Douglas NeJaime
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law
(on leave, spring 2024)
Douglas NeJaime is Anne Urowsky Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he teaches in the areas of family law, legal ethics, law and sexuality, and constitutional law.
FULL BIOGRAPHY
Contact Information
- Room R278
- 203-432-4834
- douglas.nejaime@yale.edu
Faculty Assistant
Rosanna Gonsiewski
- 337
- 203-436-8117
- rosanna.gonsiewski@yale.edu
Education & Curriculum Vitae
J.D., Harvard Law School, 2003
A.B., Brown University, 2000
Courses Taught
- Professional Responsibility
- Family Law
- The Constitution of the Family
- Law & Sexuality
Douglas NeJaime is Anne Urowsky Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he teaches in the areas of family law, legal ethics, law and sexuality, and constitutional law. Before joining the Yale faculty in 2017, NeJaime was Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law, where he served as Faculty Director of the Williams Institute, a research institute on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy. He has also served on the faculties at UC Irvine School of Law and Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and was Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. NeJaime is the co-author of Family Law in a Changing America (with Ralph Richard Banks, Joanna Grossman, and Suzanne Kim), Cases and Materials on Sexuality, Gender Identity, and the Law (with Carlos Ball, Jane Schacter, and William Rubenstein), and Ethical Lawyering: Legal and Professional Responsibilities in the Practice of Law (with Paul Hayden). His recent scholarship includes: “Answering the Lochner Objection: Reexamining Substantive Due Process and the Role of Courts in a Democracy,” 96 N.Y.U. Law Review (forthcoming 2021); “The Constitution of Parenthood,” 72 Stanford Law Review 261 (2020); “The Nature of Parenthood,” 126 Yale Law Journal 2260 (2017); “Marriage Equality and the New Parenthood,” 129 Harvard Law Review 1185 (2016); “Conscience Wars: Complicity-Based Conscience Claims in Religion and Politics,” 124 Yale Law Journal 2516 (2015), with Reva Siegel; and “Before Marriage: The Unexplored History of Nonmarital Recognition and Its Relationship to Marriage,” 102 California Law Review 87 (2014). On three occasions, NeJaime has received the Dukeminier Award, which recognizes the best sexual orientation legal scholarship published in the previous year. He has also been the recipient of the YLW Faculty Excellence Award at Yale Law School, the Women’s Law Association teaching award at Harvard Law School, the Professor of the Year Award at UC Irvine School of Law, and the Excellence in Teaching Award at Loyola Law School. NeJaime has been a leader on national efforts to reform parentage laws to accommodate families that feature nonbiological parent-child relationships, including those formed by same-sex couples and through assisted reproduction. NeJaime led the effort to pass comprehensive parentage reform in Connecticut, serving as the principal drafter of the Connecticut Parentage Act, Public Act 21-15, which passed with near-unanimous support in both chambers of the legislature and was signed by Governor Ned Lamont in 2021.
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Fact Check-No Law Requires DNA Testing To Establish Paternity in United States
Reuters
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime, in a fact check debunking claims that new laws require DNA testing to establish paternity, explains how voluntary acknowledgement of paternity works.
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Antidiscrimination Law for a New Era
Professors Douglas NeJaime and Reva Siegel taught Law and Inequality together this fall, taking an intentionally broad view of the topic.
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Professor NeJaime on the Respect for Marriage Act
Professor Douglas NeJaime assesses the impacts of the Respect for Marriage Act, which President Biden signed into law on Dec. 13.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Douglas NeJaime and Stephen Bright Elected to the American Law Institute
Douglas NeJaime, the Anne Urowsky Professor of Law and Stephen B. Bright, the Harvey L. Karp Visiting Lecturer in Law, have been elected to the American Law Institute.
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Draft Abortion Opinion Spurs Speculation About Future of Same-Sex Marriage
The Washington Post
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime comments on what the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade could mean for same-sex marriage.
