Emily Buss

Emily Buss

Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law

Emily Buss's research interests include children's and parents' rights and the legal system's allocation of responsibility for children’s development among parent, child, and state. In recent years, she has focused particular attention on the developmental impact of court proceedings on children in the juvenile justice system. She currently serves as an Associate Reporter for the American Law Institute's Restatement on Children and the Law and has served as the principal drafter of the chapters on children’s constitutional rights in schools and on state and parents’ obligation to educate children. In addition to courses focused on the subjects of her research, Buss teaches civil procedure, evidence, and family law.

Professor Buss received her BA summa cum laude from Yale University in 1982 and her JD from Yale Law School in 1986. After graduating from law school, Buss clerked for Judge Louis H. Pollak of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the US Supreme Court. From 1989 to 1990, Buss worked as a staff attorney in the Child Advocacy Unit of the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau. In 1990, Buss joined the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, and from 1993 to 1996, she served as the Center's deputy director.

Education

Yale Law School

JD, 1986

Yale University

BA, summa cum laude in English, 1982
Phi Beta Kappa

Experience

The University of Chicago Law School

Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law, 2007-present
Kanter Director of Policy Initiatives, 2005-2011
Professor of Law, 2001-2006
Faculty Director of Academic Affairs, 2001-2003
Assistant Professor of Law, 1996-2001

Juvenile Law Center, Philadelphia, PA

Deputy Director, 1993-1996
Staff Attorney, 1990-1993

Child Advocacy Unit, Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. Baltimore, MD

Staff Attorney, 1989-1990

Justice Harry A. Blackmun, United States Supreme Court

Law Clerk, 1987-1988

Judge Louis H. Pollak, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Law Clerk, 1986-1987

Books (Author)

  • From Foster Care to Adulthood: The University of Chicago Law School Foster Care Project’s Protocol for Reform (2008).cu

Books (Editor)

  • The Law and Child Development. (Ashgate, 2010) (edited with Mavis Maclean). cu

Journal Articles

  • "What Can We Learn From the Federal Approach to The Prosecution of Juvenile Crime?," 102 Boston University Law Review 2089 (2022). www
  • "Kids Are Not So Different: The Path from Juvenile Exceptionalism to Prison Abolition," 89 University of Chicago Law Review 843 (2022). www
  • "The Milwaukee youth engagement pilot: Evidence of reciprocal legal socialization in Juvenile Court," 77 Journal of Social Issues 528 (2021). www
  • "The Law's Role in Raising Children," 46 Ohio Northern University Law Review 267 (2020). www
  • "The Divisive Supreme Court," 2016 Supreme Court Review 25 (2017). cu
  • "Developmental Jurisprudence," 88 Temple Law Review 741 (2016). cu
  • "Escaping the American Blot? A Comparative Look at Federalism in Australia and the United States through the Lens of Family Law," 48 Cornell Journal of International Law 105 (2015) (with William Buss). cu www
  • "An Off-Label Use of Parental Rights? The Unanticipated Doctrinal Antidote for Professor Mnookin's Diagnosis," 77 Law & Contemporary Problems 1 (2014). cu www
  • "The Gap in Law between Developmental Expectations and Educational Obligations," 79 University of Chicago Law Review 59 (2012). cu
  • "Law and Child Development in the UK and the US," 6 Journal of Children's Services 236 (2011) (with Mavis Maclean). cu
  • "Failing Juvenile Courts and What Lawyers and Judges Can Do about It," 6 Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy 318 (2011). cu
  • "Juvenile Court for Young Adults? How Ongoing Court Involvement Can Enhance Foster Youth's Chances for Success," 48 Family Court Review 262 (2010). cu www
  • "Rethinking the Connection Between Developmental Science and Juvenile Justice," 76 University of Chicago Law Review 493 (2009). cu
  • "What the Law Should (And Should Not) Learn from Child Development Research," 38 Hofstra Law Review 13 (2009). cu
  • "Allocating Developmental Control among Parent, Child and the State," 2004 University of Chicago Legal Forum 27 (2004). cu
  • "The Speech-Enhancing Effect of Internet Regulation," 79 Chicago-Kent Law Review 103 (2004). cu
  • "Radical Change through Conventional Means," 12 Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 577 (2004). cu
  • "Constitutional Fidelity through Children's Rights," 2004 Supreme Court Review 355 (2004). cu
  • "The Missed Opportunity in Gault," 70 University of Chicago Law Review 39 (2003). cu
  • "Parental Rights," 88 Virginia Law Review 635 (2002). ssrn cu
  • "Children's Associational Rights?: Why Less is More," 11 William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 1101 (2002). cu www
  • "The Adolescent's Stake in the Allocation of Educational Control between Parent and State," 67 University of Chicago Law Review 1233 (2000). cu
  • "The Parental Rights of Minors," 48 Buffalo Law Review 785 (2000). cu
  • "Adrift in the Middle: Parental Rights after Troxel v. Granville," 2000 Supreme Court Review 279 (2000). cu
  • "Too Young to Be Rehabilitated - Comments on Lipsey's 'Can Rehabilitative Programs Reduce the Recidivism of Juvenile Offenders?'," 6 Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 653 (1999). cu
  • "Confronting Developmental Barriers to the Empowerment of Child Clients," 84 Cornell Law Review 895 (1999). cu
  • "What Does Frieda Yoder Believe?," 2 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 53 (1999). cu
  • "Parents' Rights and Parents Wronged," 57 Ohio State Law Journal 431 (1996). cu
  • "You're My What? -The Problem of Children's Misperceptions of Their Lawyers' Roles," 64 Fordham Law Review 1699 (1996). cu
  • Note, "Getting Beyond Discrimination: A Regulatory Solution to the Problem of Fetal Hazards in the Workplace", 95 Yale Law Journal 577 (1985). cu

