Douglas NeJaime
Anne Urowsky Professor of Law
Education
J.D., Harvard Law School, 2003
A.B., Brown University, 2000
Courses Taught
- Family Law
- Professional Responsibility
Douglas NeJaime is Anne Urowsky Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he teaches in the areas of legal ethics, family law, 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 three casebooks: Ethical Lawyering: Legal and Professional Responsibilities in the Practice of Law (with Paul Hayden); Family Law in a Changing America (with Ralph Richard Banks, Joanna Grossman, and Suzanne Kim); and Cases and Materials on Sexuality, Gender Identity, and the Law (with Carlos Ball, Jane Schacter, and William Rubenstein).
NeJaime writes in a number of related areas. His scholarship in family law includes: “Multiparenthood,” 99 N.Y.U. Law Review 1242 (2024), with Courtney Joslin;“Parents in Fact,” 91 University of Chicago Law Review 513 (2024); “How Parenthood Functions,” 123 Columbia Law Review 319 (2023), with Courtney Joslin; “The Nature of Parenthood,” 126 Yale Law Journal 2260 (2017); “Marriage Equality and the New Parenthood,” 129 Harvard Law Review 1185 (2016); and “Before Marriage: The Unexplored History of Nonmarital Recognition and Its Relationship to Marriage,” 102 California Law Review 87 (2014). NeJaime’s scholarship in constitutional law includes: “Answering the Lochner Objection: Reexamining Substantive Due Process and the Role of Courts in a Democracy,” 96 N.Y.U. Law Review 1902 (2021), with Reva Siegel; and “The Constitution of Parenthood,” 72 Stanford Law Review 261 (2020). His scholarship on the legal profession and law and social movements includes: “Winning Through Losing,” 96 Iowa Law Review 941 (2011); and “Lawyering for Marriage Equality,” 57 UCLA Law Review 1235 (2010) (with Scott Cummings). His scholarship in law and religion includes: “Conscience Wars: Complicity-Based Conscience Claims in Religion and Politics,” 124 Yale Law Journal 2516 (2015), with Reva Siegel; and “Marriage Inequality: Same-Sex Relationships, Religious Exemptions, and the Production of Sexual Orientation Discrimination,” 100 California Law Review 1169 (2012).
On three occasions, NeJaime received the Dukeminier Award, which recognizes the best sexual orientation legal scholarship published in the previous year. He also received the YLW Faculty Excellence Award at Yale Law School and was chosen by the graduating class to be the Yale Law School commencement speaker in 2024. NeJaime received 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.
News
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.
Douglas NeJaime on Parental Recognition and Rights
Douglas NeJaime, Professor of Law at Yale Law School, answered questions about the legal status of parenthood.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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). 2d ed. Aspen (2024).
Ethical Lawyering: Legal and Professional Responsibilities in the Practice of Law (with Paul Hayden). 5th ed. West (2023).
Cases and Materials on Sexuality, Gender Identity, and the Law (with Carlos Ball, Jane Schacter, and William Rubenstein). 7th ed. West (2022).
Articles and Chapters
Multiparenthood4, 99 N.Y.U. Law Review (forthcoming 2024) (with Courtney Joslin).
Parents in Fact5, 91 University of Chicago Law Review 513 (2024)(invited submission).
How Parenthood Functions6, 123 Columbia Law Review 319 (2023) (with Courtney Joslin).
The ALI Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution: Addressing Inequality Through Functional Regulation7(with Linda McClain), in The ALI at 100: Essays on its Centennial 337 (Andrew Gold & Robert Gordon eds., Oxford Univ. Press 2023).
Psychological Parenthood8, 106 Minnesota Law Review 2363 (2022) (with Anne Alstott & Anne Dailey).
Multi-Parent Families, Real and Imagined9, 90 Fordham Law Review 2561 (2022) (with Courtney Joslin) (invited submission).
Answering the Lochner Objection: Reexamining Substantive Due Process and the Role of Courts in a Democracy10, 96 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1902 (2021) (with Reva Siegel).
Conscience Wars in the Americas11, 5 Latin American Law Review 1 (2020).
The Constitution of Parenthood12, 72 Stanford Law Review 261 (2020).
Concurring Opinion13 (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 Equality14, 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 Society15 (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 Pluralism16 (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 Constitution17, 32 Constitutional Commentary 413 (2017). (Invited symposium essay)
The Nature of Parenthood18, 126 Yale Law Journal 2260 (2017).
Marriage Equality and the New Parenthood19, 129 Harvard Law Review 1185 (2016).
Conscience Wars: Complicity-Based Conscience Claims in Religion and Politics20 (with Reva Siegel), 124 Yale Law Journal 2516 (2015).
Before Marriage: The Unexplored History of Nonmarital Recognition and its Impact on Marriage21, 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,22 111 Michigan Law Review 877 (2013). Reviewing Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World, by Jack M. Balkin (2011).
Cause Lawyers Inside the State23, 87 Fordham Law Review 649 (2012). (Invited symposium article).
Marriage Inequality: Same-Sex Relationships, Religious Exemptions, and the Production of Sexual Orientation Discrimination24, 100 California Law Review 1169 (2012).
The Legal Mobilization Dilemma25, 61 Emory Law Journal 663 (2012). (Invited symposium article)
Winning Through Losing,26 96 Iowa Law Review 941 (2011).
Convincing Elites, Controlling Elites27, 54 Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 175 (2011) (peer-reviewed).
Lawyering for Marriage Equality28 (with Scott Cummings), 57 UCLA Law Reivew 1235 (2010).
When New Governance Fails29, 70 Ohio State Law Journal 323 (2009).
Inclusion, Accommodation, and Recognition: Accounting for Differences Based on Religion and Sexual Orientation30, 32 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 303 (2009).
Exposing Sex Stereotypes in Recent Same-Sex Marriage Jurisprudence31 (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,32 38 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 511 (2003).
Shorter Works
Domestic Violence and Functional Parent Doctrines33, 30 Virginia Journal of Social Policy & Law 67 (2023) (with Courtney Joslin) (invited submission).
How Functional Parent Doctrines Function: Findings from an Empirical Study34, 35 Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers 589 (2023) (with Courtney Joslin) (invited submission).
Biology and Illegitimacy35, 74 SMU Law Review 259 (2021) (invited submission).
Religious Exemptions and Antidiscrimination Law in Masterpiece Cakeshop36, 128 Yale Law Journal Forum 201 (2018) (with Reva Siegel).
Conscience and the Culture Wars37 (with Reva Siegel), American Prospect (Summer 2015).
Griswold’s Progeny: Assisted Reproduction, Procreative Liberty, and Sexual Orientation Equality38, 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 Context39, 127 Harvard Law Review Forum 10 (2013). (Invited response)
Windsor's Right to Marry40, 102 Yale Law Journal Online 219 (2013).
The View from Below: Public Interest Lawyering, Social Change, and Legal Education41, 61 UCLA Law Review Discourse 182 (2013).
Reviewing Public Interest Lawyering: A Contemporary Perspective (Alen Chen & Scott Cummings, eds. 2013).
Marriage, Biology, and Gender42, 98 Iowa Law Review Bulletin 83 (2013). (Invited response)
Framing (In)Equality for Same-Sex Couples43, 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 Questions44, 19 Law & Sexuality 181 (2010)