Syracuse, NY 13244-1030 AALS FAMILY AND JUVENILE LAW SECTION NEWSLETTER - April, 2001
I. Editor's Message...............................................................................................................1
II. Chair's Report: January 2001 AALS Section Meeting- January 2001........................2
III. New Mentoring Program..................................................................................................4
IV. Plans for the AALS January, 2002 meeting....................................................................4
V. Conferences/Workshops of Interest................................................................................5
VI. Publications........................................................................................................................7
VII. Contests and Competitions...............................................................................................9
VIII. Recent Events...................................................................................................................10
IX . Section Listserv and website............................................................................................10
This newsletter is a forum for the exchange of ideas. Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the Section and do not necessarily represent the position of the Association of American Law Schools.
A sincere thanks to Jane Murphy and all of you who contributed news and information about conferences, publications, and other activities. The deadline for the next edition of the newsletter is October 15, 2001. I encourage you to sign onto our Section list-serv to get additional, timely Section news. (See Section IX).
Syracuse, NY 13044
(315) 443-2529; Fax (315) 443-5394; Email:shramsey@law.syr.edu
II. Report on the 2001 Annual Meeting Message from the Chair: Jane C. Murphy (Baltimore)
Programs
At this year's Annual Meeting, the Section sponsored two programs. The first, a program co-sponsored by the Sections on Teaching Methods and Clinical Education, was called "The Role of the Academy in Improving Family Law Practice." The panel focused on the ways in which family law teaching and scholarship can influence and contribute to the practice of family law. The panel, which I chaired and moderated, was both informative and thought-provoking. Dean Lee E. Teitelbaum (Cornell), began the program with an interesting overview of family law scholarship over the last few decades. He divided the scholarship into the following categories: doctrinal, theoretical, and empirical. He defined and gave examples of each and discussed how they contribute to the improvement of the practice of law. He also discussed two other areas of research that have made valuable contributions to the practice of family law. The first, interdisciplinary research, he defined as "scholarship that analyzes and presents information from other disciplines for use by both academics and practitioners." He also discussed scholarship that discusses "the processes of the practice of family law" such as writing focused on interviewing, counseling, and mediation. Finally, he discussed the work of family law scholars that is aimed at improving directly the bodies of law that are practiced - e.g. the ALI Principles and the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act.
Judge Judith Billings of the Utah Court of Appeals, an advisor for the American Law Institute's (ALI) Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution, spoke about her experiences working with the ALI. Because ALI was not involved in a family law project before the Principles, Judge Billings began by giving some background on the ALI and its mission. She described the work of the law faculty, practitioners and judges that produced the Principles as an example of a particularly productive collaboration among those groups. She also discussed some of the specific provisions of the custody section of the Principles, explaining that the analysis of custody law benefitted greatly from the combined perspectives of the bench, bar, and academy.
Lawrence Stotter, a leading family law practitioner, reflected on his experiences in practice. He identified some of the changes he has observed in the practice of family law over the last forty years. He noted a variety of publications by law professors that have improved his understanding of the law and discussed the potential impact of the ALI Principles on the practice.
Finally, Professor Paulette Williams spoke about how law schools are contributing to the practice of family law through their clinical programs and through clinical scholarship. She talked about how clinics expose students to the practice of law, permitting them to learn how to develop and investigate facts, which students do little of in traditional law courses. She discussed ways in which clinical scholarship examines issues such as "What are we teaching in law school?" "What should we be teaching in law school?" "How do we accommodate varying learning styles of students?" "Can problem solving, collaborating and other clinical teaching methods do a more effective job of teaching throughout the law school curriculum?"
The Section also joined with the Sections on Constitutional Law and Federal Courts to co-sponsor an extended program entitled Transcending Boundaries: The Constitution, Families, Federalization and Federalism. The three-hour program featured a panel of distinguished jurists and academics from all three AALS sections, who discussed recent judicial rulings that have raised questions about the boundaries of state and federal authority to deal with a range of family law problems, including violence against women, child support, criminal law, and the definitions of and import of family membership. The first three panelists examined the impact of recent federalism developments. The Honorable Christine M. Durham (Utah Supreme Court), spoke first on "State Courts and the New Federalism." Professor Larry Kramer (NYU) discussed "The Politics of Federalism," and Professor Daniel B. Rodriquez (San Diego) addressed "The New Federalism and Intra-State Activities."
