as “real-world” as possible.

A passion for teaching Professor David Westfall ’50, as beloved by generations of students for his warmth and humor as he was respected for his…

Zia Mody LL.M. ’79 blazes a trail for women When Zia Mody LL.M. ’79 started her own law practice in India in the mid-1980s, clients…

When Professor Elizabeth Bartholet ’65 spoke at a conference on international adoption in Guatemala City early this year, she addressed a room full of activists, lawyers and politicians. But at the heart of her speech, and her pro bono advocacy, are children–living in institutions or foster care around the world.

Through literature and law, Larissa Behrendt LL.M. '94 S.J.D. '98 speaks for aboriginal rights.

A sampling from this year's crop of 3L papers.

Professor Heather Gerken says it can.

Katherine Locker '98 knows that children with disabilities who are in the foster care system are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

Sometimes making the greatest impact on a student's life is as simple as changing his fifth-grade homeroom. That's what Marina Volanakis '99 did for 10-year-old Gabriel, and it was enough to turn him from a disrespectful troublemaker into a dedicated student.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health last fall has allowed gay marriage in the commonwealth--at least for now.

In their new book, Professor Elizabeth Warren and her daughter reveal the diminishing fortunes of middle-class families and show a way out of the "Two-Income Trap."

Participants in the school's first GLBT reunion recount the changes in their lives and on campus.

The year 1989 wound down with the law school being painfully reminded that its portrait collection was still conspicuously all male.

There's nothing noteworthy about being a female student at Harvard Law School today: About half of the students are women.

In her new book, Judith Richards Hope details the struggles and successes of the women classmates who "took the place of a man."

For many years after HLS began admitting women, male faculty still predominated. That's changed, and women faculty members talk about what their presence has meant for the school and for themselves.