For a complete list of course offerings in Family Law, including full descriptions and faculty who will be teaching the offerings in 2008-2009, refer to the online Curriculum Guide.
Family law encompasses the policies and doctrines regulating familial and intimate relationships in American society. The family is the basic institituion in society for caring for the inevitable dependency needs experienced by all individuals and family law defines, regulates and supports the relationships that count as legal families. These include, most importantly, the relationships between intimate adult partners in committed unions and the relationships between parents and children. Although traditionally marriage was the only legally sanctioned family law, modern family law recognizes and regulates non-marital families, including same-sex and opposite-sex cohabiting couples and families in which parents are not married.
Family law incorporates many themes and issues dealt with in other courses and concentrations. Most importantly, perhaps, family relationships are intricately bound up with issues of gender. Therefore there is substantial overlap between family law courses and gender studies. Because the regulation of resources and wealth in families is a core component of family law, the basic Property course provides important background to the study of family law. Since dissolution of families is an important focus of family law, the basic course in Contracts and courses in alternative dispute resolution are useful adjuncts to studying family law.
Family law sometimes crosses the traditional divide between civil and criminal law. Thus, the first-year course in Criminal Law informs the study of family law. Although historically family law has been primarily state iaw, with much variation across jurisdictions, in the last century federal regulation of families has increased dramatically. At the same time, the Supreme Court has played an increasingly important role in defining the constitutional parameters of family relationships. In this regard, the basic Constitutional Law course is an important foundation to the study of family law.
In addition to the general introduction to Family Law offered for upperclass students, there are a variety of other upper-level courses, seminars and clinics that in combination provide a rich understanding of the legal regulation of families and of individuals within them. These address such areas as the meanings of motherhood, domestic violence, children in the legal system, trusts and estates, juvenile justice, sexuality, gender, health and human rights, welfare law, abortion, and feminist legal theory. Columbia Law School also offers several clinics that deal with family issues: Child Advocay Clinic, Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic, and the Prisoners and Families Clinic.
