Jessica Weaver Dixon, JD
Assistant Professor, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
jdweaver@mail.smu.edu

Jessica Dixon Weaver is an Assistant Professor at Southern Methodist University (“SMU”) Dedman School of Law in Dallas, Texas.  She teaches in the areas of family and children and the law, as well as professional responsibility.  Her research is primarily in the areas of child abuse and neglect, child welfare reform, family and race, and intersectional feminism. 

Before entering the academy in 2002, she had a solo law practice in the areas of child welfare, juvenile, and employment law.  Weaver was the founding director of the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Child Advocacy Clinic at SMU Dedman School of Law, where she taught an interdisciplinary course and supervised law students who served as guardians and attorneys ad Litem for abused and neglected children.  She was honored in 2009 as an Extraordinary Minority in Texas Law by the Texas Lawyer for her work with the child advocacy clinic.  In 2010, SMU received a $2.5 million grant for continuation of the child advocacy clinic and the establishment of an Institute to serve as an academic leader in the transformation of child welfare law and policy.  Weaver is the 2012 Chair of the Children and the Law Section of the American Association of Law Schools (“AALS”).

Weaver has published a range of articles and shorter works, including The African-American Child Welfare Act: A Legal Redress for African-American Disproportionality in Child Protection Cases, 10 Berkeley J. Afr.-Am. L. & Pol’y 109 (2008); The Texas Mis-Step:  Why the Largest Child Removal in Modern U.S. History Failed, 16 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 449 (2010); The Principle of Subsidiarity Applied:  Reforming the Legal Framework to Capture the Psychological Abuse of Children, 18 Va. J. Soc. Pol’y and Law 247 (2011); African-American Grandmothers:  Does the Gender Entrapment Theory Apply?  Essay Response to Professor Beth Richie, 37 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol’y 153 (2011); and The First Father:  Perspectives on the President’s National Fatherhood Initiative, 50 Fam. Ct. Rev. __ (2012).     She has presented her research and articles at various top U.S. law schools.  She is currently working on two articles, Grandma in the White House and Family and Race in Post-Obama America.

While at Emory, Weaver will work with Martha Fineman, Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, and other affiliated faculty of the Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative on a research project exploring the relationship of female child sexual abuse to neglectful motherhood and termination of parental rights.  Her focus will be on development of an interdisciplinary theory of rehabilitation for sexually abused mothers whose children have been removed. 

Hao Shikun, BA, LLM
Doctoral Candidate, Institute of International Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences - Beijing, China
lawhaoshikun(at)yahoo.com.cn

Hao is a doctoral candidate with the Institute of International Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, conducting research on international human rights law, women’s rights and gender equality. His work is funded by Chinese Scholarship Council for the Ministry of Education. He received his graduate degree in law from Shenzhen University Law School in 2010, and his undergraduate degree in law from Tangshan College.

His academic area of focus is human rights and gender equality, which has been guided by his supervisor Professor Zhu Xiaoqin.  One of the leading scholars of women’s human rights in China and the director of the Center for Gender and Law Studies at the Institute of International Law. The joint project they are conducting mainly focuses on issues related to law and legal reform toward for greater gender equality and protection of women’s human rights.  As well as shared knowledge and information and practices across different regions in order to establish a strong network and develop joint strategies to mainstream gender into the legislation process in China.

His research while with emory as a visting ascholr with the VHC ptoject will focus on the human rights protection of women migrant workers in the context of globalization. I will analyze the interaction between globalization, migration and the realization of women’s human rights, demonstrate the good practices and strategies that China should learn in order to improve its legal system.

Buyan Zu, BA, LLM
Doctoral Candidate, China University of Political Science and Law -  Beijing,China
zuboyuan(at)hotmail.com

Boyuan Zu is a PhD candidate in China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL). She got her Master degree in administrative law (concentrated on sports law) from the Law School of CUPL in 2011, as well as her Bachelor degree in law there in 2008. Her research interests are feminism, governments’ obligations on protecting women’s rights, and sports law in China. Now she focuses on women’s social welfare and administrative law.