The next three speakers focused on the intersection of federalism and family law. Professor Ann Estin (Iowa) challenged the conventional wisdom that family law is "inherently local," by tracing the federal government's long-standing involvement in family law issues ranging from reproduction to child support to child welfare and adoption policy. Professor Reva Siegel (Yale) offered an historical perspective on Federalism, Family Law and the Nineteenth Amendment, arguing persuasively that questions regarding family structure and governance were central to the constitutional debate over women's suffrage. Professor Judith Resnick (Yale) critiqued the Supreme Court's embrace of "categorical federalism" in dealing with issues of violence within families. Professor Vicki Jackson (Georgetown) concluded with a presentation on Comparative Federalism that added an international perspective and offered a number of alternative models for the allocation of power between national and state authorities.
Following the panel presentations, program participants broke into discussion groups to focus on particular topics and issues. Former Section chairs June Carbone and Jana Singer joined with Professor Ann Estin to facilitate a discussion of the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in Troxel. Views expressed ranged from predictions of little or no impact to the need for major revisions in state visitation law and practice. Other discussion groups focused on the impact of the Supreme Court's commerce clause jurisprudence on federal child support legislation; the spending clause as a Constitutional basis for federal child welfare and adoption initiatives; and the family law implications of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Program organizers compiled an extensive bibliography of books, law review articles,
statutes and cases that address the intersection between federalism and family law. The bibliography was distributed on the Section Listserv and is available from Jana Singer, jsinger@law.umaryland.edu.
New Officers. At the Business Meeting following the Section's January 3rd program, the members present elected the following officers for 2001:
Jane Murphy (Baltimore): 2001 Section Chair
Barbara Babb (Baltimore): 2001 Program Chair and Chair-Elect
Sarah Ramsey (Syracuse): Secretary/Treasurer and Newsletter Editor
New Executive Committee members are Janet Richards (Memphis), Jennifer Rosato (Brooklyn), Barbara Stark (Tennessee), and Robin Wilson (South Carolina).
New Activities: Teaching and Mentor Programs
After talking with a number of new members to the Section, the Executive Committee decided to focus some of our energies this year to fostering ways that experienced teachers and scholars could share ideas and information with some of our less experienced colleagues. Executive Committee members Jennifer Rosato (Brooklyn) and Robin Wilson (South Carolina) are organizing an informal program for next year's Annual Meeting to share ideas about teaching family law. In addition, Robin Wilson has begun to develop a mentoring program. (See announcements elsewhere in this newsletter).
III. Mentoring Program: Message from Robin Wilson (South Carolina):
Now that another semester is in swing, some of you may be teaching new courses in Family or Children's Law and would like a mentor. Or, you are feeling rested and generous, and you would like to volunteer to serve as a mentor. Finally, there may be someone new on your faculty who is teaching family law or juvenile law for the first time and, although you, of course, are very willing to provide help on your own, you might consider telling them about the mentoring program of the AALS Family and Juvenile Law Section. If any apply, please contact me at: wilson@law.sc.edu. Thank you.
IV. AALS Family and Juvenile Law Section Annual Meeting- January 2002
During the January 2002 AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans, the Family and Juvenile Law Section will have two meetings--the regular program session and an additional, separate business meeting and program. The regular session program is tentatively entitled Court Reform in Family Law and the Role of Teaching and Scholarship. Barbara Babb (Baltimore) is program chair.
Business Meeting &Teaching Program: Message from Jennifer Rosato (Brooklyn). Section members will share ideas and concerns about teaching family law-related courses (and then, for those interested, going to dinner as a group). We plan to spend most of the meeting time in small break-out groups discussing various topics of interest to members (e.g., evaluating students, integrating role plays/simulations). The Executive Committee of the Section welcomes your input as to what topics you would like to discuss with your family law colleagues.
If you have any ideas for discussion topics, please send them to jrosato@brooklaw.edu by May 1, 2001. We look forward to seeing all of you at the meeting. (The program will follow the short Section business meeting, tentatively scheduled for Thursday evening, January 3rd .)
V. Conferences/Workshops of Interest
Upcoming
ABA Family Law Section spring meeting. Kansas City, April 18-22. The program includes three days on relocation issues--interviewing and discovery; trial of a relocation case with cross examination of experts; and mediation of relocation issues. Additional programs will be on tax (with tour of IRS center), child support, ethics and other topics.
