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

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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...

 

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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...

 

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Deposing the "Tyranny of Extroverts": Collaborative Learning in the Traditional Law School Classroom, Journal of Legal Education (2000)

When I began teaching Constitutional Law, I was already an adherent of having students work...

 

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Education and The Constitution: Shaping Each Other and the Next Century, Akron Law Review (2000)

Thinking about the interaction between the Constitution and education reveals that they are deeply interconnected,...

 

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The Jurisprudence of Doubt’: How the Premises of the Supreme Court's Abortion Jurisprudence Undermine Procreative Liberty, Journal of Law and Politics (1998)

Two realities make continuing disagreement likely: the limits of human knowledge and the diversity of...

 

Contributions to Books

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Compensatory Damages- Chapter 3, Damages in Tort Actions (1989)
 

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Punitive Damages- Chapter 40, Damages in Tort Actions (1988)
 

Unpublished Papers

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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....