Merle Weiner
Philip H. Knight Professor
Biography
Professor Weiner has taught Civil Procedure, Domestic Abuse Law, Family Law, Children and the Law, International and Comparative Family Law, Family Law Policy, Torts, Advanced Torts, and Adjudication and Courts.
Merle Weiner graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College. There she won the Keasbey Memorial Foundation Scholarship, an award granting two years study at Cambridge University, and the Hannah T. Croasdale Award, for most improving the quality of life for Dartmouth women. At Cambridge University, Professor Weiner earned an LLM with First Class Honors. She then attended Harvard Law School and obtained her JD, cum laude. At Harvard, Professor Weiner was the co-chair of the Women's Law Association, and was an editor on the Harvard Women's Law Journal.
After law school, Professor Weiner clerked for Chief Justice Jay Rabinowitz of the Alaska Supreme Court. She was awarded a Women's Law & Public Policy Fellowship, which allowed her to supervise law students in the Sex Discrimination Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center. She also practiced securities litigation with Sherman & Sterling in the firm's San Francisco office from 1992-1995. Professor Weiner began teaching at the University of Iowa College of Law, where she taught Family Law, Family Law in the World Community, and Domestic Abuse Law. Professor Weiner is admitted to practice law in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Oregon, and California.
Professor Weiner was the founder and faculty director of the UO's Domestic Violence Clinic. For twenty years, she ensured the clinic's existence by keeping the clinic funded with her grant writing and other fundraising efforts.
Professor Weiner has written extensively in the areas of family law, gender-based violence law, and international family law. She is considered an expert on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. She co-wrote the first US casebook on international and comparative family law, entitled Family Law in the World Community, which is now in its third edition. Professor Weiner's book entitled A Parent-Partner Status for American Family Law, published by Cambridge University Press in 2015, argues that society should structure family law differently and create a legal status for two people who have a child in common. Professor Weiner has also focused on Title IX. Her article, Legal Counsel for Survivors of Campus Sexual Violence, was published by the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism in 2017. Her article, A Principled and Legal Approach to Title IX Reporting, was published by the Tennessee Law Review the same year. A recent article, entitled Civil Recourse Insurance, proposes a new insurance product that would help survivors of gender-based violence access the tort system. Her latest article, You Can and You Should, was written to help trial courts apply the Hague Abduction Convention justly when the respondent is a domestic violence survivor.
Professor Weiner enjoys spending her free time with her family and three dogs.
Publications:
- Adrienne Barnett, Miranda Kaye and Merle Hope Weiner, The 2024 Forum on Domestic Violence and the Hague Abduction Convention, prepublication draft available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4981634.
- Merle H. Weiner, Briefing on Protective Measures, Expert Paper # 6, Hague Domestic Violence Forum (June 17, 2024), available at https://www.hague-mothers.org.uk/document/expert-paper-6-briefing-on-protective-measures/
- Miranda Kaye, Adrienne Barnett, and Merle H. Weiner, The 'Grave Risk' Exception and Domestic Violence, Expert Paper # 2, Hague Domestic Violence Forum (June 17, 2024), available at https://www.hague-mothers.org.uk/document/expert-paper-2-the-grave-risk-exception-and-domestic-violence/
- Answering Meier: Family Violence and the Importance of Primary Prevention, 30 Va. J. Soc. Pol'y & L. 99 (2023)
- Comments Submitted to the Department of Education in Response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Title IX (2022).
- You Can and You Should: How Judges can Apply the Hague Abduction Convention to Protect Victims of Domestic Violence, 28 UCLA Women's L. J. 223 (2021).
- Civil Recourse Insurance: Increasing Access to the Tort System for Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence, 62 Ariz. L. Rev. 957 (2020)
- Rhona Schuz & Merle H. Weiner, A mistake waiting to happen: the failure to correct the Guide to Good Practice on Article 13(1)(b), [2020] IFL 87.