Friday, January 28, 2022
The Next Normal: States Will Recognize Multiparent Families — A Commentary by Douglas NeJaime
The Washington Post
Douglas NeJaime is Anne Urowsky Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Solomon Center Co-Hosts Panel on Future of Reproductive Rights and Advocacy
A panel co-hosted by the Solomon Center and the Information Society Project’s Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice examined the future of abortion rights and reproductive justice advocacy since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Monday, December 27, 2021
CT Leading the Way for LGBTQ Parents and Their Children — A Commentary by Douglas NeJaime
Connecticut Post
Douglas NeJaime is Anne Urowsky Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Three Cheers for the Parentage Act
Connecticut Law Tribune
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Doug NeJaime is mentioned in a commentary about the state’s Parentage Act, which provides streamlined pathways to establishing legal recognition of parents for all children.
Monday, June 28, 2021
In Win For LGBTQ Rights, Supreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal Challenging Landmark Trans Rights Ruling
Time
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime comments on the Supreme Court decision not to hear a challenge to student’s lower court win on the right to use the school bathroom matching his gender identity.
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
We Are Family: Connecticut Passes New Parentage Law to Embrace Modern Families
Justia
An analysis of Connecticut's new parentage law notes the role of Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime in the shaping of the law.
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Supreme Court Sides With Catholic Agency In LGBTQ Foster Care Case — But Avoids Major Religious Freedom Questions
Time
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in a report about the Supreme Court ruling in a case watched by LGBTQ and religious freedom advocates and those who work with foster children.
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Clinic Celebrates a New Parentage Law
A Yale Law School clinic has worked for three years to successfully modernize Connecticut’s parentage laws.
Friday, May 28, 2021
The Most Powerful Court in the U.S. Is About to Decide the Fate of the Most Vulnerable Children
TIME
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted about a lawsuit before the Supreme Court against the city of Philadelphia, which is being sued after ending a contract with a faith-based agency that will not certify same-sex couples as foster parents.
Monday, April 26, 2021
Historic Connecticut Parentage Act Passes CT House
In a historic vote, the Connecticut House of Representatives passed the Connecticut Parentage Act (CPA) 141-1 with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Connecticut Parentage Act Heads to House Floor for Vote
The Judiciary Committee passed the Connecticut Parentage Act, the principal drafter of which is Professor Douglas NeJaime, on consent out of committee on March 29, 2021.
Monday, March 22, 2021
Clinic Advocates for CT Parentage Law Overhaul
A Law School clinic led by Professor Douglas NeJaime aims to help pass the Connecticut Parentage Act.
Monday, March 15, 2021
How Polyamorists and Polygamists Are Challenging Family Norms
The New Yorker
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in a feature in The New Yorker about the rights of nontraditional parents.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
50 Attorneys Tackle Bill That ‘Corrects a Lot of Bad Law’ Related to Same-Sex Parents
Law.com
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in a Law.com story on the proposed Connecticut Parentage Act.
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Connecticut Looks To Ensure Parentage Rights For LGBTQ Couples
WSHU
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in a WSHU report on a bill before the Connecticut legislature, that he helped draft, that would extend parental status to nonbiological, unmarried, and same sex couples.
Monday, March 8, 2021
Parents and LGBTQ Advocates Testify in Support of the CT Parentage Act
Professor Douglas NeJaime and several law students testified before the CT Judiciary Committee in support of the Connecticut Parentage Act.
Saturday, December 26, 2020
Connecticut can take a stand for equality — A Commentary by Professor Douglas NeJaime and Patience Crozier
The Connecticut Post
Douglas NeJaime is Anne Urowsky Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Patience Crozier is Senior Staff Attorney GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders.
Monday, August 10, 2020
Connecticut attorneys say marriages are holding steady, as other states see spike in COVID-19 divorces
Hartford Courant
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in the Hartford Courant about the effect of the coronavirus on divorce rates in Connecticut.
