Barbara L. Atwell

Professor Barbara Atwell is a health law teacher and scholar. In addition, she has served as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Haub Law since 2009. Professor Atwell was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems while a student at Columbia Law School. From there, she clerked for Judge Nathaniel R. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Professor Atwell subsequently joined the law firm Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., as an associate. Her areas of practice there included communications and civil rights. She helped draft and edit Cable Franchising and Regulation: A Local Government Guide to the New Law. Professor Atwell has served on the Board of Directors of Practicing Attorneys for Law Students (PALS). She also served on the Board of the Nyack Housing Authority and Share Hope. Professor Atwell has authored various law review articles.

• BA, Smith College
• JD, Columbia University School of Law

• Bioethics and Medical Malpractice LAW 868
• Contracts LAW 601
• Health Law in America LAW 867
• Elder Law LAW 741
• Public Health Law LAW 693
• Torts LAW 631
• Labor Law LAW 665
• Commercial Law - Sales of Goods (Sales) LAW 655
• Advanced Appellate Advocacy LAW 849
• Legal Skills I LAW 622C
• Legal Skills II LAW 622D
• Poverty Law LAW 730

View all of Professor Atwell’s publications on SSRN, Digital Commons or download her CV (PDF).

• Surrogacy and Adoption: A Case of Incompatibility, 20 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 1 (1989)
• Mainstreaming Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Face of Uncertainty, 72 U.M.K.C. L. Rev.593 (2004)
• The Modern Age of Informed Consent, 40 U. Richmond L. Rev. 591 (2006)
• Obesity, Public Health and the Food Supply, 4 Ind. Health L. Rev. 1 (2007)
• The Jurisprudence of Love, 85 U. of Det. Mercy L. Rev. 495 (2008)
• Jurists for Jesus, Widener J. L. Econ. & Race (2009-10)
• Nature and Nurture: Revisiting the Infant Adoption Process, 18 William and Mary J. of Women and the Law 201 (2012)
• Is Sugar the New Tobacco?—How to Regulate Toxic Foods, 22 Annals of Health Law 138 (2013)
• Rethinking the Childhood-Adult Divide: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Emerging Adults, 25 Alb. L. J. Sci. & Tech. 1 (2015)
• From Public Health to Public Wealth – The Case for Economic Justice, 108 Ky. L. J. 387 (2019-20)

• Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
• Emil Schlesinger Labor Law Prize
• Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems (Associate Editor)
• Teaching Fellow (Property)
• Best Speaker (First Year Moot Court Competition)

Health Law, Public Health and Bioethics, Access to Health Care, Social and Economic Justice