Position Title
Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law
Professor Joslin teaches in the areas of Constitutional Law, Employment Discrimination, Family Law, and Sexuality, Gender, and the Law.
Joslin is a leading expert in the areas of family and relationship recognition, with a particular focus on same-sex and unmarried couples. Professor Joslin's publications have appeared or are forthcoming in Boston University Law Review, California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Harvard Law Review Forum, Iowa Law Review, NYU Law Review, Southern California Law Review, UCLA Law Review, and Yale Law Journal Forum, among other sources. She is a co-author of two popular textbooks -- Sexuality, Gender, and the Law, with William N. Eskridge Jr. & Nan D. Hunter, and Modern Family Law, with D. Kelly Weisberg. Her commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, the LA Times, the Sacramento Bee, Slate Verdict, and elsewhere.
Joslin is the recipient of numerous awards for her work. She is a two-time recipient (2010 & 2019) of the Dukeminier Award for her Articles Protecting Children(?) and Discrimination In and Out of Marriage. The Dukeminier Award is awarded annually to recognize the best legal scholarship on sexual orientation and gender identity law. Joslin's Article Modernizing Divorce Jurisdiction won the 2011 AALS New Voices in Gender Studies Paper Competition.
In 2024, Joslin received the Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award from UC Davis. In 2023, Joslin was the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award.
Professor Joslin served as the Reporter for the Uniform Parentage Act (2017), and she is an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Professor Joslin received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her law degree from Harvard Law School, where she was an executive editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
- J.D. magna cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1998
- B.A. magna cum laude, Brown University, 1994
- AALS New Voices in Gender Studies Paper Competition, Alternate, 2010
- Winner of the AALS New Voices in Gender Studies Paper Competition (for Modernizing Divorce Jurisdiction: Same-Sex Couples and Minimum Contacts), 2011
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Research Scholar, annually, 2009-present
- Distinguished Teaching Award, Nominee, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2024
- Distinguished Teaching Award, Winner, 2023
- Dukeminier Award (for Protecting Children(?): Marriage, Gender, and Assisted Reproductive Technology), 2010
- Dukeminier Award (for Discrimination In and Out of Marriage), 2019
- UC Davis Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award, 2024
- Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley Law, Center for the Study of Law and Society, Spring 2015
- New Voices Fellow 2000-2002
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- Constitutional Law
- Employment Discrimination Law
- Family Law
- Gender, Sexuality, and the Law
Publications
Books
MODERN FAMILY LAW, (Aspen Press, 8th ed. 2024) (with D. Kelly Weisberg)
SOCIAL PARENTHOOD IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE (NYU Press 2023) (co-editor with Clare Huntington & Christiane von Bary)
SEXUALITY, GENDER, AND THE LAW (FOUNDATION PRESS, 5th ed. 2023; 4th ed. 2018) (with William N. Eskridge Jr & Nan D. Hunter)
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER FAMILY LAW (West, published annually 2007 - 2024) (with Shannon P. Minter & Catherine Sakimura)
THE RIGHTS OF LESBIANS, GAY MEN, BISEXUALS, AND TRANSGENDER PEOPLE: AN AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION HANDBOOK (NYU Press, 4th Ed. 2004) (with Nan D. Hunter & Sharon M. McGowan)
Law Review Articles and Essays
Multiparenthood, 91 NYU LAW REVIEW __ (forthcoming 2024) (with Douglas NeJaime)
How Parenthood Functions, 123 COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW 319 (2023) (with Douglas NeJaime)
Fractured Families: LGBTQ People and the Family Regulation System, 13 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW ONLINE 78 (2022) (with Catherine Sakimura)
Nonmarriage: The Double Bind, 90 GEORGE WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW 571 (2022)
(Not) Just Surrogacy, 109 CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW 401 (2021)
Autonomy in the Family, 66 UCLA LAW REVIEW 912 (2019)
Discrimination In and Out of Marriage, 98 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1 (2018)
Nurturing Parenthood Through the UPA (2017), 127 YALE LAW JOURNAL FORUM 589 (2018)
The Gay Rights Canon and the Right to Nonmarriage, 97 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 425 (2017)
Marriage Equality and its Relationship to Family Law, 129 HARVARD LAW REVIEW FORUM 197 (2016)
Marital Status Discrimination 2.0, 95 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 805 (2015) (symposium issue)