ABA Annual Meeting. Chicago August 3-6. Judith Wallerstein will receive the "friend of the family" award this year for her years of research on families in divorce. An "angel" award will be given to Bill and Melita Grunow for donating $1,000,000 in honor of their niece Ann Leichty for a Pro Bono Child Custody Representation Project. The programs will be on Grandparents and the Law cosponsored with the Commission on the Elderly and on High Conflict Divorce with Janet Johnston, Judy Wallerstein, and others. There will be additional committee programs of interest and the annual survey of the law, "The Razor's Edge."
Second International Conference on Therapeutic Jurisprudence. May 3-5, Cinncinati, Ohio.
Presentations will include papers on collaborative law and divorce, unified family courts, high conflict custody cases, child welfare proceedings and children's courts. Presenters include Barbara Babb, Susan Brooks, Linda Elrod, Suzanne Jackson, and Sarah Ramsey. For more information see the conference website at www.law.uc.edu/tj2001
Conflict Resolution, Children and the Courts. The annual conference of the Association of Family, Court and Community Professionals will on May 9-12 in Chicago. Featured speakers at this interdisciplinary conference include Jay Folberg, Robert Mnookin, Isolina Ricci, Judith Wallerstein and Janet Walker. For more information, visit the AFCC website:www.afccnet.org
International Society of Family Law. The North American Conference of the ISFL will meet June 14-16 at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. The theme of the conference is Defining the Family: Familial Rights and Obligations in the New Century. The web address for the conference is
http://qsilver.queensu.ca/law/ISFLJune2001/
Recent
The ALI Family Dissolution Principles: Blueprint to Strengthen or to Deconstruct Families? On February 1-3, several dozen leading family law scholars joined a number of other scholars and practitioners at Brigham Young University Law School for this Symposium. The conference was co-sponsored by the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU and the Marriage Law Project of the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. for the purpose of examining and discussing provisions of the America Law Institute's newly approved Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. While nearly all of the chapters of the Family Dissolution Principles were discussed, the bulk of the discussion focused on Chapter 2 (dealing with child custody) and Chapter 6 (dealing with domestic partners).
Legal scholars who participated included J. Herbie DiFonzo, Elizabeth Scott, David D. Meyer, Greg Loken, Emily Buss, David Wagner, Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Carolyn Graglia, Francis J. Catania, Jr., Janet Leach Richards, Christine M. Szaj, Craig Dallon, Allen M. Parkman, June Carbone, Scott FitzGibbon, David Orgon Coolidge, Terry Kogan, Lynne Marie Kohm, Mark Strasser, Margaret Brinig, Lino Graglia, Michael McConnell, Teresa Collett, Ralph U. Whitten, and Lynn D. Wardle, who convened the conference.
The BYU Law Review will be publishing some of the papers presented at this conference in a special Symposium issue at the end of the summer. Until the law review is published, copies of the draft (or latest) versions papers presented can be seen on the symposium website: <http://www.law2.byu.edu/ISFL/index.html>.
The AALS Workshop on Defining the Family in the Millennium was held on Mar. 29-31 in Palm Springs, CA. It was jointly sponsored by the AALS Sections on Family and Juvenile Law and Donative Transfers jointly sponsored a workshop on Defining the Family in the Millenium. The workshop featured four plenary sessions, addressing the major overlapping issues that affect families at birth, death and divorce.
The first plenary considered the institution of marriage and the definition of jointly owned property, comparing community property and common law approaches, the ALI, and the difficulties that arise from pre-marital agreements, and will substitutes such as pensions and trusts that often frustrate divorce and elective share provisions. The second session examined alternatives to marriage, comparing the possible types of civil unions and domestic partnerships, and their impact on family law and intestate succession. The third panel addressed the definition of parenthood, starting with the substantially revised Uniform Parentage Act, and the potential impact on alternative families, adoption, step-parent and fertility clinic agreements. The final session considered aging, social security, pensions, health care, and the issues that affect the gay and lesbian elderly.
California Adoption Symposium. The Whittier Law School Center for Children's Rights and the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers sponsored the California Adoption Symposium on March 24 for practitioners, adoption service providers, prospective adoptive parents, law faculty and students. The program included an overview of the adoption process, discussion of current trends and issues in adoption and a session on the rights of biological fathers who object to the adoption. The Symposium was held on the Whittier Law School campus in Costa Mesa, CA.
