Professor of Law
Director, Bronfein Family Law Clinic
Co-Director, Center on Applied Feminism
majohnson@ubalt.edu
410.837.5779
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 422
Administrative Assistant:
Terry Berk
410.837.5762
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 200
Education
B.A., Dartmouth College, 1987
J.D., cum laude, order of the coif, University of Wisconsin Law School, 1993
Areas of Expertise
Reproductive Rights and Justice
Gender Law
Family Law
Feminist Legal Theory
Clinical Legal Education
Center on Applied Feminism
Johnson joined the faculty in 2006. Professor Johnson’s current research examines the intersection of law, policy, and menstruation. She asks questions about how individuals who menstruate are subject to structural and intersectional forms of oppression. Currently, she is exploring comparative law and policy regarding menstruation as a Fulbright Scholar at UTS in Sydney, Australia. Her research also examines the law's role in surveillance of menstruators, including their reproduction. In addition, Johnson’s research addresses the use of narrative theory, critical reflection, and normative theory in lawyering for clients. Johnson’s articles have been published in the U.C. Davis Law Review (thrice) , Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, the B.Y.U. Law Review, and Cardozo Law Review, among others. She is co-author of the book Lawyers, Clients & Narrative: A Framework for Law Students and Practitioners (2d ed. Forthcoming). Her research has been relied upon and cited by courts, media, and other scholars.
Johnson has been a Visiting Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law and Georgetown University Law School and will be at NYU Law in fall 2023. Prior to joining the UBalt faculty, Johnson directed the Domestic Violence Clinic at the Washington College of Law, American University; was an employment discrimination litigator, with a special focus on sexual harassment law, at the D.C. firms of Terris, Pravlik & Wagner, Kalijarvi, Chuzi & Newman and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights; was a Georgetown Women's Law and Public Policy Fellow; clerked for the Hon. Hector M. Laffitte in the United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico; and served as articles editor for the Wisconsin Law Review.
Johnson directs the Bronfein Family Law Clinic, where students represent clients in litigation and systemic advocacy relating to family law and reproductive rights and justice issues. She also teaches Family Law, Property Law, and Special Topics in Applied Feminism and is co-director of the Center on Applied Feminism, which applies the insights of feminist legal theory to legal practice and policy.
Johnson routinely advocates for menstrual justice legislation, regulations, and policies. In addition, Johnson is a frequent speaker and commentator on issues of menstrual justice. She has had a leadership role in many feminist organizations and projects, including the Advisory Panel for the Feminist Judgments book series and the Board of Directors of the Women’s Law Center of Maryland. She also has held several leadership roles in the clinical legal education community including Editor for the Clinical Law Review, Co-President of the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA), and Chair of the Planning Committee, American Association of Law Schools Section on Clinical Legal Education Conference.
Johnson has received several awards and recognitions, including the 2020 UBalt Law Outstanding Scholarship award; the 2019 UBalt Law Outstanding Service by a Full-Time Faculty Member award; the 2017 UBalt Law Outstanding Teaching by a Full-Time Faculty Member award; Top 25 Women Professors in Maryland in 2013; the 2012 USM Board of Regents' Faculty Award for Public Service; and Professor of the Year award by the UBalt Women's Bar Association in 2011 and 2008. Johnson is a member of the bars of the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Selected Publications
Books
-
Lawyers, Clients & Narrative: A Framework For Law Students And Practitioners(Carolina Academic Press 1st 2017) (2d ed. Forthcoming) (co-authored with Carolyn Grose).
- Teaching Lawyers, Clients & Narrative: A Framework For Law Students And Practitioners(Carolina Academic Press 1st 2017) (2d ed. Forthcoming) (co-authored with Carolyn Grose).
Law Review Articles and Book Chapters
- Menstrual Dignity and the Bar Exam, 55 UC Davis L. Rev. 1 (2021) (with Elizabeth B. Cooper & Marcy L. Karin) (lead article).
- Asking the Menstruation Question to Achieve Menstrual Justice, 41 Colum. J. Gender & L. 158 (2021).
- Title IX and Menstruation, 43 Harv. J.L. & Gender 225 (2020) (with Bridget J. Crawford & Emily Gold Waldman).
- Menstrual Justice ,53 UC Davis L. Rev. 1 (2019) (lead article).
- Braiding the Strands of Narrative and Critical Reflection with Critical Theory and Lawyering Practice, 26 Clinical L. Rev. 203 (2019) (with Carolyn Grose).
