Joanna L. Grossman
Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and the Law, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Award, and Professor of Law
Full-time faculty
Joanna L. Grossman is the inaugural Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and the Law.
After graduating with distinction from Stanford Law School, Professor Grossman began her career as a clerk for Ninth Circuit Judge William A. Norris. She also worked as staff counsel at the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. as a recipient of the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship. In addition, she practiced law at the Washington, D.C. firm of Williams & Connolly LLP.
Prior to coming to SMU Dedman School of Law, Professor Grossman taught at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University where she served as the Sidney and Walter Siben Distinguished Professor of Family Law.
Professor Grossman writes extensively on sex discrimination and workplace equality, with a particular focus on issues such as sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination. Her book, NINE TO FIVE: HOW GENDER, SEX AND SEXUALITY CONTINUE TO DEFINE THE AMERICAN WORKPLACE (Cambridge, 2016), provides a lively and accessible discussion of contemporary cases and events that show gender continues to define the work experience in both predictable and surprising ways. She is also an expert in family law, especially parentage law and the state regulation of marriage. She is co-author (with Lawrence M. Friedman) of INSIDE THE CASTLE: LAW AND THE FAMILY IN 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN (Princeton University Press, 2011), a comprehensive social history of U.S. family law. She has published articles in Stanford Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, and the Yale Journal on Law and Feminism, among other places. Grossman is the coeditor of GENDER EQUALITY: DIMENSIONS OF WOMEN'S EQUAL CITIZENSHIP (Cambridge University Press, 2009), an interdisciplinary anthology that explores persistent gaps between formal commitments to gender equality and the reality of women’s lives, and FAMILY LAW IN NEW YORK (Carolina Academic Press, 2015). She is also a regular columnist for Justia’s Verdict, an elected member of the American Law Institute, and the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work on parentage law.
Area of expertise
- Sex Discrimination
- Family Law
Education
B.A., Amherst College
J.D., Order of the Coif, Stanford Law School
Courses
Women and Law
Family Law
Books
OUTSIDE THE CASTLE: PRIVACY AND SECRECY IN LEGAL PERSPECTIVE (in progress) (with Lawrence M. Friedman)
GENDER LAW AND POLICY, 4th ed. (forthcoming 2023) (with Katharine Bartlett et al.) (also 2d ed. 2014 and 3d ed. 2021 with co-authors)
THE WALLED GARDEN: LAW AND PRIVACY IN MODERN SOCIETY (Rowan & Littlefield 2022) (with Lawrence M. Friedman)
GENDER AND LAW: THEORY, DOCTRINE, COMMENTARY, 9th ed. (2022) (with Katharine Bartlett et al.) (also 6th ed. 2013, 7th ed. 2016, and 8th ed. 2020 with co-authors)
FAMILY LAW IN A CHANGING AMERICA (Aspen 2020) (with Doug NeJaimie et al.)
WILLS, TRUSTS AND ESTATES (West Interactive Casebook 2019) (with Lloyd Bonfield and William LaPiana)
NINE TO FIVE: HOW GENDER, SEX AND SEXUALITY CONTINUE TO DEFINE THE AMERICAN WORKPLACE (Cambridge University Press 2016)
NEW YORK FAMILY LAW (Carolina Academic Press 2015) (with Barbara Stark)
INSIDE THE CASTLE: LAW AND THE FAMILY IN 20TH CENTURY AMERICA (Princeton University Press 2011) (with Lawrence M. Friedman)
GENDER EQUALITY: DIMENSIONS OF WOMEN'S EQUAL CITIZENSHIP (Cambridge University Press 2009) (Linda C. McClain and Joanna L. Grossman, eds.)