Monday, August 3, 2020
Changes to state parenting laws help fill gaps for same-sex couples
NBC News
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in an NBC News story about the ways in which states are addressing the legal rights of same sex parents.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Douglas NeJaime to Present Inaugural Anne Urowsky Lecture
Douglas NeJaime, the Anne Urowsky Professor of Law at Yale Law School, will give the inaugural Anne Urowsky Lecture at 4:30 p.m. on October 28, 2019 in Room 127 of Sterling Law Building.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Seminar Returns to Argentina with Gender and Equality Focus
Legal scholars from Yale Law School and 14 countries convened in Buenos Aires in June for the 24th annual Seminario en Latinoamérica de Teoría Constitutional y Política, or SELA, this year addressing the topic of gender and equality.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Professor NeJaime Launches Coalition to Protect LGBT Parents and their Children
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime announced the creation of the Connecticut Parentage Act Coalition on May 8, 2019.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Douglas NeJaime on Parental Recognition and Rights
Douglas NeJaime, Professor of Law at Yale Law School, answered questions about the legal status of parenthood.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Article by Professor NeJaime Receives Dukeminier Award
The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law has announced that Douglas NeJaime received a 2018 Dukeminier Award for his article “The Nature of Parenthood.”
Monday, June 11, 2018
Professor NeJaime Cited by Bermuda Supreme Court in Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
Professor Douglas NeJaime was cited by the Bermuda Supreme Court last week in a ruling that once again gave same-sex couples the right to marry in the country.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
How Republicans Are Using The Anti-Abortion Playbook To Undermine Same-Sex Marriage
BuzzFeed
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law Reva Siegel and Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime are quoted in an article about efforts to roll back legal protections for same-sex marriage.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Cakes and the Conscience Wars—A Commentary by Douglas NeJaime and Reva Siegel
Oxford Human Rights Hub
Douglas NeJaime is Professor of Law and Reva Siegel is the Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Iowa Supreme Court Cites NeJaime’s Work in Surrogacy Decision
On February 16, 2018, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that gestational surrogacy agreements are enforceable in the State, citing the work of Professor Douglas NeJaime in its decision.
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Yale Law Faculty Involved in Report to Revoke Surrogacy Ban
A New York State Task Force on Life and the Law that Professor Abbe R. Gluck ’00 serves on has recommended that the State do away with a longtime ban on women serving as paid childbirth surrogates.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Team Trump’s Audacious “Complicity” Claim for Nullifying Abortion Rights
The Washington Spectator
Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law Reva Siegel, Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime, and Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law and Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence Linda Greenhouse ’78 MSL are cited in an article about abortion rights.
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
What Masterpiece Cakeshop is Really About—A Commentary by Douglas NeJaime and Reva Siegel
Take Care
Reva Siegel is the Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law and Douglas NeJaime is Professor of Law at Yale Law School.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Married gay couple challenges Utah's surrogacy law after court denies petition
The Salt Lake Tribune
Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in an article about the case of two men who were denied their petition to enter into a surrogacy agreement with a woman.
Monday, July 10, 2017
Foes of Obama-Era Rule Work to Undo Birth Control Mandate
New York Times
Professor of Law Douglas NeJaime is quoted in an article about efforts to overturn President Obama’s birth control mandate.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Douglas NeJaime to Join Yale Law Faculty in July 2017
Dean Robert C. Post ’77 has announced the appointment of Douglas NeJaime to the Yale Law School faculty.
Books
Family Law in a Changing America (with Ralph Richard Banks, Joanna Grossman, and Suzanne Kim). 1st ed. Wolters Kluwer (2021).
Ethical Lawyering: Legal and Professional Responsibilities in the Practice of Law (with Paul Hayden). 4th ed. West (2018).
Cases and Materials on Sexuality, Gender Identity, and the Law (with Carlos Ball, Jane Schacter, and William Rubenstein). 6th ed. West (2017).
