Elizabeth A. Reilly is Associate Dean at The University of Akron School of Law, a role in which she has served since 1995. She began her academic career in 1980 as an Adjunct Professor at Akron Law and joined the faculty full time in 1984. Dean Reilly is a C. Blake McDowell, Jr. Professor of Law and currently teaches torts, introduction to law and legal systems and sexual orientation and the law. Her research focuses on the intersections between individual and collective interests in areas such as reproductive choice, gender identity, juvenile justice, tort duties and damages, and the religion clauses. She is the author of numerous articles, including “Radical Tweak – Relocating the Power to Assign Sex,” 12 Cardozo J. L. & Gender 297 (2005) and “The ‘Jurisprudence of Doubt’: How the Premises of the Supreme Court’s Abortion Jurisprudence Undermine Procreative Liberty,” 14 Journal of Law and Politics 757 (1998). Dean Reilly presents regularly at academic and professional conferences and groups. In 2004, she received one of two Outstanding Teacher Scholar Awards from the University. Prior to joining Akron Law, Dean Reilly was an attorney and counselor of law for Whitaker & Reilly, where her emphasis was on criminal and personal injury litigation, both trial and appellate. She has been a member of the Akron Bar Board of Trustees and the Ohio Supreme Court’s Rules Advisory Committee, as well as former chair of the Juvenile Rules Subcommittee. Dean Reilly has served on the Ohio State Bar Association Council of Delegates, Juvenile Justice Committee, and Section on Women in the Profession Board of Governors, and was a member of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Education Law Committee. Dean Reilly plays an active role at The University of Akron. She was chair of the President’s Commission on Equity, and served on numerous task forces for the President and Provost, including the Diversity Committee, the RTP Task Force, the Academic Salary Affairs Task Force, the Program Review Task Force, and the Institute for Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee. A member of the first class of women to attend Princeton University, she majored in English Language and Literature, and was graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Dean Reilly received her J.D. at The University of Akron School of Law, where she graduated first in the class.
Articles
Empathy and Pragmatism in the Choice of Constitutional Norms for Religious Land Use Disputes, Albany Government Law Review (2009)
From the perspective of both religious entities and local governments, religious land use requests are...
Infinite Hope-- Introduction to the Symposium: the 140th Anniversary of the Fourteenth Amendment, Akron Law Review (2009)
The Fourteenth Amendment embodies hope. This article introduces the Symposium celebrating the 140th anniversary of...
The Union as it Wasn't and the Constitution as it Isn't: Section Five and Altering the Balance of Power, Akron Law Review (2009)
The original prototype of Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment, as introduced by its primary...
Radical Tweak -- Relocating the Power to Assign Sex, Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender (2005)
Simply, starkly, the law mandates an answer--every child must be male, or female. The need...
Priest, Minister or Knowing Instrument: The Lawyer’s Role in Constructing Constitutional Meaning, Tulsa Law Review (2003)
This article will first explain how the theory of protestant constitutionalism requires an examination of...
Contributions to Books
Unpublished Papers
Faculty Salary Compression: A Model for Response (with Chand Midha, Thomas Calderon, and Richard Steiner), University of Akron Legal Studies Paper No. 04-09 (2004)
This paper describes a process used by The University of Akron to address salary compression....