May 26, 2010

Travis, Professor Michelle

Michelle Travis is a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law where she specializes in employment and employment discrimination law. She received her JD from Stanford Law School, where she served as the executive editor of the Stanford Law Review, and she received her BA in psychology from Cornell University. After law school, she clerked for the Hon. David M. Ebel on the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, and she practiced employment law at Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe. Travis’s research focuses on disability discrimination, sex discrimination, and work/family conflict, and she regularly speaks on these topics around the country. Her interdisciplinary scholarship uses social cognition and sociology research to demonstrate how antidiscrimination law could be used to increase workplace flexibility and eliminate structural, organizational, and cognitive biases in the workplace. Her articles have appeared in the Vanderbilt Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, and the Washington and Lee Law Review, among others.

Travis teaches employment law, torts, remedies, and work/family law, and she was awarded the Most Outstanding Professor Award in 2006. She has also taught at Stanford Law School, Santa Clara Law School, and Lewis & Clark Law School, where she received the Leo Levinson Award for Most Outstanding Professor in 2003. Travis currently serves on the editorial board of the Chicago-Kent Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal, and she is a former chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Employment Discrimination Law.

Education
  • BA, Cornell University
  • JD, Stanford University
Prior Experience
  • Assistant Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School
  • Associate, Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe
  • Law Clerk, Hon. David M. Ebel, U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
Awards
  • Dean’s Circle Scholar, USF School of Law (2010)
  • Distinguished Professor Award, USF School of Law (2006)
  • Leo Levinson Award for Most Outstanding Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School (2003)
Title Outlets Date
Books
Law Review and Journal Articles
  • “What a Difference a Day Makes, Or Does It? Work/Family Balance and the Four-Day Work Week,” 42 Connecticut Law Review (forthcoming). SSRN
  • “The Future of Work-Family Policy: Is ‘Choice’ the Right Choice?” 13 Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal 385 (2009). SSRN
  • “Lashing Back at the ADA Backlash: How the Americans With Disabilities Act Benefits Americans Without Disabilities,” 76 Tennessee Law Review  311 (2009).
  • “The PDA’s Causation Effect: Observations of an Unreasonable Woman,” 21 Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 51 (2009). (Symposium Issue)
  • “The Full-Time Face-Time Norm: Lessons from the United Kingdom,” 10 Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal  257 (2006). (Proceedings of the 2006 AALS Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law Annual Meeting.)
  • “Recapturing the Transformative Potential of Employment Discrimination Law,” 62 Washington and Lee Law Review 1 (2005).
  • “Equality in the Virtual Workplace,” 24 Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law 283 (2003).
  • “Perceived Disabilities, Social Cognition, and Innocent Mistakes,” 55 Vanderbilt Law Review  481 (2002).
  • “Telecommuting: The Escher Stairway of Work/Family Conflict,” 55 Maine Law Review 262 (2002). (Symposium Issue)
  • “Leveling the Playing Field or Stacking the Deck? The ‘Unfair Advantage’ Critique of Perceived Disability Claims,” 78 North Carolina Law Review  901 (2000).
  • “Psychological Health Tests for Violence-Prone Police Officers: Objectives, Shortcomings, and Alternatives,” 46 Stanford Law Review  1717 (1994).
  • “Defending the Indigent During a War on Crime,” 1 Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy 69 (1992). (Co-authored with John Martin.)
Book Contributions
Opinion Pieces and Blog Posts
Other Publications
  • “Americans with Disabilities Act: High Court Endorses Disparate Impact Theory,” Issue 1356, No. 866, Pt. 2 Labor Law Reporter (CCH) (2004).
  • High Court Endorses Disparate Impact Theory,” 148 Accommodating Disabilities (CCH) (2004).
Briefs
Court Citation of Research
Presentations
  • Presenter, “What a Difference a Day Makes, or Does It? Work-Family Balance and the Four-Day Work Week,” University of Connecticut School of Law Review Symposium “Redefining Work: Implications of the Four-Day Work Week,” Hartford, Conn. (October 2009).
  • Presenter, “The Legal ‘Back Door’ to Work-Family Balance,” UC Hastings College of Law Sixth International Carework Conference, San Francisco (August 2009).
  • Presenter, “Review of Labor and Employment Cases Decided in the 2008–09 Term,” Bar Association of San Francisco, (July 2009). (Co-presented with Maria Ontiveros.)
  • Presenter, “The ADA and You—How Laws Intended to Help the Disabled Affect Those With and Without Disabilities,” University of San Francisco School of Law, (March 2009).
  • Presenter, “Lashing Back at the ADA Backlash: How the Americans with Disabilities Act Benefits Americans Without Disabilities,” Northwestern University School of Law Employment Law Colloquium, Chicago, Ill. (February 2009).
  • Moderator, “Past, Present, and Future: High-Skilled Immigrants in the U.S. Workforce,” University of San Francisco Law Review Symposium “Evolving Definition of the Immigrant Worker: The Intersection Between Employment, Labor, and Human Rights Law,” (February 2009).
  • Presenter, “Building a More Flexible and Accessible Profession: What Changes are Possible?” Bar Association of San Francisco, (January 2009).
  • Presenter, “Pregnancy, the PDA, and the ADA,” Yale Law School Symposium “Respecting Expecting: The 30th Anniversary of the PDA,” New Haven, Conn. (November 2008).
  • Panelist, Seton Hall Annual Employment and Labor Law Scholars’ Forum, Newark, N.J. (October 2008).
  • Presenter, “The Social Science Behind Family Responsibilities Discrimination and the Prospects for Caregiver Non-Discrimination Legislation,” UC Hastings College of the Law Conference “Family Responsibilities Discrimination: Lessons for the Use of Stereotyping Evidence and Implicit Bias in Employment Cases,” San Francisco (February 2008).