Articles and Chapters
Answering the Lochner Objection: Reexamining Substantive Due Process and the Role of Courts in a Democracy, 96 N.Y.U. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2021) (with Reva Siegel). Conscience Wars in the Americas, 5 Latin American Law Review 1 (2020). The Constitution of Parenthood, 72 Stanford Law Review 261 (2020). Concurring Opinion (with Reva Siegel), in What Obergefell v. Hodges Should Have Said (Jack M. Balkin ed., Yale Univ. Press 2020). The Story of Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C.: Parental Recognition in the Age of LGBT Equality, in LAW STORIES: REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND JUSTICE (Reva Siegel, Melissa Murray, & Kate Shaw eds., Foundation Press 2019). Differentiating Assimilation, 75 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 1 (2018). (Invited symposium essay) Religious Accommodation, and Its Limits, in a Pluralist Society (with Reva Siegel), in Religious Freedom and LGBT Rights: Possibilities and Challenges for Finding Common Ground (Robin Fretwell Wilson & William N. Eskridge, Jr. eds., Cambridge University Press 2018). Conscience Wars in Transnational Perspective: Religious Liberty, Third-Party Harm, and Pluralism (with Reva Siegel), in The Conscience Wars: Rethinking the Balance between Religion, Identity, and Equality 187 (edited by Susanna Mancini & Michel Rosenfeld, Cambridge Univeristy Press 2018). The Family’s Constitution, 32 Constitutional Commentary 413 (2017). (Invited symposium essay) The Nature of Parenthood, 126 Yale Law Journal 2260 (2017). Marriage Equality and the New Parenthood, 129 Harvard Law Review 1185 (2016). Conscience Wars: Complicity-Based Conscience Claims in Religion and Politics (with Reva Siegel), 124 Yale Law Journal 2516 (2015). Before Marriage: The Unexplored History of Nonmarital Recognition and its Impact on Marriage, 102 California Law Review 87 (2014). Marriage and Non-Marriage After Windsor, in Civil Rights Litigation and Attorney Fees Annual Handbook 417 (edited by Steve Saltzman and Cheryl I. Harris, Clark Boardman, 2013). Constitutional Change, Courts, and Social Movements, 111 Michigan Law Review 877 (2013). Reviewing Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World, by Jack M. Balkin (2011). Cause Lawyers Inside the State, 87 Fordham Law Review 649 (2012). (Invited symposium article). Marriage Inequality: Same-Sex Relationships, Religious Exemptions, and the Production of Sexual Orientation Discrimination, 100 California Law Review 1169 (2012). The Legal Mobilization Dilemma, 61 Emory Law Journal 663 (2012). (Invited symposium article) Winning Through Losing, 96 Iowa Law Review 941 (2011). Convincing Elites, Controlling Elites, 54 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 175 (2011) (peer-reviewed). Lawyering for Marriage Equality (with Scott Cummings), 57 UCLA Law Reivew 1235 (2010). When New Governance Fails, 70 Ohio State Law Journal 323 (2009). Inclusion, Accommodation, and Recognition: Accounting for Differences Based on Religion and Sexual Orientation, 32 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 303 (2009). Exposing Sex Stereotypes in Recent Same-Sex Marriage Jurisprudence (with Deborah Widiss and Elizabeth Rosenblatt), 30 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 461 (2007). Note, Marriage, Cruising, and Life in Between: Clarifying Organizational Positionalities in Pursuit of Polyvocal Gay-Based Advocacy, 38 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 511 (2003). Religious Exemptions and Antidiscrimination Law in Masterpiece Cakeshop, 128 YALE LAW JOURNAL FORUM 201 (2018) (with Reva Siegel). Conscience and the Culture Wars (with Reva Siegel), American Prospect (Summer 2015). Griswold’s Progeny: Assisted Reproduction, Procreative Liberty, and Sexual Orientation Equality, 124 Yale Law Journal Forum 340 (2015). (Symposium on the Fiftieth Anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut) Introduction: Religious Accommodation in the Age of Civil Rights (with Nomi Stolzenberg), 38 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender vii (2015). (Symposium introduction) Doctrine in Context, 127 Harvard Law Review Forum 10 (2013). (Invited response) Windsor's Right to Marry, 102 Yale Law Journal Online 219 (2013). The View from Below: Public Interest Lawyering, Social Change, and Legal Education, 61 UCLA Law Review Discourse 182 (2013). Reviewing Public Interest Lawyering: A Contemporary Perspective (Alen Chen & Scott Cummings, eds. 2013). Marriage, Biology, and Gender, 98 Iowa Law Review Bulletin 83 (2013). (Invited response) Framing (In)Equality for Same-Sex Couples, 60 UCLA Law Review Discourse 184 (2013). (Symposium contribution) Introduction: Talking Around Marriage, 45 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 675 (2012). (Symposium introduction) New Entrants Bring New Questions, 19 Law & Sexuality 181 (2010)Shorter Works