Professor Jill Family elected member of the American Law Institute
Professor Jill Family is the most recent faculty member at Widener Law Commonwealth to be elected to the American Law Institute, a private, nonprofit national organization which produces scholarly work to clarify, modernize and otherwise improve the law to promote the better administration of justice.
Family is a professor of law and faculty director of the law school’s Law and Government Institute. She has been a part of Widener Law Commonwealth’s faculty since 2005. She is chair-elect of the American Bar Association’s section of administrative law and regulatory practice. She was a visiting professor at the University of Baltimore School of law in the spring of 2020 and served as a visiting scholar at Queen Mary School of Law in London in 2012. She received the 2011 Douglas E. Ray Excellence in Faculty Scholarship Award and in 2010, she was selected to serve as a fellow for the National Administrative Law Judiciary Foundation. In honor of her work on immigration policy, Family was awarded the Light of Liberty Award from the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center in 2017.
“I am honored and humbled to become a member of the American Law Institute,” said Family. “I look forward to working as a part of this prestigious organization and participating in its ongoing legal work, both nationally and internationally. The ALI is dedicated to improving the law, which is a goal I share through my teaching and research.”
“On behalf of Widener Law Commonwealth, I congratulate Professor Family on her election to the ALI,” said Dean Michael Hussey. “Professor Family’s extensive legal expertise in immigration and administrative law, as well as her work with our law school’s Law and Government Institute and the American Bar Association means that she is well-qualified to make significant and substantial contributions to the ALI’s work, both nationally and internationally.”
Since its founding in 1923, the ALI has sought to provide a resource to the legal profession, legislatures, and courts. Membership consists of judges, lawyers, and law professors nationally and from many foreign countries who were selected on the basis of professional achievement and have demonstrated interest in improving the law. Family joins several Widener Law Commonwealth faculty who are ALI members, including Professors John Dernbach, Michael Dimino, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Law Professor Juliet Moringiello, and Emeritus Professors Jim Diehm and John Gedid.
Widener University Commonwealth Law School is the Pennsylvania capital’s only law school, with three specialized centers of legal scholarship through its Law & Government Institute, Environmental Law and Sustainability Center, and Business Advising Program. Widener Law Commonwealth offers an exceptional learning experience that is personal, practical, and professional. Please visit commonwealthlaw.widener.edu for more information.