- Hague Convention Article 13(b) Guide to Good Practice: Addendum. 25 Dom. Viol. Rept. 05 (Jun/Jul 2020)
- When a Parent Is Not Apparent, 80 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 1 (2019)
- The Article 13(b) Guide to Good Practice. 25 Dom. Viol. Rept. 01 (Oct/Nov 2019)
- International Child Abduction: A Special Issue of Domestic Violence Report. Guest Editor, Merle Weiner. DVR Volume 25, Number 1; October/November 2019.
- Comments Submitted to the Department of Education in Response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Title IX (2019)
- A Principled and Legal Approach to Title IX Reporting, 85 Tenn. L. Rev. 73 (2017)
- Eight Letters Submitted to the U.S. State Department and Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference Commenting on the Draft Guide to Good Practice on Article 13(1)(b) of the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction
- Legal Counsel for Survivors of Campus Sexual Violence, 29 Yale J. L. & Fem. 123 (2017)
- “Roe v. Wade,” in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative International Law (Oxford University Press 2017)
- Family Law for the Future: An Introduction to Merle H. Weiner’s A Parent-Partner Status for American Family Law, 50 Family Law Quarterly 327 (2016)
- Regulating the Relationship Between Parents: Moving Beyond the Law of Marriage and Custody, in Divorcing Marriage from the State: The Uneasy relationship between Religion and Family Law in defining Marriage, Parenthood, Life, and Death (Robin Fretwell Wilson ed., Cambridge University Press 2016).
- Thinking Outside the Custody Box: Moving Beyond Custody Law to Achieve Shared Parenting and Shared Custody, 2016 Ill. L. Rev. 1535.
- Woody Allen, Incest, and Family, The Washington Monthly (July 4, 2016)
- Parent-Partners Need a Day, The Eugene Register Guard, May 10, 2016
- “Why I Wrote This Book,” Hamilton and Griffin on Rights, (December 16, 2015) (blog post)
- “Parent Partnerships” Could Be the Future of Marriage, Washington Monthly, Dec. 7, 2015
- Weiner’s Response to Comments About the Parent-Partner Status, Concurring Opinions, (Nov. 1, 2015) (blog post)
- A Parent-Partner Status for American Family Law (Cambridge University Press 2015).
- Living Life as Parent-Partners (2015).
- Family Law in the World Community: Cases, Materials, and Problems in Comparative and International Family Law (3d ed. Carolina Academic Press 2015), with D. Marianne Blair, S. Maldonado, B. Stark.
- Affirmative Consent Should be the Standard, The Baltimore Sun, Dec. 27, 2014.
- Shrinking the Bench: Should United States Federal Courts have Exclusive or Any Jurisdiction to Adjudicate ICARA Cases?, 9 J. of Comparative L. (U.K.) 192 (2014).
- Caregiver Payments and the Obligation to Give Care or Share, 59 Villanova L. Rev. 135 (2014).
- Uprooting Children in the Name of Equity, 33 Fordham Int'l L. J. 409 (2010)
- The Uniform Child Abduction Preventon Act: Understanding the Basics, 13 Synergy 2 (Summer 2009), with Darren Mitchell.
- Family Law in the World Community: Cases, Materials, and Problems in Comparative and International Family Law (2d ed. 2010), with D. Marianne Blair, Barbara Stark, and Solangel Maldonado.
- Intolerable Situations and Counsel for Children: Following Switerland's Example in Hague Abduction Cases, 58 Am. U. L. Rev. 335 (2008)
- Codification, Cooperation, and Concern for Children: The Internationalization of Family Law in the United States Over the Last Fifty Years, 42 Fam. L. Q. 619 (2008).
- Half-Truths, Mistakes, and Embarrassments: The United States Goes to the Fifth Meeting of the Special Commission to Review the Operation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, [2008] Utah L. Rev. 221.
- How sweet can an economic bailout fix get?, The Oregonian, Oct. 4, 2008.
- An Open Letter From a Basketball Mom to a Hockey Mom, Eugene Weekly, September 25, 2008.
- Freedom Belongs in Olympics, Eugene Register-Guard, July 27, 2008.
- Inertia and Inequality: Reconceptualizing Disputes Over Parental Relocation, 40 UC Davis L. Rev. 1747 (2007)
- Beyond Other Treaties: The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Value of 'A Dedicated Line,' in The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: An Analysis of Treaty Provisions and Implications of U.S. Ratification (Transnational Publishers, 2006).
