Family Law and Bioethics Expert Jane Cohen to join UT Law
Photo by Lawrence Sager
AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas School of Law today announced the hiring of Jane Maslow Cohen, a specialist in family law, medical ethics, property, and feminist theory.
Cohen, who has been on the faculty at Boston University School of Law since 1983, is a visiting professor at the Law School this year. She teaches a seminar on the Human Genome Project, the basic course on Property, and a seminar that relates feminist theory to law and public policy. Cohen begins her new position in the fall.
"I couldn't be happier that Jane Cohen will be joining our faculty permanently. She adds greatly to our already strong presence in law and bioethics, and in family law," said Dean Bill Powers. "She also brings an important feminist and jurisprudential perspective to her scholarship and teaching. On top of all of that, she is deeply committed to making the Law School the best intellectual community it can be. Her decision to come to UT is a great moment for us," he said.
"This is a wonderful addition to interdisciplinary work at the Law School. Jane Cohen is one of the very few senior scholars in the nation who is both philosophically fluent and conversant with the issues in feminist legal theory," added Brian Leiter, Director of UT's Law & Philosophy Program and a member of the Appointments Committee that recruited Cohen. "She will be a great benefit not only to our JD/PhD students, but to all the students in the law school with interests in feminist theory and philosophy."
Cohen practiced law for more than a decade before joining the faculty of the Boston University School of Law, where she was a finalist out of more than 6,000 teachers for the University's teaching prize. She received a B.A. in 1967 from Wellesley and a J.D. in 1971 from Yale.
Her articles have appeared in two books and in numerous law reviews. Among her most important articles are "Genophobia: What is Wrong with Genetic Discrimination? (Pennsylvania Law Review, 2001) (with Colin Diver), "Private Regimes of Tyranny: What Do They Mean to Morality and for the Criminal Law? (Pittsburgh Law Review, 1996) and "Comparative and Cooperative Dependencies: The Case for Children" (Virginia Law Review, 1995). Her writings also include "A Jurisprudence of Doubt: Deliberative Autonomy and Abortion" (Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, 1992), and "Comparison-Shopping in the Marketplace for Rights" (Yale Law Journal, 1989).
"The UT Law community gives real meaning to the idea of an institutional
home. Here is all the warmth, engagement, talent, and ambition that one could
hope to find in a place, and a generous and apt set of shared values too,"
said Cohen. "It is a privilege to have joined this faculty."