Press Release
Northern Illinois University Law to Welcome Professor Suzanne Reynolds
March 24, 2010
DeKalb, Ill. -- The Northern Illinois University College of Law will welcome Professor Suzanne Reynolds as a guest speaker on Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. in the Riley Courtroom at the College of Law, Swen Parson Hall in DeKalb. Her presentation, “Custody and Domestic Violence: What's a (Legal System) to Do?” will focus on handling domestic violence cases which include an issue on child custody. The law's newest experiment appoints a custody guardian ad litem for the child, and this address traces that new development and describes the obstacles it will surely face.
Professor Reynolds, a nationally-known expert on family law, is currently heading a team in the midst of applying for a prestigious Robert Wood Foundation Grant, the United States largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. The foundation’s mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. Professor Reynolds’ proposal is to fund programs dealing with child custody in cases of domestic violence, with specific regard to the effects of custody guardian ad litem appointments.
Professor Reynolds has served as a professor at the Wake Forest University School of Law in North Carolina since 1989 and is a founding faculty member of the Center for Bioethics, Health, and Society at Wake Forest University. She taught Comparative Constitutional Law with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Venice, Italy in July 2008. In addition, Professor Reynolds has been privileged to publicly interview Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor.
Professor Reynolds is widely respected for her scholarship and teaching about family law and for her public service. She was a principal drafter of statutes that modernized the law of both alimony and of adoption, and she co-founded a domestic violence program that received national recognition by the ABA for providing legal assistance to the poor. She authored a three volume treatise on North Carolina family law that has become the authoritative source for law students, lawyers, and judges, and for many years she has taught the family law portion of the bar review course. Her empirical work has focused on outcomes in high conflict custody disputes.
Professor Reynolds received the Women of Achievement Award from the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Carolina in April 2009 as well as the Governor's Distinguished Woman of North Carolina for Education Award in 1998.
Following her remarks, she will be available for questions as part of a reception hosted by the law school. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public.
###
For more information, contact:
Melody Mitchell
Alumni Events & Public Relations
(815) 753-9655 or mmitchell@niu.edu