Book Sections

  • "Parental Duty and Authority to Educate," in Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, Tentative Draft No. 4 (American Law Institute, 2022).
  • "Educational Neglect," in Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, Tentative Draft No. 4 (American Law Institute, 2022).
  • "The State’s Duty to Provide Free Public Education for all Children," in Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, Tentative Draft No. 4 (American Law Institute, 2022).
  • "Student Speech Rights," in Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, Tentative Draft No. 3 (American Law Institute, 2021).
  • "Religion in Public Schools," in Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, Tentative Draft No. 3 (American Law Institute, 2021).
  • "Developing the Free Mind," in The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Education Law, Kristine L. Bowman ed. (Oxford University Press, 2020). www
  • "Discipline and Order Maintenance," in Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, Tentative Draft No. 2 (American Law Institute, 2019).
  • "What Stands in the Way of Children's Exercise of Their Criminal Procedural Rights in the United States," in Handbook of Children's Rights: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Martin Ruck, Michelle Peterson-Badali & Michael Freeman eds. (Routledge, 2016). cu
  • "The Developmental Stakes of Youth Participation in American Juvenile Court," in International Perspectives and Empirical Findings on Child Participation, Tali Gal & Benedetta Duramy eds. (Oxford University Press, 2015). cu www
  • "Children and the First Amendment," in The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States., David S. Tanenhaus ed. 2009). cu
  • "Parental Rights," in The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion, Richard A. Schweder ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2009). cu
  • "The Law's Influence over Children's Religious Development," in Children and Childhood in American Religions, Don Browning & Bonnie Miller-McLemore eds. (Rutgers University Press, 2009). cu
  • "The Role of Lawyers in Promoting Juveniles' Competence as Defendants," in Youth on Trial, Thomas Grisso & Robert G. Schwartz eds. (University of Chicago Press, 2000). cu

