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Amy Wax

Robert Mundheim Professor of Law

Amy Wax

Amy Wax’s work addresses issues in social welfare law and policy as well as the relationship of the family, the workplace, and labor markets. By bringing to bear her training in biomedical sciences and appellate practice as well as her interest in economic analysis, Wax has developed a uniquely insightful approach to problems in her areas of expertise. Continue reading… Amy Wax’s work addresses issues in social welfare law and policy as well as the relationship of the family, the workplace, and labor markets. By bringing to bear her training in biomedical sciences and appellate practice as well as her interest in economic analysis, Wax has developed a uniquely insightful approach to problems in her areas of expertise. Wax has published widely in law journals, addressing liberal theory and welfare work requirements as well as the economics of federal disability laws. Current works in progress include articles on same-sex marriage, disparate impact theory and group demographics, rational choice and family structure, and the law and neuroscience of deprivation. Her most recent book is Race, Wrongs, and Remedies: Group Justice in the 21st Century (Hoover Institution Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2009). Wax has received the A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course and the Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. As an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Wax argued 15 cases before the United States Supreme Court.

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Expertise

  • Civil Procedure
  • Social Welfare Law and Policy
  • Law and Economics
  • Family Law

Books

RACE, WRONGS, AND REMEDIES: GROUP JUSTICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY (Hoover Institution Press/Rowman and Littlefield, May 2009).
[Available Here]

Articles and Book Chapters

Disparate Impact Realism, 53 WM. & MARY L. REV. 621 (2011).

The Dead End of "Disparate Impact," 12 NAT'L AFF. 53 (2012).

An Incomplete View of Adolescence, 28 ISSUES IN SCI. & TECH. 8 (2012).

Supply Side or Discrimination? Assessing the Role of Unconscious Bias, 83 TEMP. L. REV. 877 (2011).

Income Integration at School, 169 POL'Y REV. 49-62 (Oct/Nov. 2011)

Diverging Family Structure and 'Rational' Behavior: The Decline in Marriage as a Disorder of Choice, in THE ECONOMICS OF THE FAMILY (Lloyd R. Cohen & Joshua D. Wright eds., Elgar Publishers 2011).

Stereotype threat: a Case of Overclaim Syndrome?, in STEREOTYPE THREAT AND UNCONSCIOUS BIAS: THE STATE OF THE RESEARCH (Christina Hoff Summers, ed., American Enterprise Institute 2009).

The Family Law Doctrine of Equivalence, 107 MICH L. REV. 999 (2009) (reviewing Nancy D. Polikoff, BEYOND (STRAIGHT AND GAY) MARRIAGE: VALUING ALL FAMILIES UNDER THE LAW (2008)).

Basic Income and Caretaker Benefits, 4:1 BASIC INCOME STUDIES, art. 3 (2009).

Norm Change or Judicial Decree? The Courts, the Public, and Welfare Reform, 32 HARV. J. L. & PUB. POL’Y 45 (2009).

The Discriminating Mind: Define It, Prove It, 40 U. CONN. L. REV. 979 (2008).

Mothers Alone, 141 POL'Y REV. 77 (2008).

Musical Chairs and Tall Buildings: Teaching Poverty Law in the 21st Century, 34 FORDHAM URB. L.J. 1363 (2007).

Engines of Inequality: Race, Class, and Family Structure, 41 FAM. L.Q. 567 (2007).

Traditionalism, Pluralism, and Same-Sex Marriage, 59 RUTGERS L. REV. 377 (2007).

Unique, Like Everyone Else, 138 POL’Y REV. 85 (2006).

Too Few Good Men, 134 POL’Y REV. 69 (Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006).

We Are All Racist at Heart, WALL ST. J., Dec. 1, 2005 (with Philip Tetlock).

The Political Psychology of Redistribution: Implications for Welfare Reform, THE POLITICS OF WELFARE REFORM (Sage Foundation Press 2005).

The Conservative’s Dilemma: Social Science, Social Change, and Traditional Institutions, 42 SAN DIEGO L. REV. 1059 (2005).

Evolution and the Bounds of Human Nature, 23 LAW & PHIL. 527 (2004).

Family Friendly Workplace Reform: Prospects for Change, in 596 ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 36 (2004).

Against Neutrality, 29 BOSTON REV. (2004).

Converted or Unconverted: To Whom Shall we Preach?, 12 COLUM. J. GENDER & L. 546 (2003).

More publications can be found here.

Working Papers

Is the Family-Friendly Workplace Possible? Dynamic computer simulations using a game-theoretic model

Be All You Can Be: Data-Driven Human Capital Policy (with James Heckman)

What Teenage Girls Want: Evolution, Sex Selection, and Feminist Legal Theory

Consumer Bankruptcy as Social Welfare (with David Skeel)

Choice and Coercion in Feminist Theory: The Case of Women in Science Careers (forthcoming)

The Law and Neuroscience of Deprivation (with Martha Farah) (forthcoming)

Against Perversity: Horizontal Equity and Poor Relief (forthcoming)

Religious vs. Secular Reservations about Same-Sex Marriage: A Comparative Analysis (forthcoming)

Research Areas

  • Social Welfare Law and Policy
  • Labor and Employment Law
  • The Law and Economics of Work and Family
  • Remedies
  • Social Science and Law
  • Evolutionary Psychology and Law

Positions

Penn Law - Robert Mundheim Professor of Law (2007- ); Professor of Law (2001-07); Visiting Professor (2000)

Office of the Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. - Assistant to the Solicitor General (1988-94)

University of Virginia Law School - Class of 1948 Professor of Scholarly Research in Law (2000-01); Professor (1999-2000); Associate Professor (1994-99)

Law Clerk to the Honorable Abner J. Mikva, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, (1987-88)

Consulting Neurologist, Bronx Cross County Clinic, Bronx, New York, and Brooklyn North Medical Group (1985-87)

Resident in Neurology, New York Hospital - Cornell Medical Center (1982-85)

Courses

  • Civil Procedure
  • Labor Law
  • Social Welfare Law & Policy
  • Remedies
  • Law and Economics of Work and Family
  • Supreme Court Practice and Process

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