  • Presenter, “Lashing Back at the ADA Backlash: How the Americans With Disabilities Act Benefits Americans Without Disabilities,” University of Denver Sturm College of Law and University of Colorado Law School Second Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law, Denver, Colo. (September 2007).
  • Presenter, “Part-Time Arrangements as Reasonable Accommodations,” Bar Association of San Francisco Conference “Hiring and Retaining Attorneys with Disabilities,” San Francisco (July 2007).
  • Moderator, “Affirmative Obligations: Accommodations in the Workplace,” UC Hastings College of the Law National Disability Law Symposium, San Francisco (February 2007).
  • Panelist, “Dispute Resolution in Action: Examining the Reality of Employment Discrimination Cases,” 2007 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools Sections on Employment Discrimination and Alternative Dispute Resolution, (January 2007). (Proceedings available in Employee Rights & Employment Policy Journal, 2007.)
  • Presenter, “Gender Stereotyping and the Full-Time Face-Time Norm,” University of San Francisco School of Law Third Annual WorkLife Law Conference on Working Time, (March 2006).
  • Moderator, “Gender Stereotyping—Expanding the Boundaries of Title VII,” 2006 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Employment Discrimination Law, Washington, D.C. (January 2006). (Proceedings available in Employee Rights & Employment Policy Journal, 2006.)
  • Presenter, “The Full-Time Face-Time Norm: Lessons from the United Kingdom,” 2006 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law “Employment Protection for Atypical Workers,” Washington, D.C. (January 2006). (Proceedings available in Employee Rights & Employment Policy Journal, 2006.)
  • Presenter, “Recapturing the Transformative Potential of Employment Discrimination Law,” University of Connecticut School of Law Workshop Series, Hartford, Conn. (April 2005).
  • Presenter, “Stereotyping, Opting Out, and the Law: The Family Responsive Workplace in Europe and the United States,” American University Washington College of Law Second Annual WorkLife Law Conference on Working Time, Washington, D.C. (March 2005).
  • Presenter, “Supreme Court Review: What the U.S. and California Supreme Court Decisions Have Done For (or To) Labor and Employment Law,” Bar Association of San Francisco, (July 2004).
  • Presenter, “Legislative Approaches to Flexibility and Reduced Working Time,” American University Washington College of Law First Annual WorkLife Law Conference on Working Time “Working Time for Working Families—Europe and the USA,” Washington, D.C. (June 2004).
  • Presenter, “The Full-Time Face-Time Norm and the Untapped Transformative Potential of Employment Discrimination Law,” The Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Ill. (May 2004).
  • Presenter, “Undermining the Transformative Potential of Employment Discrimination Law,” The Central States Law School Association Conference, Toledo, Ohio (September 2003).
  • Presenter, “Undermining the Transformative Potential of Employment Discrimination Law,” The Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, Penn. (June 2003).
  • Presenter, “Equality in the Virtual Workplace,” Business and Professional Women’s Foundation Annual Meeting “From 9-to-5 to 24/7: How Workplace Changes Impact Families, Work, and Communities,” Orlando, Fla. (March 2003).
  • Presenter, “Employment Law Pitfalls: New Supreme Court Cases on the ADA,” Oregon Law Institute, Portland, Ore. (February 2003).
  • Presenter, “Sex Discrimination in the Virtual Workplace,” University of Texas School of Law Conference “Subversive Legacies: Learning from History/Constructing the Future,” Austin, Texas (November 2002).
  • Presenter, “Telecommuting: The Escher Stairway of Work/Family Conflict,” University of Maine School of Law Symposium on Law, Labor, and Gender, Portland, Maine (September 2002).
  • Presenter, “Sex Discrimination in the Virtual Workplace,” The Law and Society Annual Meeting, Vancouver, B.C (May 2002).
  • Presenter, “Working It Out: The Developing Law on Employment Arbitration Agreements,” Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Ore. (March 2002).
  • Presenter, “Perceived Disabilities, Social Cognition, and ‘Innocent Mistakes’,” Stanford Law School Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum, Palo Alto (June 2001).
Testimony and Hearings
Written Testimony and Commentary
  • Signatory, letter in support of the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor on behalf of professors of disability law, disability rights law, and special education law (June 2009).
Advisor or Consultant
Counsel
Symposia Participation
Professional Membership
  • Chair, Association of American Law School Section on Employment Discrimination Law (2006). 
  • Chair-Elect, Association of American Law School Section on Employment Discrimination Law (2005).
  • Executive Board Member, Association of American Law School Section on Employment Discrimination Law (2004).
  • Board of Visitors, Lewis & Clark Law School (2003 to present).
Fellowships
Other Service
  • Co-Organizer, University of San Francisco School of Law Conference “Moving Equality Forward: A Conversation on Present and Future Directions of Lawyering for Equality” (March 2010).
  • Participant, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center (November 2007).
  • Participant, Caregiver Bias Working Group, WorkLife Law Center, UC Hastings College of the Law (May 2007).
  • Co-Organizer, University of San Francisco School of Law Conference “Maximizing Client Service with Part-Time Attorney Schedules” (March 2006).
  • Co-Organizer, University of San Francisco School of Law Third Annual WorkLife Law Conference on Working Time (March 2006).
  • Editorial Board, Chicago-Kent Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal (2006 to present).
  • Co-Organizer, University of San Francisco School of Law Annual Jack Pemberton Lecture on Workplace Justice (2004 to present).
  • Participant, Northwestern Law School Law and Society Summer Institute “Legal Scholars and Social Scientists: Critique, Challenge, and Collaboration,” Chicago, Ill. (July 2002).