Boyuan assisted her adviser Professor Ma Huaide, one of the leading scholars in administrative law in China, to carry out the project on “the Drafting of Regulation of Fujian Province on the Administrative Enforcement of Law” in CUPL during 2011 to 2012. This draft aims at protecting citizens’ rights by restricting the public power. In this project, she took the responsibilities of conducting investigations, writing reports, organizing conferences, and completing three chapters of this draft.

Boyuan’s research in Emory focuses on women’s social welfare and the states obligations. She will make a comparative study of American law and Chinese law, and find the relationship between women’s social welfare and government’s obligations under the guidance of the vulnerability theory.  Boyuan will be a visiting scholar with the VHC from September 2012 to September 2013.

Qingbin Wang, PhD
Associate Professor of Law, China University of Political Science and Law - Beijing, China
wqb7723@163.com

Qingbin is an Associate Professor at the Center for Government and Law at China University of Political Science and Law.  His fields of specialty are administrative law, public health law, feminist legal theory, and comparative law.  He graduated from the Law School of Wuhan University in 2007 and earned a PhD in Constitutional and Administrative Law under Professor Youyong Zhou’s supervision.  In 2007 Qingbin joined China University of Political Science and Law as a lecturer.

Qingbin's publications include: Research on Legalization of Administrative Planning, People Press, 2010; “Judicial Review of Administrative Plan”, Contemporary Law Review, 4th, 2010;  “Indemnification System for Loss in Administrative Plan”, Wuhan University Journal (Philosophy & Social Sciences), 4th, 2009; “Approaches to Solving the Conflicts between Administrative Politics and Regulation”, Journal of Lanzhou University (Social Sciences), 4th, 2009; “Protection of Private Interest in Administrative Plan”, Law Science Magazine, 2nd, 2009; “Procedure Control of Administrative Plan”, Journal of China National School of Administration, 6th, 2009; “Legal Analysis of Mandatory Recall”, Journal of Wuhan University of Technology (social science edition), 4th, 2009; “The Legal Nature of Administrative Plan”, Administrative Law Review, 1st, 2008.  Qingbin received a research grant focusing on investigating Legal Problems of Regional Planning from Chinese Philosophy and the Social Sciences Project in 2010.  He is the Vice Director of Research Center of Health Law. He has research cooperation with Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which is a non-governmental organization in Washington focused on how to promote legislation and protect kids from tobacco use in China.

Working with Professor Martha Albertson Fineman, Qingbin will conduct comparative research on how to embody feminism in administrative law, as well as focusing on American health law.

Wang Xinyu, PhD
Assistant Professor of Law at China University of Political Science and Law
fadaxinyu(at)hotmail.com

Wang Xinyu is an associate Professor of Law at China University of Political Science and Law.  Her fields of specialty are Jurisprudence, Feminist Legal Theory, Family Law and Comparative Law.  Dr. Wang’s PhD work examined the History of Chinese Legal System under Professor Zhu Yong’s supervision in 2005 focusing on the modernization of marriage law in the period of the Republic of China. In 2006 Xinyu entered into Philosophy and Social Science School of Beijing Normal University for the philosophy postdoctoral fellow under Professor Yuan Guiren’s supervision.

Dr. Wang’s publications include: A Study of the Modernization of Chinese Marriage Law During the Republic of China (2006), Construction after Destruction: Interpretation of Dong Biwu’s Thoughts of Judicial Reform (2005), Human Rights, Law and Politics (2005), On the Forming Factors of Individual Citizens’ Legal Consciousness, (2005), An Analysis on the Modernization of Chinese Marriage Law During the Republic of China, (2007), Combating Gender Discrimination is a Systematic Project (2007), and Necessity and Feasibility of Legislation on Gender Equality in Employment (Annual Report on Gender Equality and Women Development in China (2006-2007).  Her only English publication is, A Study of Current Employment Discrimination against Women, Taking Employment Discrimination Seriously: Chinese and European Perspectives (2009).

