Courses/Current Research
- Child welfare policy
- Juvenile justice
- Child advocacy
- Family Court reform
- Clinical legal education
- Legal organization management
Education
- New York University, J.D., 1979
- Smith, B.A., 1974
Media Contact:
Detailed Biography:
Professor Jane M. Spinak is the Edward Ross Aranow Clinical Professor of Law. A member of the Columbia faculty since 1982, she co-founded the Child Advocacy Clinic, which represents children living in foster care in family-court proceedings. During the mid-1990s, Professor Spinak served as attorney-in-charge of the Juvenile Rights Division of The Legal Aid Society of New York City. From 2001 to 2006, she was the director of clinical education at the law school. In 2002, she became the founding chair of the board of the Center for Family Representation, an advocacy and policy organization dedicated to ensuring the procedural and substantive rights of parents in child-welfare proceedings. Professor Spinak is a member of the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children. She has served on numerous tasks forces and committees addressing the needs and rights of children and families and has trained and lectured widely on those issues to lawyers, social workers and other mental health professionals. She has authored books and articles for child advocates and judges on child welfare and Family Court matters including a Permanency Planning Judicial Benchbook. Her current research focuses on Family Court reform as discussed in Adding Value to Families: The Potential of Model Family Courts (2002 Wisconsin Law Review 332). On her return from sabbatical, Professor Spinak will direct the newly created Multi-Disciplinary Center of Excellence in Child Advocacy at the law school in collaboration with the national child advocacy organization, First Star.
