Merril Sobie

Professor Merril Sobie has specialized in family and children’s law. He teaches Jurisprudence, Children and the Law, Advanced Family Law, and Comparative Family Law. He has authored two books, New York Family Court Practice and The Creation of Juvenile Justice: A History of Children’s Law, has published the official McKinney’s Commentaries to the Family Court Act and the Domestic Relations Law, and has authored numerous articles concerning children’s laws. Professor Sobie also co-authored the New York State Bar Association Study of the Legal Representation of Children, drafted the official Bar Association Standards and Commentaries for Representing Children, and drafted the New York Juvenile Delinquency Code. He is former chairperson of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Children and the Law, and is a fellow of the New York Bar Foundation. He formerly served as executive officer of the New York City Family Court and as assistant to the director of administration of the Courts, First Judicial Department.

• BA, Brooklyn College
• JD, New York University School of Law

• Fellow, New York State Bar Foundation, 1997–present
• Fellow, The Institute for Court Management, 1971

• Lifetime Achievement Award, New York State Bar Association
• Howard A. Levine Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare, New York State Bar Association

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

Books

• New York Family Court Practice, Second Edition, Thomson Reuters (2016) (with Gary Solomon).
• Standards and Commentaries for Representing Children, New York State Bar Association (2004).
• McKinney's Practice Commentaries to the Domestic Relations Law and the Family Court Act (1987 - present).
• Law Guardian Representation Standards, Albany, N.Y.: New York State Bar Association, 2d ed. 1999 (with the New York State Bar Association Committee on Children and the Law).
• Law Guardian Representation Standards: Volume II: Custody Cases, Albany, N.Y.: New York State Bar Association, 1992 (with Lucia B. Whisenand and the New York State Bar Association Committee on Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare).
• Initiating Family Court Appeals: An Overview for Law Guardians, Albany, N.Y.: Law Guardian Backup Center, 1988.
• The Creation of Juvenile Justice: A History of New York's Children's Laws, Albany, N.Y.: New York Bar Foundation, 1987.
• Law Guardians in New York State: A Study of the Legal Representation of Children, Albany, N.Y.: New York State Bar Association, 1984 (with Jane Knitzer).
• The Juvenile Offender Act: A Study of the Act's Effectiveness and Impact on the New York Juvenile Justice System, New York: Foundation for Child Development, 1981.

Chapters

• “Rights of the Child Charged with Violating the Law,” in Children's Rights in America: U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child Compared with United States Law, Chicago, Il.: American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, 1990.