- The Ground on Which We All Stand: A Conversation About Menstrual Equity Law and Activism, Mich. J. Gender & L. (2019) (with Bridget J. Crawford, Marcy L. Karin, Laura Stausfeld, and Emily Gold Waldman).
- An Examination of the Lethality Assessment Program (LAP): Perspectives on Implementation, Help-seeking, and Victim Empowerment , Violence Against Women (2019) (coauthor with Tara N. Richards, Ph.D., Lane Kirkland Gillespie, Ph.D., and Katherine Kafonek, M.S.).
- Feminist Judgments & #MeToo, 94 Notre Dame L. Rev. Online 51 (2018) (symposium).
- Commentary: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Svcs., Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court (Cambridge Univ. 2016).
- Changing Course in the Anti-Domestic Violence Legal Movement: From Safety to Security, 60 Vill. L. Rev. 145 (2015).
- A Home with Dignity: Domestic Violence and Property Rights, 2014 B.Y.U.L. Rev. 1 (2014).
- Teaching Social Justice Lawyering: Systematically Including Community Legal Education in Law School Clinics , 18 Clinical L. Rev. 401(2012)(co-author).
- Balancing Liberty, Dignity and Safety: The Impact of Domestic Violence Lethality Screening, 32 Cardozo L. Rev. 519 (2010).
- Redefining Harm, Reimagining Remedies and Reclaiming Domestic Violence Law, 42 UC Davis L. Rev. 1107 (2009).
- “Avoiding Harm Otherwise”: Reframing Women Employees’ Responses to the Harms of Sexual Harassment, 80 Temp. L. Rev. 743 (2007).
- An Experiment in Integrating Critical Theory and Clinical Education, 13 Am. U.J. Gender Soc. Pol’y & L. 161 (2005).
Other Pieces
- Maryland Abortion Law Post-Dobbs in Criminalization of Pregnancy and Reproductive Health, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, https://nacdl.org/Landing/CriminalizationofPregnancy (with Kathleen Hoke).
- Bar Exam Policies on Menstruation Still Fall Short, Law360, https://www.law360.com/trials/articles/1512764, July 19, 2022 (with Elizabeth B. Cooper & Marcy L. Karin).
- Protecting and Broadening Maryland’s Access to Abortion Care, Guest Commentary, The Baltimore Sun, https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0713-abortion-care-maryland-20220712-an4oaxybnffwlkwixhiyyzxovu-story.html, July 12, 2022 (with Eva Cox & Kathleen Hoke).
- Now More Than Ever, It’s Time for Universal Menstrual Education for Gender Equality, Magazine, https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/10/universal-menstrual-education-period-products-information/, June 10, 2022 (with Marcy Karin).
- Punishing Bar Exam Policies on Menstrual Products Must Go, Law360 (Feb. 25, 2021 5:36PM) (with Elizabeth Cooper & Marcy Karin).
- Menstrual Products and the Bar: Advocacy Seeks to Create Equal Bar Exam Testing Conditions for Menstruators, Best Practices for Legal Education (August 5, 2020) (with Elizabeth B. Cooper and Marcy L. Karin).
- Stop the Stigma Against Menstruation; Starting with the Bar Exam, National Jurist, July 28, 2020 (with Marcy Karin and Elizabeth Cooper).
- Lessons Learned from the Suffrage Movement, 2 No. 1 Md. B.J. 115 (2020).
- Bill Would Provide Representation for Abuse Victims, Family Law Update, Daily Record, March 21, 2019 (with Shanta Trivedi).
- There’s Another Reason D.C. Needs Public Restrooms, Local Opinions, Washington Post, Jan. 8, 2019 (discussing the unrecognized need of menstruators).
- Only 1 in 4 Women Who Have Been Sexually Harassed Tell Their Employers. Here's Why They're Afraid. The Conversation (June 5, 2018), https://theconversation.com/only-1-in-4-women-who-have-been-sexually-harassed-tell-their-employers-heres-why-theyre-afraid-97436(and distributed by the Associated Press and published in other papers).
Articles on Social Science Research Network
Recent Presentations
Feminist Legal Theory and Gender Justice Issues
- Presenter, Surveilling Menstruators, Law & Society Annual Meeting, University of Lisbon, Lisbon Portugal, July 14, 2022.