Dr. Wang is a Director of Comparative of the Law Research Society and Director of Dong Biwu’s Legal Theory Research Society. She attended Sino-Netherland Seminar on improving equal employment opportunity in 2007 and Sino-Swiss Workshop on the Implementation of Fundamental Rights in 2010.  She was awarded the 2008 China University of Political Science and Law Teaching achievement prize.

Working with Professor Martha Fineman, Dr. Wang will be investigating basic approaches for transforming gender equality theories in the legal system.  Her current research explores the impact of feminist legal theory on gender equality, particularly equality theories in the United States and she is interested in seeing how gender equality theories are integrated into legal the system. She is also interested in learning how to build Feminist Jurisprudence into curriculums.

Zahara Nampewo, JD, LLM
SJD Candidate, Emory School of Law
znampew(at)emory.edu

Zahara Nampewo is a candidate for the doctor in juridical science (SJD), working under the supervision of Martha A. Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law and founding director of the Feminism and Legal Theory Project.

Nampewo’s dissertation deals with the relation of gender and power and the position of women. She seeks to understand how the sexuality of “powerful women” is organized, constructed and used. The majority of interpretations on sexuality, especially sexual and reproductive rights, call for control over one’s body, and sexuality and life. Nampewo is interested in the manifestation of the power processes and how they actually work to empower or disempower women in regard to their own sexuality.

Prior to starting the SJD program, Nampewo worked as assistant lecturer with the Human Rights and Peace Centre at the School of Law, Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda. She also worked as a program coordinator for the Access to Justice Programme of the Danish International Development Agency (Danida) in Uganda and as a gender justice specialist with the United Nations Development Fund for Women in Liberia.

Nampewo has a keen interest in human rights with special emphasis on gender issues. Her research interests include gender and the law, health issues and international criminal and humanitarian law. While managing UNIFEM specific programs on gender justice, she followed and encouraged women’s participation in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia. She has published professional papers on a range of subjects including gender, sexuality and access to justice. These include: “Cultural and Gendered Constructions of Sexual Pleasure in Buganda” Working paper developed under the Gender Law and Sexuality Project, Faculty of Law Makerere University, 2008, “Uphill Progress or Downhill Degeneration? Local Council Courts and Access to Justice for Local Users”, HURIPEC Working Paper No. 29, 2010, and “State of Constitutionalism in Uganda; Challenges in Observance, in Constitutionalism in East Africa, Progress Challenges and Prospects in 2004”, Edited by Lawrence Mute, Kituo Cha Katiba, 2006.

She chairs the Board of Uganda Lawyers for Human Rights, a young nongovernmental organization advocating for human rights of marginalized groups. She also is board member for the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) and an incisive member of the Association of Uganda Women Lawyers (FIDA-U).

Stewart Marvel, MA, LLM
Doctoral Candidate, Osgoode Hall Law School

smarvel(at)emory.edu

Stewart Marvel is a PhD student at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, where she is conducting empirical research on assisted reproduction, queer families and urban geographies of commerce and intimacy. Her work is funded by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship and York Graduate Scholarship, as well as a Michael Smith FSS award from the Canadian government.

Marvel was elected president of the Osgoode Graduate Law Student Association from 2009-2010 and invited as 2011 PECANS visiting scholar to the Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality at Kent Law School in Canterbury, England. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with an MA in gender analysis for international development before receiving her LLM at Osgoode Hall. Previously, Marvel worked as communications liaison at the Korean National Commission for UNESCO in South Korea and served as gender advisor to the Ministry of Women in Gambia.

