Contact Information
Biography
Rona Kaufman is an associate professor at Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University, where she teaches constitutional law, employment discrimination, family law, and gender and the law. Her scholarship focuses on intersections of law, women, motherhood, gender, antisemitism, antizionism, and Jewish peoplehood. Her articles have been published in the Buffalo Law Review, Florida International University Law Review, Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society, and other publications.
Before becoming an academic, Kaufman practiced commercial litigation and family law with Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright), and employment law with Baker Hostetler in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining Duquesne Kline School of Law's faculty, Kaufman completed the Abraham L. Freedman Fellowship at Temple University Beasley School of Law and earned her Master’s in Legal Education.
Professor Kaufman was a recipient of the Wexner Foundation’s two-year Wexner Heritage fellowship (2018-2020). In 2024, she was selected to be a member of President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People first global cohort. Professor Kaufman serves on the Brandies Center for Human Rights’ Center for Legal Innovation advisory board and on the Holocaust Claims Commission’s legal education working group. In 2025, she studied antisemitism and Holocaust inversion and distortion at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel. Professor Kaufman studied at Oxford with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism Policy in 2025. Professor Kaufman is co-founder of the Center for Jewish Law & Policy. She is the Chair of the Law & Antisemitism Conference. Professor Kaufman works with various other organizations to protect the civil rights of Jews and combat Jew-hatred.
Education
- LL.M., Legal Education, Temple University
- J.D., University of Arizona
Profile Information
Children & the Law
Constitutional Law I
Constitutional Law II
Employment Discrimination
Family Law
Gender & the Law
Privacy: Pre- and Post-Dobbs
Rona Kaufman, Privacy: Pre- and Post-Dobbs, 61 Duq. L. Rev. 62 (2023). SSRN
Feminist Legal Theory and Stone's Panes of the Glass Ceiling
Rona Kaufman, Feminist Legal Theory and Stone's Panes of the Glass Ceiling, 17 FIU L. Rev. 771 (2023). SSRN
Patriarchal Violence
Rona Kaufman, Patriarchal Violence, 71 Buff. L. Rev. 509 (2023). SSRN
A Century Since Suffrage: How Did We Get Here? Where Will We Go? How Will We Get There?
Rona Kaufman, A Century Since Suffrage: How Did We Get Here? Where Will We Go? How Will We Get There?, 59 Duq. L. Rev. 1 (2021). SSRN
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award Remarks
Rona Kaufman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award Remarks, 21 Geo. J. of Gender and Law 541 (2020).
Constrained Choice: Mothers, The State, and Domestic Violence
Rona Kaufman, Constrained Choice: Mothers, The State, and Domestic Violence, 24 Temp. Pol. C.R.L. Rev. 4 (2015). SSRN
Holistic Pregnancy: Rejecting the Theory of the Adversarial Mother
Rona Kaufman, Holistic Pregnancy: Rejecting the Theory of the Adversarial Mother, 26 Hastings Women's L.J. 2 (2015). SSRN
Missing the Mark: How FMLA's Bonding Leave Fails Mothers
Rona Kaufman, Missing the Mark: How FMLA's Bonding Leave Fails Mothers, Hofstra Lab. Emp. L.J. (2014). SSRN
Off-Balance: Obama and the Work-Family Agenda
Rona Kitchen, Off-Balance: Obama and the Work-Family Agenda, 16 Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 211 (2012). SSRN
Happy Mother's Day
Rona Kitchen, Happy Mother's Day, May 8, 2011.
Eradicating the Mothering Effect: Women as Workers and Mothers, Successfully and Simultaneously
Rona Kitchen, Eradicating the Mothering Effect: Women as Workers and Mothers, Successfully and Simultaneously, 26 Wisc. J. L Gender & Soc. 167 (2011). SSRN
Panes of the Glass Ceiling and Feminist Legal Theory
Rona Kaufman, Presenter, Panes of the Glass Ceiling, presentation at the FIU Symposium on Professor Kerri Stone’s Book “Panes of the Glass Ceiling,” Florida International University School of Law, Miami, Florida, February 17, 2023.
Privacy Pre- and Post-Dobbs
Rona Kaufman, Presenter, Duquesne Law Speaks, presentation at Duquesne Law Conference on recent Supreme Court decisions, Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 30, 2022.
The 19th Amendment and Women’s Rights
Rona Kaufman, Panelist, 19th Amendment Panel Discussion, Allegheny County Bar Association panel discussion on the 19th Amendment, Koppers Building, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 27, 2022.
A Century Since Suffrage
Rona Kaufman, Moderator, A Century Since Suffrage, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 4, 2020.
Judaism and Race
Rona Kaufman, Presenter, Racial Equity and Religions, Consortium for Christian-Muslim Dialogue Conference on the how various religious doctrines understand race and racism, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 18, 2021.
Misinformation, Education, and the First Amendment
Rona Kaufman, Interviewee, Misinformation and the Attack on the Capital, KDKA Radio Morning Show, Radio Interview with Larry Richart, January 13, 2021
The Role of Social Media in Spreading Misinformation
Rona Kaufman, Interviewee, The Role of Social Media in Spreading Misinformation, CBS Television Interview with Ken Rice, January 7, 2021.
Misinformation, Education, and the First Amendment
Rona Kaufman, Presenter, Misinformation, Education, and the First Amendment, Presentation at Baldwin High School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 15, 2021.