Articles
Does Sexual Harassment Training Work (forthcoming) (with Vicki J. Magley)
Who Regulates Abortion Now?, Iowa Law Review (forthcoming 2024) (with Nathan Cortez)
Family Law, 9 SMU Annual Texas Survey 65 (2023) (with Christine Leatherberry)
The Winding Path Toward Gender Equality and the Advocates and Scholars Who Forged It, 34 Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 14 (2023)
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Family Law, 8 SMU Annual Texas Survey 89 (2022) (with Christine Leatherberry)
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The Problem of Gender Inequity: The Legacy of Deborah Rhode, 88 University of Chicago Law Review 1643 (2021)
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Thoroughly Modern Motherhood, 74 SMU Law Review 277 (2021)
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Sexual Harassment in a Post-Weinstein World, 11 U.C. Irvine Law Review 943 (2020)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Reproducing Inequality Under Title IX, 43 Harvard Journal of Law and Gender 171 (2020)
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Making Sure Pregnancy Works: Accommodation Claims After Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 14 Harvard Law & Policy Review 302 (2020) (with Gillian Thomas)
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The Seeds of Early Childhood, 117 Florida Law Review Forum 117 (2019)
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Rainbow Loving, 92 New York University Law Review Online 101 (2017)
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Constitutional Parentage, 32 Constitutional Commentary 307 (2017)
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Expanding the Core: Pregnancy Discrimination Law as it Reaches Full Term, 52 Idaho Law Review (2016)
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Parentage Without Gender, 17 Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution 717 (2016)
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Moving Forward, Looking Back: A Retrospective on Sexual Harassment Law, Boston University Law Review 1029 (2015)
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Hard Labor: The Pregnant Body at Work, Law, Culture & the Humanities 1 (2015)
SMU Repository
Double Take: Embezzled Lives, 83 University of Cincinnati Law Review 117 (2014) (with Lawrence M. Friedman)
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Unprotected Sex: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act at 35, 21 Duke Journal of Law & Gender 67 (2014) (with Deborah L. Brake)
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A Private Underworld: The Naked Body in Law and Society, 61 Buffalo Law Review 149 (2013) (with Lawrence M. Friedman)
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Defense of Marriage Act, Will You Please Go Now!, Cardozo Law Review Do-Novo 155 (2012)
SMU Repository
The New Illegitimacy: Tying Parentage to Marital Status for Lesbian Co-Parents, 20 American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy, & the Law 671 (2012)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Pregnancy, Work, and the Promise of Equal Citizenship, 98 Georgetown Law Journal 567 (2010)
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Making Pregnancy Work: Overcoming the PDA’s Capacity-Based Model, 21 Yale Journal of Law & Feminism 15 (2009) (with Gillian Thomas)
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The Failure of Title VII as a Rights-Claiming System, 86 North Carolina Law Review 859 (2008)
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The Legacy of Loving, 51 Howard Law Journal 15 (2007) (with John DeWitt Gregory) (reprinted in Loving v. Virginia in a Post-Racial World (Kevin Noble Maillard & Rose Cuison Villazor, eds. Cambridge University press 2012))
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Resurrecting Comity: Revisiting the Problem of Non-Uniform Marriage Laws, 84 Oregon Law Review 433 (2005)
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Fear and Loathing in Massachusetts: Same-Sex Marriage and Some Lessons from the History of Marriage and Divorce, 14 Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 87 (2004)
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Job Security Without Equality: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 15 Washington University Journal of Law and Policy 17 (2004)
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Feminist Law Journals and the Rankings Conundrum, 12 Columbia Journal of Gender & Law 522 (2003)
SMU Repository
The Culture of Compliance: The Final Triumph of Form over Substance in Sexual Harassment Law, 26 Harvard Women’s Law Journal 1 (2003)
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Making a Federal Case Out of It: Section 1981 and At-Will Employment, 67 Brooklyn Law Review 329 (2001)
SMU Repository
Separated Spouses, 53 Stanford Law Review 1613 (2001) (Review essay)
SMU Repository
