Barbara Atwood

Mary Anne Richey Professor Emerita of Law; Co-Director, Family and Juvenile Law Certificate Program

Room Number: 265

520-621-1912

Documents

Long-CV-Atwood_02.26.pdf

Professor Atwood is the Mary Anne Richey Professor of Law Emerita and Co-Director of the Family and Juvenile Law Certificate Program at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. After graduating from the University of Arizona College of Law in 1976, she clerked for the late Mary Anne Richey, United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, and then worked as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. She taught at the University of Houston Law Center from 1981 to 1986 and returned to Arizona to join the University of Arizona law faculty in 1986. Professor Atwood's scholarship explores topics at the intersection of civil procedure and family law, with a particular focus on issues of voice and representation for marginalized groups. She has spoken at national and international conferences on child representation, child's voice, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and private ordering in family law. Her books include Children, Tribes, and States: Adoption and Custody Conflicts Over American Indian Children (2010) and A Courtroom of Her Own: The Life and Work of Judge Mary Anne Richey (1998). Professor Atwood was appointed to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2006 by then-Governor Janet Napolitano and continues to serve as a Uniform Law Commissioner. She is currently the chair of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Family Laws and was an Adviser on the ALI’s Restatement of Children and the Law project. Professor Atwood was appointed Judge Pro-Tem of the Tohono O'odham Nation in 2013.

SSRN Published Papers

Representative Publications

Judicial Reticence, Legislative Inertia, and the Curtailment of Cohabitants’ Rights, 38 J. AMER. ACAD. MATRIM. LAWYERS 1 (2025).
The New Uniform Cohabitants’ Economic Remedies Act: Strengthening Contract and Equity for Nonmarital Partners, 57 FAM. L. Q. 1 (2024) (with Naomi Cahn)
Arbitrating Family Law Disputes, in The Family Dispute Resolution Handbook (Oxford University Press 2024)
Standing Matters: Brackeen, Article III, and the Lure of the Merits, 23 J. App. Pract. & Pro. 105 (2023).
Cohabitants’ Economic Remedies: The U.S. Approach, 45 Hous. J. Int’l L. 191 (2022) (with Naomi Cahn).
Third-Party Custody, Parental Liberty, and Children's Interests, 43 FAM. ADVOCATE 48 (2021) (Issue 4).
Marriage as Gatekeeper: The Misguided Reliance on Marital Status for Third-Party Standing, 59 Fam. Ct. Rev. 971 (2020).
Children, Tribes, and States: Adoption and Custody Conflicts Over American Indian Children (2010).

Complete List of Publications

Education

J.D. University of Arizona
1976
Graduation with Highest Distinction, Order of the Coif
B.A. Mary Baldwin College
1969
Graduation with Honors

Admitted to Practice

Arizona

Work Experience

Mary Anne Richey Professor of Law Emerita
James E. Rogers College of Law
2011 - present
Mary Anne Richey Professor of Law
James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona
1998 - 2010
Associate Dean
University of Arizona College of Law
1989 - 1991
Acting Associate Dean
University of Arizona College of Law
1988 - 1989
Professor of Law
University of Arizona College of Law
1986 - 1998
Assistant Professor of Law
University of Houston Law Center
1981 - 1986
Visiting Associate Professor
University of Arizona College of Law
1980 - 1981
Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
1978 - 1979
Law Clerk
Hon. Mary Anne Richey, U.S. District Court, Tucson, Arizona
1976 - 1978

Organizations

Arizona State Bar Association
1976 -- present
American Bar Association, Family Law Section
2000 – present
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
2003 – present
Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
2005 – present
Association of American Law Schools, Family and Juvenile Law Section
1988 to present

Public & Institutional Service

Commissioner, Uniform Law Commission
2006 – Present
Chair, Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Family Law
2015 – present
Member, Committee on Standards of Representation, Texas Supreme Court Children's Commission
2022 – present
Member, Arizona Supreme Court Task Force on Revision of Juvenile Court Rules of Procedure
2019 – 2022
President, Arizona Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
2012
Member, Arizona Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission
2001 - 2007; Vice-Chair, 2005; Chair, 2006

Awards

Award of Special Merit, Arizona State Bar Board of Governors
2023
Lifetime Achievement Award, James E. Rogers College of Law
2018
Economidis Lifetime Achievement Award, Family Justice Foundation
2017
Significant Contributions to Family Law, Family Law Section, Arizona State Bar
2016
University of Arizona Alumni Association Extraordinary Faculty Award
2011
John Strong Teaching Award and SBA Teacher Of the Year
2011
Leslie F. and Patricia Bell Faculty Service Award
2010
Arizona Women Lawyers Association Alice Truman Award
2009
Graduate College Graduate and Professional Education Teaching and Mentoring Award
2004
Arizona Women Lawyers Association Sarah Sorin Award
2004
Leslie F. and Patricia Bell Faculty Award
2001
YWCA Women on the Move Award
1998
Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Arizona College of Law
1998

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