Hate and the Law
Rona Kaufman, Presenter, Reconceiving Crimes Against Women as Hate Crimes, When Hate Hits Home: Investigating, Prosecuting and Preventing Domestic Terrorism, The 19th Annual Forensic Science and Law Symposium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 12-13, 2020.
Hate and the Law
Rona Kaufman, Presenter, Hate and the Law, Continuing Legal Education, Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 6, 2020.
Gender Equity at Work
Rona Kaufman, Moderator, Gender Equity at Work, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., January 3, 2020.
Work-Family Balance and the Law
Rona Kaufman, Guest Lecturer, Work-Family Balance and the Law, John Carroll University, University Heights, Ohio, April. 9, 2015.
#MeToo
Rona Kaufman, Moderator, Teaching in a #MeToo World, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., January 3, 2020.
Defining Sexual Assault and Consent in the #MeToo Era
Rona Kaufman, Presenter, Defining Sexual Assault and Consent in the #MeToo Era, The Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensics and Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 14, 2018.
What Do I Want to Accomplish in the Interview
Rona Kaufman, Panelist, Registrants’ Workshop Program, American Association of Law Schools Faculty Recruitment Conference, Washington D.C., October 13, 2016.
Your “Go To” Place
Rona Kaufman, Panelist, Registrants’ Workshop Program, American Association of Law Schools Faculty Recruitment Conference, Washington, D.C., October 14, 2014.
Holistic Pregnancy
“Holistic Pregnancy Rejecting the Theory of the Adversarial Mother,” Update for Feminist Law Professors, University of Pennsylvania School of Law, March 8, 2015.
Mixed Messages & Missing Mothers
“Mixed Messages & Missing Mothers,” Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review, Violence Against Women Act Symposium, Temple University School of Law, Nov. 8, 2014.
Faculty Registrants Workshop
American Association of Law Schools Faculty Recruitment Conference, Registrants’ Workshop Program, Washington D.C., October 16, 2014.
Family in Civil and Jewish Law
“How Do We Define a Family Today in Civil and Jewish Law?” Agency for Jewish Learning,
Congregation Adat Shalom, May 2, 2014.
Mixed Messages & Missing Mothers
“Mixed Messages & Missing Mothers: Critiquing the Judicial Response to Mandatory Arrest
Laws Post-VAWA,” The Violence Against Women Act and its Impact on the U.S. Supreme Court and International
Law: A Story of Vindication, Loss, and a New Human Rights Paradigm, Duquesne University School of Law, Mar. 29, 2014.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
“The FMLA 20 Years Later: What Have We Learned and Where Do We Go From Here?” Hofstra
Labor & Employment Law Journal Symposium, Reengineering FMLA’s Bonding Leave Provision to Achieve Congressional Goals and Fulfill
Human Needs,” Forging a Path: Dissecting Controversial Health Legislation in the Workplace, Hofstra School of Law, Nov. 1, 2013.
Job-Protected Leave in the United States and Abroad
“Job-Protected Leave in the United States and Abroad,” Temple University Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of Women’s Second Annual Campus-Wide Conference, Achieving Equity: Women, The Workplace, And The Law, Temple University, Oct. 20, 2010.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
“The Family and Medical Leave Act,” Temple University School of Law, Oct. 19, 2010.
International Parental Leave Laws
“International Parental Leave Laws,” The Philadelphia Coalition of Labor Union Women Membership Meeting and Annual Benefit, Workers and Caregivers: How a Changing Workforce is Negotiating Maternity/Paternity Benefits, Workers United, Jan. 25, 2010.
Legal Motherhood
“An Exploration and Critique of Legal Motherhood: Law, Experience, and Science,” Duquesne University School of Law, CLE Program, September 28, 2013.
Reconstructing Motherhood
“Reconstructing Motherhood: Legal Implications from Scientific Findings,” Three School Colloquium, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Apr. 12, 2013.
Employment Discrimination
“Employment Discrimination: Theory and Policy,” Duquesne University School of Law, CLE Program, September 8, 2012.
Ledbetter and the Gender Wage Gap
“Ledbetter and the Gender Wage Gap,” Duquesne University School of Law, CLE Program, April 21, 2012.
Women in the Workforce
“Women in the Workforce,” Global Pittsburgh, Jul. 22, 2011.
Obama’s Work-Family Agenda
“Off-Balance: An Assessment of Obama’s Implementation of his Work-Family Agenda,”
The University of Akron School of Law, Feb. 13, 2012.
A Critique of Obama’s Agenda for Work and Family
“A Critique of Obama’s Agenda for Work and Family,” Update for Feminist Law Professors, Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University, January 28, 2012.
Obama’s Agenda for Work and Family
“Obama’s Agenda for Work and Family,” Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Nov. 14, 2011.
The Value of Mothering
“The Value of Mothering,” Duquesne University School of Law, CLE Program, November 15, 2011.
Labor Law
“Public Sector Labor Law,” Coro Pittsburgh, Apr. 1, 2011.
Mother Lawyer Panel
Moderator, Temple University Women’s Law Caucus, Mother Lawyer Panel, Temple University School of Law, Mar. 3, 2010.
The Mommy Trap: FMLA and the Dependent Mother
Presenter, “The Mommy Trap: FMLA and the Dependent Mother,” Update for Feminist Law Professors, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Feb. 2, 2008.
- Wexner Foundation Fellowship, 2018
- Chabad House on Campus, Alumni Awardee, 2016