Jill E. Family

Jill E. Family's scholarship leads the discussion of the intersections of immigration law and administrative law. She brings her expertise into the classroom in courses on administrative law, immigration law, and civil procedure.

Professor Family studies the relationships between the three branches of government in setting, implementing, and interpreting immigration law. Her expertise played a prominent role in a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts. Her work has been published in British and Spanish law journals, in addition to many leading U.S. law reviews.

Professor Family lends her expertise to policy discussions about the future of administrative law and immigration law. She served as Chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and contributes to the Notice and Comment Blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation. In addition, Professor Family is a member of the Academic Consultative Group of the Administrative Conference of the United States. 

As the faculty advisor of the Law and Government Institute at Widener Law Commonwealth, Professor Family works with students, government officials, legislators, judges, attorneys, and the public to explore legislation, the intersection of law and policy, and the work of administrative agencies.

During the spring of 2020, Professor Family was a visiting professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. In 2012, she was a visiting scholar at Queen Mary School of Law in London. She received the 2011 and 2022 Douglas E. Ray Excellence in Faculty Scholarship Award, and the National Administrative Law Judiciary Foundation selected Professor Family as its 2010 Fellow.  She is also the recipient of the Light of Liberty Award from the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center.  Three of her articles have been selected for reprinting in an anthology of immigration law scholarship.