Skip to main content

Laura Beth Nielsen

Laura Beth Nielsen headshot

Research Professor

  • 750 N. Lake Shore Drive
  • 4th Floor
  • Chicago, IL 60611

Joint appointment

Associate Professor of Sociology and Law, Northwestern University

Education

Ph.D., Jurisprudence & Social Policy, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., University of California, Berkeley

Bio

Laura Beth Nielsen is a Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Legal Studies at Northwestern University. She is a graduate of the…

Full bio »


Research focus

The sociology of law, with particular interests in legal consciousness and the relationship between law and inequalities of race, gender, and class.

Projects

Public Interest Law Firms
Latest finding: Feb 21, 2008, with Catherine R. Albiston
Using a multi-method research design, this project investigates how lawyers in public interest law organizations (PILOs) conceptualize and pursue their goals. At the organizational level of analysis,…
Cause Lawyering in Context
Latest finding: Feb 12, 2008, with Catherine Albiston
The Constraints and Opportunities of Practicing Public Law in Public Interest Law firms will provide an unprecedented, empirical portrait of a national sample of the public interest bar. Aenean eros…
Employment Discrimination Litigation
Latest finding: Feb 11, 2008, with Robert L. Nelson, Ryon Lancaster, John Donohue III, Peter Siegelman
At the center of current debates about the role of anti-discrimination law in American society is the system of discrimination litigation. Despite the sheer magnitude of changes in employment…

All projects »


Commentary

M. Peter Moser - We will miss you

Oct 19, 2008

On Friday, a great friend of the ABF passed away. M. Peter Moser has been part of the ABF family longer than I have serving on the Board and then as the President. When I first started going before…

How Are Hate Crimes Defined?

Jun 25, 2008

Produced by Eight Forty-Eight on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 WBEZ Chicago Public Radio

All commentary »


Publications

Contesting Workplace Discrimination in Courts: Characteristics and Outcomes of Federal Employment Discrimination in Courts 1987-2003
Report
“Rights of Inclusion: Integrating Identity at the Bottom of the Dispute Pyramid”
Law & Social Inquiry
“The Procedural Attack on Civil Rights: The Empirical Reality of Buckhannon for the Private Attorney General”
UCLA Law Review

All publications »


Presentations

Rights and Realities: Studying Law, Consciousness, and Inequality in Employment Discrimination
Jan 2007
They Can’t Do That. . . Can They? How Ordinary People Experience the Legal System
Jan 2007
The Procedural Attack on Civil Rights: The Empirical Reality of Buckhannon for Public Interest Litigation
Jan 2007

All presentations »


Professional Service & Recognition

  • Director, Northwestern University, Center for Legal Studies
  • External Grant Committee Chair, Law & Society Association
  • Elected Member, Sociology of Law Council, American Sociological Association