Marvel will be teaching a seminar course, Gender, Sexuality, and the Law, that aims to explore the socially constructed norms and frameworks enabling the legal regulation of human sexuality. The course will offer students a strong intersectional analysis and introduction to queer, critical race and feminist legal theory, while providing the interpretative tools required to evaluate a host of legislative and judicial responses to gender and sexuality.

Marvel is joining the Feminist Legal Theory Project as a visiting scholar from September 2011–September 2012. She will be working with Martha A. Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, while participating in Emory’s community of feminist legal inquiry, scholarship and debate.

Sarah Stephens, JD
Litigator practicing in Atlanta, Georgia
smsteph(at)emory.edu

Sarah M. Stephens is a litigator currently practicing in Atlanta, Georgia.  A graduate of Emory University, Sarah received her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology in 2004.  She went on to graduate magna cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law with her Juris Doctor in 2008.  Upon graduation from law school, Sarah served as a judicial term clerk for Judge G. Ernest Tidwell in the United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia and Chief Judge William B. Traxler, Jr. at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.   She is active in the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers and Georgia Women for a Change. 

Sarah is interested in international social policy and the implications of our global economy on the rights of women internationally, particularly in the Middle East.  She is a Visiting Scholar at Emory Law for the 2011-2012 academic year where she will be working on a research article that examines the relationship between women in the workforce, economic stabilization, and self and social valuation of women across cultures.  The abstract for Sarah's article has been accepted for presentation at the International Conference on Feminism and the Law to be held at the ILS Law School in Pune, India in February 2012.

Miro Yoo, JD, LLM
Research Judge of the Constitutional Court of Korea
myoo23(at)emory.edu

Mira Yoo is a Research Judge of the Constitutional Court of Korea. As a Research Judge, she is engaged in producing reports on cases, which mainly involve constitutional complaints, but may also include competence disputes, and constitutional review of statutes.

Judge Yoo holds a bachelor’s degree of political science from Yonsei University and is enrolled in the master’s program in constitutional law at Yonsei University. She passed the Korean bar exam in 2002 and finished 2 years training course in Judicial Research & Training Institute of the Supreme Court. During the training course, she also served as a legal intern in a District Court and a District Prosecutor’s Office.

Prior to working at the Constitutional Court, Judge Yoo was a public prosecutor, investigating and prosecuting criminal cases at the District Prosecutor’s Office. Judge Yoo’s research interests include exploring the principles and polices that are particularly related to gender equality, affirmative justice and prevention of sexual offences. Her current focus is on these principles and theories as they unfold in U.S. Constitutional law, as well as considering governmental policies that can protect youth and women from sexual assault.

While at Emory as a Visiting Scholar for the 2011-2012 academic year, Judge Yoo will participate in a research project focused on polices in Constitutional Law, particularly related to gender equality, affirmative justice and sexual offences and a comparative study of U.S. law and Korean law with Professor Martha Fineman.

Josephine Ndagire, JD, LLM 
SJD Candidate, Emory School of Law
jndagir(at)emory.edu

Josephine Ndagire is a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) student at the Emory University School of Law working under the supervision of Prof. Martha A. Fineman. Her dissertation examines international and domestic jurisprudence on outrages on personal dignity in armed conflict. The research juxtaposes international law, the Africa human rights system and domestic law in Uganda and Liberia on outrages on personal dignity, while drawing on the experiences in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Sudan.
 
Prior to enrolling in the SJD program, she worked as an Asst. Lecturer at the Human Rights and Peace Centre, Faculty of Law, Makerere University and as a Project Manager in charge of the Right to Reparations Project, the Eastern Africa International Criminal Justice Initiative and the Pro-Poor Integrity Program at the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative. She has also previously worked as a Staff Attorney at the International Law Institute-African Centre for Legal Excellence and as a Program Officer for Africa Fellow at the International Association of Women Judges.
 
Ms. Ndagire’s research interests include: international human rights law, transitional justice, gender and the law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (Hons) from Makerere University and a Master of Laws degree in International Human Rights Law (magna cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame Law School.