Jeannie Suk Gersen

Jeannie Suk Gersen is the John H. Watson Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Her academic work covers constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, family law, and the law of art, fashion, and the performing arts. Before joining the Harvard faculty, Gersen clerked for Judge Harry T. Edwards on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Justice David Souter on the United States Supreme Court. She also served as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Gersen was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford and a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow at Harvard Law School, and became the first Asian American woman to be awarded tenure at Harvard Law School.

Gersen is the author of three books that have influenced legal scholarship. Her book, "At Home in the Law: How the Domestic Violence Revolution Is Transforming Privacy," received the Law and Society Association's Herbert Jacob Prize. Her Korean memoir, "A Light Inside," became a bestseller in Korea. Her scholarly articles, including "The Socratic Method in the Age of Trauma" and "Is Privacy a Woman?", have been widely cited. Gersen has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow of the MacDowell Colony, and a recipient of Harvard Law School's Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence. She received the Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement from the American Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Gersen is recognized for her work on how colleges and institutions address sexual assault and misconduct. She has advocated for due process in university disciplinary proceedings and contributed to the design of Title IX procedures that emphasize procedural fairness. Gersen has co-published scholarship on the administrative oversight of sexual conduct on campuses, analyzing the expansion of federal regulation in this area. Her work addresses the balance between combating sexual assault and upholding constitutional values and fair process.

As a contributing writer and legal correspondent for The New Yorker, Gersen covers the Supreme Court and major legal developments. She has written on the #MeToo movement, Title IX, campus sexual assault, transgender rights, and affirmative action. Gersen reported on the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings, focusing on legal questions related to witness testimony and evidentiary standards. She has provided Senate testimony on Title IX and House testimony on law and innovation in the fashion industry, and has been a TED speaker. Gersen's work continues to shape public and academic discourse on law, gender, and institutional policy.