Other Publications

  • "Commentary: Gov. Pritzker's Juvenile Justice Reform Helps. Now Broaden It.," Chicago Tribune, August 5, 2020. www
  • Civil Procedure (Wolters Kluwer, 2013) (casebook curator). cu
  • "In the Pledge Case, Timing is Everything," Chicago Tribune, June 30, 2002, at p. B9.
  • "Court is Moving in Wrong Direction on Parents' Rights," Chicago Tribune, June 7, 2000, at p. 21.
  • "Doomed to Failure, A Child Welfare System That's in No One's Best Interest," Chicago Tribune, October 26, 1999, at p. 21.
  • Law AND, University of Chicago Law School (April 12, 2022)
  • Transforming Juvenile Court through Youth Engagement, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Conference on Juvenile Justice (with Judge Jane Carroll, March 23, 2021).
  • The Law’s Role in Raising Children, Ohio Northern University Law School, Kormendy Lecture (February, 2020)
  • Report on Milwaukee Youth Engagement Pilot, University of Chicago Law School Meetings on Youth Engagement in Juvenile Court (July, 2018)
  • Legal Socialization in Juvenile Justice Proceedings, Yale Law School Conference on Legal Socialization (April, 2018)
  • Youth Engagement in Delinquency Proceedings, with Judge Jane Carroll of the Milwaukee County Juvenile Court, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Conference on Juvenile Justice (February, 2017)
  • Children as Decision-Makers: Legal, Social, and Scientific Perspectives, Panel, AALS Annual Meeting (January, 2017)
  • Commentary on Roper v. Simmons, Rewritten Judgment, Children’s Rights Judgments Project, Cardiff, Wales (April, 2016)
  • Developmental Jurisprudence, Temple Law School Symposium, Court-Involved Youth in the 21st Century, Empowerment v. Protection (October, 2015)
  • Are Parents’ Rights in Children’s Interests? Second Annual Joanne Ross Wilder Memorial Lecture, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (November 6, 2014)
  • Court Reform in the Juvenile Justice System, Can a Change in Process Enhance Juvenile Offenders’ Prospects? University of North Carolina Symposium, The Future of Juvenile Justice (April, 2014); Chicago Best Ideas Series, University of Chicago Law School (February, 2014)
  • The Developmental Stakes of Youth Participation in Juvenile Court, Authors Conference at University of Haifa and Hebrew University, Israel (October, 2013)
  • Parents’ Rights and Children’s Interests, Keynote Address at Annual Family Law Conference, University of Haifa, Israel (June, 2013)
  • An Off-Label Use of Parental Rights? The Unanticipated Doctrinal Antidote for Professor Mnookin’s Diagnosis, Duke University, Symposium convened by the Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems (April, 2013)
  • The Hazards of Basing Juvenile Justice Policy on Developmental Science, 2013 Missouri Law Review Symposium on the implications of Miller v. Alabama, University of Missouri School of Law (March, 2013); Symposium on Juveniles and the Supreme Court, Loyola Law School of Los Angeles (October, 2012)
  • Escaping the American Blot? A Comparative look at Federalism in Australia and the United States through the Lens of Family Law (with William Buss), University of New South Wales Faculty Workshop (February, 2012); International Society of Family Law, North American Regional Conference at the University of Iowa (June, 2012); University of Chicago Law School (2013)
  • What is Education?, University of Chicago Symposium on Education sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics and the University of Chicago Law Review (June, 2011)
  • Failing Juvenile Courts, Northwestern University School of Law Symposium, “Seize the Moment: Justice for the Child,” (October, 2010); Presentation at the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, 20th Annual Colloquium in Chicago (June, 2012)
  • How to Think about “Abuse” and “Neglect” at the Yearning for Zion Ranch, William and Mary School of Law Symposium on Families, Fundamentalism, and the First Amendment, Sponsored by the Institute of Bill of Rights Law (November, 2009)
  • What the Law Should (and Should Not) Learn from Child Development Research, Hofstra Law School’s 2008-2009 Sidney and Walter Siben Distinguished Professorship Lecture (April, 2009); AALS Annual Meetings (significantly modified; January 2011).
  • Due Process For Children: Designing A Court Process That Takes Account Of Their Development, University of Michigan Law School, Johnson Workshop (February, 2009); Wyoming Children’s Justice Conference (June, 2009)
  • Legal and Medical Perspectives on Sperm and Egg Donation (with Dr. David Cohen), Cityfront Forum, University of Chicago Alumni Association (December, 2008)
  • The Interaction of Law and Development in the Lives of Juvenile Offenders, Developmental Workshop, University of Chicago (October 2008)
  • Developmental Considerations, University of Colorado Law School Symposium, Voices of Youth in the Courtroom, is it Time for a Change? (November 2006)
  • In re Gault: A Reassessment, Chase College of Law, Symposium, Re-Envisioning the Role of the Juvenile Court in the 21st Century (September 2006)
  • The Court’s Role in Supporting Foster Youth’s Transition to Adulthood, Temple University School of Law School (March, 2006), New Mexico Summit, Preserving Connections/Promoting Independence (September 2006)
  • Turning Best Ideas into Practice, Chicago’s Policy Initiative on Foster Care. University of Chicago Law School (November, 2005)
  • When Children’s and Adults’ Speech Rights are at Odds, Michigan State University College of Law (February, 2005)
  • Radical Change Through Conventional Means, University of Virginia, Conference on the State Construction of Families (October, 2004)
  • Constitutional Fidelity through Children’s Rights, Drake Law School (February, 2006); Syracuse University Law School (March, 2004); University of Chicago, Chicago’s Best Ideas Series (April, 2004), University of Iowa Law School (November, 2004)
  • The Relationship Between Procreative and Parental Rights under the Constitution, University of Chicago Law and Philosophy Workshop (March, 2004); Syracuse University Law School Faculty Workshop (March, 2004)
  • Assessing the State’s Opportunities for Developmental Influence, University of Chicago Legal Forum Symposium (October, 2003)
  • Children’s Constitutional Rights, International Society of Family Law: North American Conference, Eugene Oregon (June, 2003)
  • The Child’s Constitution, University of Chicago Loop Luncheon (May, 2003)
  • The Speech Enhancing Effect of Internet Regulation, Association of American Law Schools, Panel Presentation (January, 2003)
  • Children’s Representation, The Achilles Heel of Children’s Rights, 12th Annual International Congress on Family Law, Havana, Cuba (September, 2002)
  • Children’s Rights on Children’s Terms, University of Chicago Law School Workshop, (July, 2002).
  • Children’s Associational Rights? Why Less is More, William and Mary School of Law Symposium on the Relationship Rights of Children, Sponsored by the Institute of Bill of Rights Law (March, 2002)
  • The Missed Opportunity in Gault, University of Florida Inaugural Conference on Children and the Law (December, 2001)
  • Do Children Benefit from Having Rights? Speech to University of Chicago Women’s Board (November, 2001)
  • In or Out? Imposing Constitutional Constraints on the State’s Authority to Allocate Pieces of Parenthood, Brigham Young University Law School Symposium on the ALI Family Dissolution Principles (February, 2001)
  • Adrift in the Middle: Parental Rights after Troxel v. Granville, Rutgers Law School Symposium on the Supreme Court’s decision in Troxel v. Granville (October, 2000)
  • The Parental Rights of Minors, Buffalo Law School Symposium on the Urban Girl (April, 2000)
  • Children as Parties, Victims and Witnesses, Presentation to Judges at Illinois Judicial Conference’s Education Conference 2000 (February and March, 2000)
  • Without Peers? The Missing Piece in the Courts’ (and the Philosophers’) Analysis of Parental Claims to Educational Control, University of Chicago Law School Faculty Workshop (June, 1999)
  • What Does Frieda Yoder Believe? University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law Symposium on the Constitutional Rights of Children (February, 1999); University of Chicago Law and Philosophy Workshop (January, 1999)
  • Too Young to be Rehabilitated? University of Virginia Center for Children, Families and the Law, “Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Reform,” (November, 1998)
  • Confronting Developmental Barriers to the Empowerment of Child Clients, University of Chicago Law School Faculty Workshop (October, 1998)
  • The Role of Lawyers in Promoting Juveniles’ Competence as Defendants, Meeting of authors for Youth on Trial, convened by MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice (May, 1998)
  • Whose Religious Autonomy are we Protecting?, Symposium on Religion, Law and the Construction of Identities (April, 1997)
  • Parents’ Rights and Parents Wronged, Ohio State University College of Law Symposium, “Meeting the Basic Needs of Children: Defining Public and Private Responsibilities,” (November, 1995)
  • Sibling Rights, Temple Law Review Symposium, “Looking Back, Looking Ahead: The Evolution of Children’s Rights,” (September, 1995)

