Nina Pillard
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, Supreme Court Institute
B.A., Yale; J.D., Harvard
Areas of Expertise:
Civil Procedure and Trial Practice, Constitutional Law
Professor Cornelia T.L. ("Nina") Pillard joined the Georgetown Law faculty after a decade as an accomplished litigator. Pillard's Supreme Court work includes more than twenty-five...
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Professor Cornelia T.L. ("Nina") Pillard joined the Georgetown Law faculty after a decade as an accomplished litigator. Pillard's Supreme Court work includes more than twenty-five cases that she has briefed and nine that she has argued before the Court. Litigation highlights include United States v. Virginia (1996), which opened the Virginia Military Institute to women, and Nevada Dept. of Social Svcs. v. Hibbs (2003), sustaining Family and Medical Leave Act rights against constitutional challenge. Pillard is Faculty Co-Director of the Supreme Court Institute, which assists lawyers from around the country in preparing for Supreme Court arguments, without regard to issue or position.
Pillard served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel (1998-2000); and Assistant to the Solicitor General (1994-1997). She also represented Georgetown as inaugural Academic Co-Director and Professor at the Center for Transnational Legal Studies (CTLS) (2008-2009). CTLS is a London-based semester academic program for law students from the U.S. and around the world.
A magna cum laude graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, Pillard began her legal career in a federal clerkship with the Honorable Louis H. Pollak (1987-1988), held the Marvin M. Karpatkin fellowship at the ACLU (1988-89), and litigated individual and class-action racial discrimination cases and appeals at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc (1989-1994). Professor Pillard teaches Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, and a new seminar on corporate and multi-stakeholder efforts to assure that jobs in global value chains are abundant, fair and safe.
Recent Scholarship
Contributions to Law Reviews and Other Scholarly Journals
- Cornelia T.L. Pillard & Naomi Mezey, Against the New Maternalism, 18 Mich. J. Gender & L. 229-296 (2012). [HEIN] [L] [W] [SSRN] [Gtown Law]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Nina Totenberg, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Emily Martin, Earl Maltz & Jacqueline A. Berrien, Panel: Reed v. Reed at 40: Equal Protection and Women's Rights, 20 Am. U.J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 315-344 (2012). [HEIN] [L] [W]
Book Chapters and Collected Works
- Cornelia T. Pillard, United States v. Virginia: The Virginia Military Institute, Where the Men are Men and So are the Women, in Civil Rights Stories 265-292 (Myriam E. Gilles & Risa L. Goluboff eds., New York: Foundation Press 2008). [BOOK]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, A United States Perspective on Classwide Arbitration, in La Justice en March: Du Recours Collectif à l'Arbitrage Collectif (2007).
All Scholarship 2000 - Present
Contributions to Law Reviews and Other Scholarly Journals
- Cornelia T.L. Pillard & Naomi Mezey, Against the New Maternalism, 18 Mich. J. Gender & L. 229-296 (2012). [HEIN] [L] [W] [SSRN] [Gtown Law]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Nina Totenberg, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Emily Martin, Earl Maltz & Jacqueline A. Berrien, Panel: Reed v. Reed at 40: Equal Protection and Women's Rights, 20 Am. U.J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 315-344 (2012). [HEIN] [L] [W]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Our Other Reproductive Choices: Equality in Sex Education, Contraceptive Access, and Work-Family Policy, 56 Emory L.J. 941-991 (2007). [HEIN] [L] [W] [Gtown Law]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Unitariness and Myopia: The Executive Branch, Legal Process and Torture, 81 Ind. L.J. 1297-1312 (2006). [HEIN] [L] [W] [Gtown Law]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, The Unfulfilled Promise of the Constitution in Executive Hands, 103 Mich. L. Rev. 676-758 (2005). [HEIN] [L] [W] [Gtown Law]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Plenary Power Underground in Nguyen v. INS: A Response to Professor Spiro, 16 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 835-853 (2002). [HEIN] [L] [W]
Book Chapters and Collected Works
- Cornelia T. Pillard, United States v. Virginia: The Virginia Military Institute, Where the Men are Men and So are the Women, in Civil Rights Stories 265-292 (Myriam E. Gilles & Risa L. Goluboff eds., New York: Foundation Press 2008). [BOOK]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, A United States Perspective on Classwide Arbitration, in La Justice en March: Du Recours Collectif à l'Arbitrage Collectif (2007).
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic, 506 U.S. 263 (1993), Entry, in 1 Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties 180-181 (Paul Finkelman ed., New York: Routledge Books 2006). [BOOK]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Planned Parenthood of Missouri v. Danforth, 428 U.S. 52 (1976), Entry, in 2 Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties 1172-1173 (Paul Finkelman ed., New York: Routledge Books 2006). [BOOK]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Reproductive Freedom, Entry, in 3 Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties 1320-1324 (Paul Finkelman ed., New York: Routledge Books 2006). [BOOK]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, The Human Right to Sex Equality at the Work-Family Fault Line, in Human Rights at the Center: Les Droits de l'Homme au Centre 355-376 (Franz Werro, Samantha Besson & Michel Hottelier eds., Zurich, Switz.: Schulthess 2006). [BOOK]
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Retroactivity of Legislation (Update), Entry, in 5 Encyclopedia of the American Constitution 2225 (Leonard W. Levy, Kenneth L. Karst & Adam Winkler eds., New York: MacMillan Reference USA 2d ed. 2000). [BOOK]
U.S. Supreme Court Briefs
- Brief for Respondents, Stolt-Neilsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds Int'l Corp., No. 08-1198 (U.S. Oct. 20, 2009). [W] [Gtown Law]
- Brief for Petitioner, Knight v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, No. 06-1286 (U.S. Aug. 23, 2007). [W] [Gtown Law]
- Reply Brief of Petitioner, Knight v. Commissioner of the Internal Revenue, No. 06-1286 (U.S. Nov. 2, 2007). [W] [Gtown Law]
- Brief of Respondents in Opposition, In re Green Tree Financial Corp., No. 03-1243 (U.S. Apr. 22, 2004). [W] [Gtown Law]
- Brief for Respondents, Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, No. 02-634 (U.S. Mar. 27, 2003). [W] [Gtown Law]
- Brief for Respondent William Hibbs, Nevada Dept. of Human Resources v. Hibbs, No. 01-1368 (U.S. Oct. 25, 2002). [W]
- Brief in Opposition, Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, No. 01-1368 (U.S. 2001). [Gtown Law]
Selected Contributions to Other Publications
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Women as Supreme Court Advocates, 27 Sup. Ct. Hist. Soc'y Q. 10-14 (2006).
- Cornelia T. Pillard, Women As Supreme Court Advocates, 26 Sup. Ct. Hist. Soc'y Q. 10-14 (2005).
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