Wingspread Conference on High-Conflict Custody Cases: Reforming the System for Children. In Sept. 2000 the ABA Family Law Section (Linda Elrod, Washburn, Chair) and the Johnson Foundation sponsored an international, interdisciplinary conference at the Wingspread Conference Center in Racine, Wisconsin. The three-day, intensive conference produced a report that is receiving wide distribution. High-Conflict Custody Cases: Reforming the System for Children will be published in vol. 34 of the Family Law Quarterly; vol. 39 of the Family and Conciliation Courts Review; and in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
VI. Recent Family and Juvenile Law Publications
Doug Abrams continues to call public attention to the problems of parental violence and poor sportsmanship in youth sports. His most recent op-ed pieces have appeared in such newspapers as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; the Bergen (N.J.) Record, the Buffalo (N.Y.) News, the Daily Oklahoman, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Wisconsin State Journal. His article, The Challenge Facing Parents and Coaches in Youth Sports: Assuring the Children Fun and Equal Opportunity, will appear this autumn in the Villanova Sports and Entertainment Law Journal.
Marianne Blair, Unveiling Our Heritage: A Comparative Examination of Access by Adopted Persons and Their Families to Identifying and Non-identifying Information, 3 Irish Journal of Family Law 10 [part one], 4 Irish Journal of Family Law 2 [part 2] (2000). The article examines the response of the courts and legislatures of the Republic of Ireland and the United States to efforts of adult adoptees and their birth and adoptive families to obtain both identifying information and genetic and social history, and the impact that various international conventions may have upon the ultimate resolution of these disclosure issues.
Clare Dalton and Elizabeth M. Schneider, Battered Women and the Law, ( Foundation Press 2001). Law school casebook for courses and clinical programs on domestic violence and materials that can be used for other courses such as Family Law and Criminal Law.
Marsha Freeman, Divorce Mediation: Sweeping Conflicts Under the Rug: Time to Clean House, 78 Detroit Mercy Law Review__(2001). Deals with inherent conflicts of interest for both attorney-mediators and non-attorney mediators in divorce mediation, under both the Rules of Professional Responsibility and the Standards for Mediation. The article points out the difficulty (and frequent inability) for both the lawyer and non-lawyer in acting as mediators without giving legal advice. It also focus attention on the "uneven playing field" encountered by mediators when dealing with spousal abuse or intimidation. The article advocates changes to allow both types of mediators the ability to mediate without running afoul of the rules, while better protecting the clients in both voluntary and court-ordered mediations.
Marsha Freeman, Reconnecting the Family: A Guide to Sensible Visitiation Schedules for Children of Divorce, 22 Whittier L. Rev. 779(2001). This article deals with the unwillingness of parents and lawyers to recognize, and the courts to protect, both the Constitutional rights of non-custodial parents and the emotional rights of parent and child to a truly meaningful relationship. It also delves into the individual and societal problems associated with so-called "default" visitation schedules. In seeking to better define the "best interests" of the child, the article proposes a new approach to visitation which would promote a continuing relationship between the non-custodial parent and child.
Susan Vivian Mangold, Extending Non-Exclusive Parenting and the Right to Protection for Older Foster Children: Creating Third Options in Permanency Planning, 48 Buffalo L.Rev. 835 (2000). Professor Mangold also wrote the Introduction to this special issue: Symposium on Urban Girls: Legal Issues Facing Adolescents. The issue includes thought-provoking comments by teen writers.
Elizabeth J. Samuels, The Idea of Adoption: An Inquiry into the History of Adult Adoptee Access to Birth Records, 53 Rutgers Law Review ___(2001). As intense debate takes place around the country about opening birth records to adult adoptees, our understanding of the relevant legal history has been incomplete and inaccurate. The article provides a more accurate history of adult adoptees' access to birth records and uses that history to analyze what has been a complex relationship in this area of law between legal rules and social attitudes.
Elizabeth M. Schneider, Battered Women and Feminist Lawmaking, (Yale University Press, 2001). Critical analysis of the last thirty years of legal reform on domestic violence and the impact of feminist legal advocacy in transforming the law.
Merle Weiner, International Child Abduction and the Escape from Domestic Violence, 69 Fordham L. Rev. 593 (2000).