The First Bite is Free: Employer Liability for Sexual Harassment, 61 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 671 (2000)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Adoption in the Progressive Era: Preserving, Creating, and Re-Creating Families, 43 American Journal of Legal History 235 (1999) (with Chris Guthrie)
SMU Repository
The Road Less Taken: Annulment at the Turn of the Century, 40 American Journal of Legal History 307 (1996) (with Chris Guthrie)
SMU Repository
Guardianship: A Research Note, 40 American Journal of Legal History 146 (1996) (with Lawrence M. Friedman and Chris Guthrie)
SMU Repository
Women's Jury Service: Right of Citizenship or Privilege of Difference?, 46 Stanford Law Review 1115 (1994) (Note)
SMU Repository
Book chapters
The Egalitarian Family: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Family Law Opinions and Dissents, in THE JURISPRUDENTIAL LEGACY OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG (NYU Press forthcoming 2023)
Gender Bias and the Law, in ELIMINATING GENDER BIAS (American Chemistry Society 2020)
After the Vote: Continuing the Struggle for Women’s Social, Legal, and Political Equality, in SUFFRAGE AND ITS LIMITS: THE NEW YORK STORY (SUNY Press 2020) (with Meg Devlin O’Sullivan & Julie Gallagher)
Civil Rites: The Gay Marriage Controversy in Historical Perspective, in LAW, SOCIETY, AND HISTORY: THEMES IN THE LEGAL SOCIOLOGY AND LEGAL HISTORY OF LAWRENCE M. FRIEDMAN (Cambridge University Press 2010)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Pregnancy and Social Citizenship, in GENDER EQUALITY: DIMENSIONS OF WOMEN'S EQUAL CITIZENSHIP (Joanna Grossman & Linda McClain, eds., Cambridge University Press 2009)
Introduction to GENDER EQUALITY: DIMENSIONS OF WOMEN'S EQUAL CITIZENSHIP (Joanna Grossman & Linda McClain, eds., Cambridge University Press 2009) (with Linda McClain)
Other publications
Columnist, Verdict (a legal commentary site hosted on Justia.com)
Women are (Allegedly) People, Too, 114 Northwestern Law Review Online 149 (2019) (Review essay)
SSRN | SMU Repository
What to Do if You’ve Been Sexually Harassed, in HBR GUIDE TO WOMEN AT WORK (Harvard Business Review 2019) (with Deborah Rhode) (Guide)
Introduction to Amici Curiae Brief in Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 36 Women’s Rights Law Reporter 66 (2015) (with Deborah L. Brake)
SSRN | SMU Repository
Family Law’s Loose Canon, 93 Texas Law Review 681 (2015) (Review essay)
SMU Repository
Review of Laura Briggs, Somebody’s Children: The Politics of Transracial and Transnational Adoption, 100 Journal of American History 255 (2013)
SMU Repository
Review of Holly J. McCammon, The U.S. Women's Jury Movements and Strategic Adoption: A More Just Verdict, 31 Law and History Review 899 (2013)
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Independent Together, 48 Tulsa Law Review 313 (2013) (Book review)
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Columnist, FindLaw’s Writ (October 2000-December 2010)
Anna R. Igra, Wives Without Husbands: Marriage, Desertion, & Welfare in New York, 1900-1935, Law and History Review (2008) (Book review)
SMU Repository
Succession Law, The Oxford Companion to American Legal History (2008)
Family and Medical Leave Act, The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (2008)
Family Boundaries: Third-Party Rights and Obligations with Respect to Children, 40 Family Law Quarterly 3 (2006) (Introduction)
SMU Repository
The Supreme Court's 2003 Employment Rulings: Surprising Gains for Workers and Women, 6 Regional Lab. Rev. 22 (2003)
SMU Repository
A Partial Legal Victory Against Continuing Discrimination: The New Supreme Court Ruling in Amtrak v. Morgan, 5 Regional Lab. Rev. 36 (2002)
SMU Repository
Sexual Harassment, The Oxford Companion to American Law 738 (2002)
SMU Repository
Women's Labor Rights Rulings in 2001: A Mixed Bag, 4 Regional Lab. Rev. 34 (2002)
SMU Repository
Title VII’s Protection Against Pay Discrimination: The Impact of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Regional Labor Review (Fall 2007) (with Deborah L. Brake)
Probate and Succession Law, Legal Systems of the World (2002)
Harassment, The Oxford Companion to American Law (2002
Media
NPR, Interview, Conservatives in red states turn their attention to ending no-fault divorce laws (July 2024)
PBS, Interview, PBS News Weekend (July 2024)
KQED, Interview, Is No-Fault Divorce Under Threat? (June 2024)
Vox, Op-ed, NFL Cheerleaders Have to Follow Bizarre, Sexist Rules. But Are They Illegal? (April 2018)
Vox, Op-ed, Groping is a Crime (January 2018)
Scientific American, Op-ed, Do Sexual Harassment Prevention Trainings Really Work? (November 2017) (with Vicki J. Magley)
Fortune.com, Op-ed, It’s Time for America’s Catcallers to be Punished (September 2017)
Harvard Business Review, Op-ed, Understanding Your Legal Options if You’ve Been Sexually Harassed (June 2017) (with Deborah Rhode)
New York Times, Even the E.R.A. Couldn’t Bring About Real Equality, (September 2016)