- Resolving Parental Custody Disputes: A Comparative Exploration, 39 Fam. L. Q. 247 (2005), with D. Marianne Blair.
- Using Article 20, 38 Fam. L. Q 583 (2004)
- Strengthening Article 20, 38 U.S.F. L. Rev. 701 (2004), republished in [2005] International Family Law 187.
- Will Measure 36 End Marriage in Oregon, 65 Oregon State Bar Bulletin 70 (2005).
- Competing Values: Morality and Same-Sex Marriage, Eugene Weekly, Oct. 28, 2004.
- Family Law in the World Community: Cases, Materials, and Problems in Comparative and International Family Law (Carolina Academic Press 2003), with D. Marianne Blair.
- International Family Law: Treaties, Conventions and Legislative Materials (Carolina Academic Press 2003), with D. Marianne Blair.
- Navigating the Road Between Uniformity and Progress: The Need for Purposive Analysis of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 33 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 275 (2002).
- The Potential and Challenge of Transnational Litigation for Feminists Concerned About Domestic Violence Here and Abroad, 11 Amer. U. J. of Gender, Soc. Pol. & Law 747 (2002).
- Common Law Marriage, in ABC-CLIO's Family in America: An Encyclopedia (2001).
- International Child Abduction and the Escape from Domestic Violence, 69 Fordham L. Rev. 593 (2000).
- Domestic Violence and Child Custody: Importing the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution into Oregon Law, 35 Willamette L. Rev. 643 (1999). Reprinted in Oregon Law Institute, Handling Marital Dissolution Cases: Back to the Basics, 2000.
- Dirty Words in the Classroom: Teaching the Limits of the First Amendment, 66 Tenn. L. Rev. 597 (1999).
- 'Civilizing' the Next Generation. A Response to Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy by Stephen L. Carter, 42 Howard L. J. 241 (1999).
- We Are Family: Valuing Associationalism in Disputes Over Children's Surnames, 75 N.C. L. Rev. 1625 (1997).
- Until Death Do Us Part. . . Unless We Both Change Our Minds, 35 Iowa Advocate 30 (1996).
- Domestic Violence and the Per Se Standard of Outrage, 54 Md. L. Rev. 183 (1995). Reprinted, in part, in Nancy K.D. Lemon, Domestic Violence Law (2000 and 2005).
- Fundamental Misconceptions About Fundamental Rights: The Changing Nature of Women's Rights in the EEC and their Application in the UK, 31 Harv. Int'l L. J. 565 (1990). Republished in Francis Snyder, 2 European Community Law 151 (1993).
- Faludi Fights Back: A Review of Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, 69 Denv. U. L. Rev. 243 (1992).
- From Dollars to Sense: A Critique of Government Funding for the Battered Women's Shelter Movement, 9 J. L. & Ineq. 185 (1991).
In addition to Publications listed above, Professor Weiner's writings include Tower C. Snow, Jr., Susan Samuels Muck, Merle H. Weiner, Defending Securities Class Actions, Stanford Law School Executive Education 'Tools for Executive Survival' (Stanford, California June 16-18, 1994); Tower C. Snow, Jr. and Merle H. Weiner, Mediation of Securities Disputes: An Option Worth Exploring, Resolving Securities Disputes 191 (Prentice Hall Law & Business 1994); Tower C. Snow, Jr. and Merle H. Weiner, The Arbitrability of Securities Class Actions, Resolving Securities Disputes 151 (Prentice Hall Law & Business 1994); Primary author of Brief Amici Curiae on Behalf of Twenty-Three Women's Organizations, U.S. v. Foster, 113 S. Ct. 2849 (1993) (No. 91-1231); Primary author of Brief Amici Curiae on Behalf of Twenty-Five Law Professors and Twenty Domestic Violence Coalitions, U.S. v. Smith, Case No. 96- 130M (N.D. Ia. 1997); Author of Brief Amici Curiae on Behalf of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence and the Iowa Women's Foundation, Weissenburger v Iowa District Court for Warren County. Case No. 05-0279 (Ia.S.Ct. 2006).