Jennifer Wriggins, Parental Rights Termination Jurisprudence: Questioning the Framework", 52 South Carolina Law Review 241 (2000). The piece analyzes the Supreme Court's 1996 decision in M.L.B. V. S.L.J., 519 U.S. 102 and critiques the framework used by the Court to analyze parental rights termination cases.
Cross Currents: Family Law and Policy in the U.S. and England, (Sanford N. Katz, John Eekelaar, and Mavis Maclean, eds., Oxford University Press 2000). Analysis of family law developments in the US and England since World War II, US contributors include Michael Grossberg, George Annas, Ruth-Arlene Howe, Wlater Wadlington, Jerome Barron, Sanford N. Katz, Ira Mark Ellman, Grace Ganz Blumberg, Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Elizabeth M. Schneider, Jessica Pearson, Martin Guggenheim, and Linda Silberman.
Special Issues
Symposium on unmarried partners. The Notre Dame law review is putting together a symposium on unmarried partners--contributors are David Chambers, David Westfall, Grace Blumberg, Ann Estin, Mitt Regan, Bill Reppy, Peg Brinig, and Tom Oldham. It will be available, they say, in late summer. Look for it in volume 76 number 5. Ira Ellman is another probable contributor.
ALI Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. The Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy will be publishing a special issue this Spring to coincide with the publication of the Principles.
New Perspectives on Child Protection. The Family Law Quarterly published this special issue in 34 Family Law Quarterly 301-531 (2000). Contributors were Jane Waldfogel, David Herring, Robert Kelly, Janet Leach Richards, Katherine Hunt Federle, Donald N. Duquette, Judith Masson, Jane M. Spinack, Melissa Berger, Suellyn Scarneccihia, Frank Vandervort, and Naomi Woloshin. Sarah Ramsey was the special issue editor and contributed the introduction.
VII. Essay contests and Competitions
2001 Howard C. Schwab Memorial Essay Contest. This is an annual contest sponsored by the Family Law Section of the ABA. Winning entries are considered for publication in the Family Law Quarterly in addition to cash prizes. Deadline: April 3, 2001. Additional information at www.abanet.org/family.
Student Essay Competition on the Legal Interests of Children. This annual competition is sponsored by the National Association of Counsel for Children. Publication and a cash prize for the winning essay. Deadline: July 16, 2001.
National Juvenile Law Moot Court Competition. On February 15-17, 2001, the Whittier Law School Center for Children's Rights and Moot Court Honors Board hosted the 6th Annual National Juvenile Law Moot Court Competition. Fourteen teams from around the country argued a fictional case concerning guardianship termination and right to counsel in guardianship proceedings. The championship round was heard at the California Court of Appeal in Santa Ana, CA. Presiding Justice David G. Sills and Justice Eileen C. Moore joined the Center's Director, Deborah Forman, in judging the final round.
VIII. Other News
New Clinic. On March 22, 2001, Sharon Davis, First Lady of California, was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony for the Whittier Law School Children's Rights Clinic at 5 p.m. at the Whittier campus in Costa Mesa, CA. The Children's Rights Clinic is part of the Whittier Law School Center for Children's Rights (CCR). The CCR program, directed by Professor Deborah L. Forman, prepares attorneys to serve the needs of children and serves as a resource for the community. Under the direction of the Children's Rights Clinic founding director, Scott Wylie, students work with clients in selected cases on a pro bono basis. Volunteer attorneys from the community also assist the clinic. The clinic cases include family law, custody, guardianships, and adoption. The clinic plans to expand its services to include disability and special education issues. Cases are referred to the clinic by legal services agencies.
Congratulations to Gil Holmes, the new dean at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Congratulations to Barbara Woodhouse who is moving to the University of Florida to become the first David H. Levin Professor of Family Law.
IX. Section Listserv and Webpage:
Jana Singer (Maryland), outgoing Section Chair, Peg Brinig (Iowa), and Jane Murphy have agreed to develop a Section web page. Jana has agreed to take the lead in stimulating discussion on the Section's listserv. We are hoping to use the web page as a way to post and maintain information which may be useful to members.
Please subscribe to the section listserv, if you have not already done so. You may subscribe by sending the following message to majordomo@uidaho.edu: "subscribe aals-familylaw" and your name and institution.
C/o Sarah Ramsey
Syracuse University School of Law
Syracuse, NY 13244-1030