- Presenter, Surveilling Menstruators, Menstruation Research Network, The University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, June 1, 2022.
- Co-Convener and Presenter, UB Law Teach-In on the Threat to Abortion Rights, University of Baltimore School of Law, May 16, 2022.
- Presenter, Advocating with Creativity for Equitable Bar Exam Policies Workshop, AALS Clinical Legal Education Section Conference, May 11, 2022.
- Keynote, Title IX Today: Menstruation, Education, and Sport, Maryland Athletic Directors Association Conference, Ocean City, MD, April 20, 2022.
- Co-Convenor, 13th Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference Applied Feminism and the Big Idea, University of Baltimore School of Law, April 7-8, 2022.
- Facilitator, Our Bodies Ourselves Today, 13th Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference, University of Baltimore School of Law, April 7, 2022.
- Presenter, Surveilling Menstruators, Menstrual Justice, Center for Racial and Social Justice, William and Mary Law School, March 31, 2022 (invited).
- Guest Lecturer, Menstrual Justice, Teaching Menstrual Health: Dispelling Myths and Misconceptions, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD & Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, February 21 and 23, 2022 (invited).
- Presenter, Menstruation and the Bar Exam, Theodora Talks, The Center on Applied Feminism, The University of Baltimore School of Law, November 22, 2021.
- Presenter, Menstrual Justice, Reproductive and Gender Rights in Crisis?, Mitchell Hamline Law School, November 16, 2021 (invited).
- Presenter, Menstruation and the Bar Exam, What I Did Last Summer, FRD, The University of Baltimore School of Law, October 28, 2021.
- Moderator and Presenter, Law in Focus: Abortion Under Attack, The University of Baltimore School of Law, October 12, 2021.
- Roundtable Discussant, Menstruation and the Law, Law and Society Meeting, Zoom, May 27, 2021.
- Presenter, Gender in Jail, Prison, & Coming Home: Intersectional & Innovative Approaches to Advocacy, Concurrent Session, AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, Zoom, April 29, 2021.
- Presenter, Menstrual Justice Now, Applied Feminism & Privacy Conference, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, April 22, 2021.
- Co-Convener, 12th Feminist Legal Theory Conference: Applied Feminism & Privacy, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, April 22-23, 2021.
- Co-Convenor, Are you There, Law? It’s Me, Menstruation Symposium, Columbia Law School, New York, NY, April 9-10, 2021.
- Panelist, Asking the Menstruation Question to Achieve Menstrual Justice,Are you There, Law? It’s Me, Menstruation Symposium, Columbia Law School, New York, NY, April 9-10, 2021.
- Co-Presenter, Menstrual Dignity for Bar Examinees, New England Clinical Conference, Northeastern University Law School, Boston, MA, March 26, 2021.
- Presenter, Menstrual Justice, William & Mary Law School, Williamsburg, VA, March 16, 2021.
- Presenter, Menstrual Justice + Our Lives, Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, DC, March 11, 2021.
- Presenter, Menstrual Justice Now, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, March 9, 2021.
- Panelist, “Recognizing" the Black Family: Structural Racism's Obstacles to Kinship, Wealth and Prosperity, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, October 27, 2021.
- Panelist, Notorious RBG: The Life and Legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, October 15, 2020.
- Co-Presenter, Title IX & Menstruation, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, March 31, 2020 (canceled due to COVID-19).
- Presenter, Menstrual Justice for Students, BURKETalk, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC, January 7, 2020.
Clinical and Other Pedagogy, including Narrative Theory
- Co-Presenter, Clinical Legal Education, New Faculty Orientation, The University of Baltimore School of Law, July 5, 2022.
- Co-Facilitator, Facilitator, Clinical Law Review Writing Workshop, NYU School of Law, New York, NY, October 2, 2021.
- Co-Presenter, Clinical Legal Education, New Faculty Orientation, The University of Baltimore School of Law, July 20, 2021.
- Presenter, Lawyers, Clients & Narrative: Interviewing,Legal Aid of Maryland Family Law Task Force Meeting, July 15, 2021.
- Co-Presenter, Lawyers, Clients & Narrative, Georgetown University law Center, Washington, D.C., January 25, 2019.
- Presenter, Lawyers, Clients & Narrative, Southern Clinical Conference, University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, South Carolina, October 19, 2018.
- Presenter, Lawyers, Clients & Narrative, New York Clinical Theory Workshop, New York Law School, New York, NY, September 21, 2018.