Martha Albertson Fineman

Who is Martha Albertson Fineman?

Martha Albertson Fineman is an American jurist and legal theorist, known for her work in feminist legal theory and family law. She is Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. Fineman was previously the first holder of the Dorothea S. Clarke Professorship of Feminist Jurisprudence at Cornell Law School and held the Maurice T. Moore Professorship at Columbia Law School. She is an affiliated scholar of the Center for American Progress.

Much of her early scholarship focuses on the legal regulation of family and intimacy; she has since broadened her scope to focus on the legal implications of universal dependency, vulnerability and justice. Her recent work formulates a theory of vulnerability, in order to argue for a more responsive state and a more egalitarian society. Fineman directs the Feminism and Legal Theory Project, which she founded in 1984. She is considered "the preeminent feminist family theorist of our time."