Jessica Waters Asst Professor Department of Justice, Law and Criminology
- Additional Positions at AU
- Director SPA Leadership Program
- Degrees
- JD American University Washington College of Law
BA American University - Bio
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Jessica Waters is Director of the SPA Leadership Program and a faculty member in the School of Public Affairs as well as an adjunct faculty member at the Washington College of Law. She recently served for 7 years as Dean of Undergraduate Education and Vice Provost.
Her research focuses primarily on reproductive rights law. Her recent work has explored questions related to the legal impact of women’s medical decisions during pregnancy and childbirth, employment-based conscience protections for reproductive health care providers, and the reproductive rights of employees working for religiously affiliated employers. Her work has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law, the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, and the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.Prior to joining to joining the AU faculty full-time, Professor Waters was an adjunct professor at Washington College of Law and a litigator at WilmerHale, where she specialized in criminal defense litigation, internal investigations, and reproductive rights litigation and advocacy. She also clerked for the Honorable Emmet Sullivan on the D.C. District Court. Professor Waters previously worked at a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting access to reproductive health care.
Professor Waters also previously served on the Children's Law Center Advisory Board, and as a guardian ad litem in the D.C. courts.
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Spring 2023
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HNRS-398 Honors Challenge Course
Fall 2023
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JLC-101 Introduction to Law
Partnerships & Affiliations
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Children's Law Center
Advisory Board
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Work In Progress
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
Outstanding Teaching in a Multi-Year Appointment, Department of Justice, Law and Society (2013)
American University Outstanding Teaching in a Term Faculty Appointment (2013)
School Of Public Affairs Outstanding Teaching in a Term Faculty Appointment (2012)
Chair’s Award for Exemplary Service, Department of Justice, Law and Society (2011)
Selected Publications
Jessica L. Waters, Untangling The Reproductive Rights and Religious Liberty Knot Yale Journal of Law and Feminism)
Jessica L. Waters and Lynn A. Addington, The Marshall-Brennan Effect: The Benefits of Teaching Constitutional Literacy for Law Students, 90 Denver University Law Review (2013)
Jessica L. Waters, Testing Hosanna Tabor: The Implications for Pregnancy Discrimination Claims and Employees’ Reproductive Rights, 8 Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (2013)
Lynn A. Addington and Jessica L. Waters, Public Interest 101: Using the Law School Curriculum to Quell Public Interest Drift and Expand Students’ Public Interest Commitment, 21 Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law 79 (2012)
Stephanie Sterling and Jessica Waters, Beyond Religious Refusals: The Case for Protecting Health Care Workers’ Provision of Care, 34 Harvard Journal of Law and Gender (2011)
Jessica Waters, In Whose Best Interest?: New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services v. V.M. and B.G. and The Next Wave of Court-Controlled Pregnancies, 34 Harvard Journal of Law and Gender 81 (2011)
AU Experts
Area of Expertise
abortion, reproductive rights, women and politics, women's issues, reproductive rights
Additional Information
Jessica Waters focuses her research primarily on reproductive rights law. Her recent work has explored questions related to the legal impact of women’s medical decisions during pregnancy and childbirth, employment-based conscience protections for reproductive health care providers, and the reproductive rights of employees working for religiously affiliated employers. Her work has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law, and the Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Prior to joining to joining the AU faculty full-time, Waters was an adjunct professor at Washington College of Law and a litigator at WilmerHale, where she specialized in criminal defense litigation, internal investigations, and reproductive rights litigation and advocacy. She also clerked for the Honorable Emmet Sullivan on the D.C. District Court. Waters previously worked at a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting access to reproductive health care. Professor Waters also serves as the Chair of the Children's Law Center Advisory Board, and is a guardian ad litem in the D.C. courts.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.