Teaching with Feminist Judgments: A Global Conversation

Authors

Susan Frelich Appleton, Washington University in St. Louis School of LawFollow
Gabrielle J. Appleby, University of New South Wales (UNSW)Follow
Ross Astoria, University of Wisconsin - ParksideFollow
Linda L. Berger, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of LawFollow
Bridget J. Crawford, Pace University School of LawFollow
Sharon Cowan, University of Edinburgh - School of LawFollow
Rosalind Dixon, University of New South Wales (UNSW)Follow
Troy Lavers, Leicester Law SchoolFollow
Andrea L. McArdle, CUNY School of LawFollow
Elisabeth McDonald, University of CanterburyFollow
Teri A. McMurtry-Chubb, University of Illinois - Chicago LawFollow
Vanessa Munro, University of Warwick School LawFollow
Kathryn M. Stanchi, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of LawFollow
Pam Wilkins, Mercer University - Walter F. George School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2020

Publication Title

Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice

Abstract

This conversational-style essay is an exchange among fourteen professors — representing thirteen universities across five countries — with experience teaching with feminist judgments. Feminist judgments are “shadow” court decisions rewritten from a feminist perspective, using only the precedent in effect and the facts known at the time of the original decision. Scholars in Canada, England, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, India and Mexico have published (or are currently producing) written collections of feminist judgments that demonstrate how feminist perspectives could have changed the legal reasoning or outcome (or both) in important legal cases.

This essay begins to explore the vast pedagogical potential of feminist judgments. The contributors to this conversation describe how they use feminist judgments in the classroom; how students have responded to the judgments; how the professors achieve specific learning objectives through teaching with feminist judgments; and how working with feminist judgments — whether studying them, writing them, or both — can help students excavate the multiple social, political, economic and even personal factors that influence the development of legal rules, structures, and institutions. The primary takeaway of the essay is that feminist judgments are a uniquely enriching pedagogical tool that can broaden the learning experience. Feminist judgments invite future lawyers, and indeed any reader, to re-imagine what the law is, what the law can be, and how to make the law more responsive to the needs of all people.

Keywords

Legal Education, Pedagogy, Feminist Judgments

Publication Citation

Bridget J. Crawford, Kathryn M. Stanchi, Linda L. Berger, Gabrielle Appleby, Susan F. Appleton, Ross Astoria, Sharon Cowan, Rosalind Dixon, J. Troy Lavers, Andrea L. McArdle, Elisabeth McDonald, Teri A. McMurtry-Chubb, Vanessa E. Munro & Pamela A. Wilkins, Teaching with Feminist Judgments: A Global Conversation, 38 Law & Ineq. 1 (2020),

Repository Citation

Appleton, Susan Frelich; Appleby, Gabrielle J.; Astoria, Ross; Berger, Linda L.; Crawford, Bridget J.; Cowan, Sharon; Dixon, Rosalind; Lavers, Troy; McArdle, Andrea L.; McDonald, Elisabeth; McMurtry-Chubb, Teri A.; Munro, Vanessa; Stanchi, Kathryn M.; and Wilkins, Pam, "Teaching with Feminist Judgments: A Global Conversation" (2020). Scholarship@WashULaw. 126.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_scholarship/126