Community Service

  • Member, Council on UChicago/Community Relations, the University of Chicago (2021-present)
  • Member, Board of Directors, Hyde Park Neighborhood Club (2021-present)
  • Member, Faculty Board, Graham School, University of Chicago (2020-present)
  • Member, University of Chicago Public Art Committee, the University of Chicago (2020-present)
  • Chair, Public Interest Law Committee, University of Chicago Law School (2016-present)
  • Member, American Law Institute (2015-present)
  • Associate Reporter, American Law Institute, Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law (2015-present)
  • Member, Board of Directors, Juvenile Law Center (2014-present)
  • Co-Chair, Diversity Committee, University of Chicago Law School (2016-2019)
  • Member, Local School Council, Southside Occupational Academy, Chicago Public School (2015-2017)
  • Chair, Committee on Academic and Student Affairs Board of Directors, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (2009-2014)
  • Member, Board of Directors, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (2004-2014)
  • Member, Women’s Leadership Council, the University of Chicago (2008-2011)
  • Chair, Campus Planning Committee, the University of Chicago (2008-2009)
  • Member, Nebraska Juvenile Offender and GAL Studies (2008-2009)
  • Member, Local School Council, Christopher School, Chicago Public School (2004-2009)
  • Member, Task Force on Work-Life Balance, the University of Chicago (2008)
  • Chair, Subcommittee on Athletics, Board of Student and Campus Life, the University of Chicago (2001-2002)
  • Member, Board of Student and Campus Life, the University of Chicago (2001-2002)
  • President, Local School Council, Blair Early Childhood Center, Chicago Public School (2000-2002)
  • Member, Athletic Board, the University of Chicago (1998-2001)
  • Member, Local School Council, Blair Early Childhood Center, Chicago Public School (1999-2000)

Student Awards

  • University of Chicago Graduating Students’ Award for Teaching Excellence (2018)
  • University of Chicago Graduating Students’ Service Award (1999, 2019)