Family Support and Supporting Families, 68 VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW EN BANC 153 (2015)
Federalism and Family Status, 90 INDIANA LAW JOURNAL 787 (2015)
Windsor, Federalism, and Family Equality, 113 COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW SIDEBAR 156 (2013)
Marriage, Biology, and Federal Benefits, 98 IOWA LAW REVIEW 1467 (2013)
Modernizing Divorce Jurisdiction: Same-Sex Couples and Minimum Contacts, 91 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1669 (2011)
Protecting Children(?): Marriage, Gender, and Assisted Reproductive Technology, 83 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW 1177 (2010)
Interstate Recognition of Parentage in a Time of Disharmony: Same-Sex Parent Families and Beyond, 70 OHIO STATE LAW JOURNAL 563 (2009)
Recognizing a Cause of Action Under Title IX for Student-Student Sexual Harassment, 34 HARVARD CIVIL RIGHTS-CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW REVIEW 201 (1999)
Equal Protection and Anti-Gay Legislation: Dismantling the Legacy of Bowers v. Hardwick – Romer v. Evans, 116 S. Ct. 1620 (1996), 32 HARVARD CIVIL RIGHTS – CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW REVIEW 225 (1997)
Symposium Issues
Domestic Violence and Functional Parent Doctrines, 30 VIRGINIA JOURNAL SOC. POL’Y & LAW 67 (2023) (with Douglas NeJaime) (symposium)
Gamete Regulation and Family Protection in a Post-Dobbs World, BILL OF HEALTH (2023) (symposium)
How Functional Parent Doctrines Function: Findings from an Empirical Study, 35 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACAD. MATRIMONIAL LAWYERS 589 (2023) (with Douglas NeJaime) (symposium)
Multiparent Families: Real and Imagined, 90 FORDHAM LAW REVIEW 2561 (2022) (with Douglas NeJaime) (symposium issue)
Surrogacy and the Politics of Pregnancy, 14 HARVARD LAW & POLICY REVIEW 365 (2020) (symposium issue)
Family Choices, 51 ARIZONA STATE LAW JOURNAL 1285 (2020) (symposium)
Preface to the UPA (2017), 52 FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY 437 (2018) (symposium issue)
Marital Status Discrimination 2.0, 95 BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 805 (2015) (symposium)
The Perils of Family Law Localism, 48 UC DAVIS LAW REVIEW 623 (2014) (symposium)
Leaving No (Nonmarital) Child Behind, 48 FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY 495 (2014) (symposium)
The Restatement of Gay (?), 79 BROOKLYN LAW REVIEW 621 (2014) (with Lawrence C. Levine) (symposium)
Searching for a Harm: Same-Sex Marriage and the Well-Being of Children, 46 HARVARD CIVIL RIGHTS - CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW REVIEW 81 (2011)
Travel Insurance: Protecting Lesbian and Gay Parent Families Across State Lines, 4 HARVARD LAW AND POLICY REVIEW 31 (2010)
The Legal Parentage of Children Born to Same-Sex Couples: Developments in the Law, 39 FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY 683 (Fall 2005)
A White Paper: An Analysis of the Law Regarding Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnership, 38 FAMILY LAW QUARTERLY 339 (Summer 2004) (co-editor with Jeff Atkinson and contributing author)
Shorter Works
Op-Ed, J.D. Vance’s Views on Stepparents Are Straight Out of Project 2025, SLATE, Aug. 2, 2024 (with Douglas NeJaime)
Op-Ed, Sam Alito Is To Blame for the Alabama Supreme Court’s Devastating Anti-IVF Ruling, SLATE, Feb. 20, 2024 (with Mary Ziegler)
Op-Ed, The Next Normal: States Will Recognize Multiparent Families, WASHINGTON POST, Jan. 30, 2022 (with Douglas NeJaime)
De Facto Parentage and the Modern Family, 40 FAMILY ADVOCATE (Spring 2018)
Updated National Uniform Parentage Act (UPA 2017) Approved, LEGALLY SPEAKING, Nov. 13, 2017 (with Jamie Pedersen)
The Problem with the Texas Federal Court’s Nationwide Order Regarding Bathroom Access for Transgender Students, VERDICT, Sept. 6, 2016 (with Vikram David Amar)
Op-Ed, Gay-Lesbian Equality Gains an Important Step, SACRAMENTO BEE, June 30, 2013 (with Lawrence Levine)
Op-Ed, Court Should Protect Parent-Child Relationships, Even if They Are Not Biological, SACRAMENTO BEE, Mar. 26, 2013
Op-Ed, A Hollow Defense of DOMA, LOS ANGELES TIMES, Dec. 13, 2012
Defining Parenthood: Astrue v. Capato and Same-Sex Marriage, JURIST - FORUM, June 8, 2012
Prop 8 – The California Supreme Court’s Decision on Standing and the Road Ahead, American Constitution Society, Nov. 22, 2011
L.A. TIMES Blog, Prop. 8 Analysis (live blogging on the Ninth Circuit oral argument in Perry v. Schwarzenegger), Dec. 6, 2010
Op-Ed, Prop. 8 ‘Defense’ Made Ruling Inevitable (with Lawrence Levine), SACRAMENTO BEE, Aug. 8, 2010
Op-Ed, Proposition 8 on Trial (with Lawrence Levine), SACRAMENTO BEE, Feb. 7, 2010
The Evolution of the American Family, 36 HUMAN RIGHTS 2 (2009)
Further Thoughts on Proposition 8 and Retroactivity: A Response to Choper, 1:20 CALIFORNIA JOURNAL OF POLITICS & POLICY (2009)
Protection for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Employees Under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 31 HUMAN RIGHTS 14 (2004)