Laura Rothstein

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Professor of Law and Distinguished University Scholar

Laura Rothstein's picture

Laura Rothstein, joined the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville as Professor of Law and Dean in 2000 (serving as dean until 2005). In 2006, she was appointed by the University of Louisville as a Distinguished University Scholar.

Entering the field of disability discrimination law in 1979, she is one of the founding scholars in the area, and has written eleven books and numerous book chapters, articles, and other works on disability discrimination. Her work covers all aspects of disability discrimination, but focuses on issues in higher education, legal education, and special education. School choice and students with disabilities, genetic testing and students with disabilities, mental illness in the workplace, students with learning disabilities in higher education are among the topics on which she has written and lectured. She has served legal education and higher education in this area through her service as chair of the AALS Special Committee on Disability Issues, chair of the AALS/ABA/LSAC/NCBE National Conference on Disability Issues, founding co-chair of the AALS Section on Disability Law, and LSAC and ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar committee appointments.

Professor Rothstein has engaged in extensive service to the arena of law school admissions, serving twice as a member of the Law School Admission Council Board of Trustees, and in many committee capacities within LSAC. Included in this service was her work as an outreach lecturer for LSAC on the appropriate use of the LSAT.

She has also engaged in efforts to promote gender and racial diversity within legal education and the legal profession. She has served as chair of the AALS Women and the Law Section, and is currently in her fourth year of service as chair of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education Diversity Committee. She is also a member of the Louisville Bar Association Diversity Committee. In recent years, through her role as faculty liaison for the Central High School Partnership, she has been engaged in building an enhanced program, which will serve as a pipeline to law school. As a member of the LSAC/ABA Pipeline Outreach Planning group, she has worked to enhance programs nationally that will increase the pipeline of underrepresented populations to the legal profession.

Immediately before coming to the University of Louisville, she was a Law Foundation Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Graduate Legal Studies at the University of Houston, where she also served as Associate Dean for Student Affairs. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Kansas and her doctor of jurisprudence from Georgetown University.

 

Courses Taught

Disability Law

Property Law

Torts

Publications

"Law Students and Lawyers with Mental Health and Substance Abuse Problems: Protecting the Public and the Individual," in press - to be published in Volume 69, Issue 3, a 2008 symposium issue of the University of Pittsburgh Law Review

"Millennials and Disability Law: Revisiting Southeastern Community College v. Davis: Emerging Issues for Students with Disabilities," 34 Journal of College & University Law 167-199 (2007-08)

"Southeastern Community College v. Davis: The "Prequel" to the Television Series "ER," Book Chapter for Foundation Press EDUCATION STORIES (edited by Michael Olivas and Ronna Schneider (2007)

"State Licensing Agencies and the ADA," Chapter, Materials for State Bar of Texas CLE Advanced Administrative Law Course, September 2007

Disabilities and the Law, 3rd edition (Thomson/West) (2006) with Julia Rothstein. And biannual cumulative supplements

Disability Law: Cases, Materials and Problems (4th edition) (Lexis/Nexis) (2006)

Disability Law: Cases, Materials and Problems Statutory Supplement (4th edition ( Lexis/Nexis) (2006)

Disability Law: Cases, Materials and Problems Teacher's Manual (4th edition (Lexis/Nexis) (2006)

"The LSAT, U.S. News, and Minority Admissions, 80 St. John's Law Review 257-288 (2006)

"ABA Accreditation of Law Schools and ADA Issues," prepared for the Section 504 Compliance Handbook (Thompson Publishing Company) (2006)

"Current ADA Issues for Law School Building Projects," (outline and essay) prepared for ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar Bricks & Bytes Conference (2006).

Editor, Brandeis at 150: The Louisville Perspective (published by Butler Books) (2006)

"Disability Law and Higher Education: A Roadmap for Where We Have Been and Where We May be Heading," 63 Maryland Law Review 101-138 (2004)

Book Review, "Simple Justice," Courier-Journal, May 2, 2004

(for a complete list, please see curriculum vitae)

Presentations

"The Story of Southeastern Community College v. Davis: The Prequel to the Television Series ER," Education Law Stories: The People and Principles Behind Education's Most Contentious Legal Controversies, University of Cincinnati College of Law, April 14, 2008.

"The State of Disability Law in the United States in 2008: How Full Is the Glass," 2008 Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium: Disability Law: From tenBroek to the Twenty-first Century," April 10 - 11, 2008, Baltimore Maryland. 

"Managing High Risk Students: ADA Issues," 17th Annual Legal Issues in Higher Education Conference, Burlington, Vermont, October 15 &16, 2007

"Millenials and New Disability Law Issues for College and University Students," 17th Annual Legal Issues in Higher Education Conference, Burlington, Vermont, October 14, 2007

"Texas State Professional Licensing Agencies: Americans with Disabilities Act Issues," 19th Annual Advanced Administrative Law Course, Texas Bar CLE, Austin, Texas, September 20, 2007

"Legal and Medical Profession Comparisons: Policies, Practices and Procedures in Admissions, Professional Education, and the Profession for Individuals with Mental Health or Substance Abuse Impairments," Emory Law School Conference, September 7, 2007

"Faculty Members with Mental Health Problems: Legal Issues under Disability Discrimination Law," National Association of College & University Attorneys Annual Conference, San Diego, June 29, 2007

"School Choice and Special Education," Distinguished Lecture, Chapman Law School, Los Angeles, March 23, 2007

"New Issues for Students with Disabilities," Stetson Annual Conference on Law and Higher Education," February 19, 2007

"Millennials, Law School, and Students with Disabilities," AALS Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., January 3, 2007

"ADA Access Issues for Law Schools," ABA Bricks and Bytes Conference, Seattle, March 2006 (written presentation)

"Teaching Disability Law," AALS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, January 2006

"ADA Issues for Legal Education," Dean's Colloquium, Southern Illinois University Law School, October 2005

"The Appropriate Use of the LSAT and the Impact on Minority Recruitment and US News Rankings - Dean's Perspective," St. John's University Law School Conference on the LSAT, Minority Admission, and US News and World Report - September 7, 2005

"Legal Issues Regarding Public School Students with Disabilities," Aicardi Syndrome National Conference, Louisville, July 9, 2004

"Disabilities and Legal Education," American University Conference, Washington, DC, Spring 2004

"Are We Being Too Accommodating?" AALS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, January 5, 2004

(for a complete list, please see curriculum vitae)

University and Community Service

Service to Legal Education

Member, AALS Membership Committee (2006-2009)

Chair, Diversity Committee, ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar (2004-2008); member (2002- present)

Member, ABA/LSAC Post Conference Pipeline Strategic Planning Group (2006)

Member, Law School Admissions Council Minority Affairs Committee (2005-2007)

Member, LSAC Disability Accommodations Workgroup (2006)

Member, ABA/LSAC Pipeline Strategic Planning Taskforce (2006)

(for a complete list, please see curriculum vitae)