Faculty > Caroline Forell

Clayton R. Hess Professor of Law Contact Room 354 Phone: (541) 346-3864 Email Caroline Forell Courses Torts Trusts and Estates I Women and the Law Torts

Professor Forell joined the UO law faculty in 1978 immediately after law school, where she served on the staff of Iowa Law Review.

Forell's research focuses on legal issues affecting women. She co-authored, with Donna Matthews, the book: "A Law of Her Own: The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man" (NYU Press, 2000) (paperback 2001). "A Law of Her Own" has received national attention, including positive reviews from Gloria Steinem, Anna Quindlen, and Susan Estrich. It was recently cited in the stalking case of Bryant v. Walker, 190 Or App 253, 257 n.1 (2003). On appeal of this case to the Oregon Supreme Court, Forell presented oral argument on the issue of incorporating gender into the standard of care for assessing a stalking victim's alarm.

Another area about which Forell has written extensively concerns the legal and ethical standards appropriate for intimate relationships involving various professionals and those they are responsible for, including attorney-client, faculty-student and doctor-patient. Her articles about attorney-client sex have spurred law reform and revision of codes of ethical conduct.

Tort issues have also been the basis for much of Forell's scholarship. Her area of particular expertise involves how statutes affect common law claims and standards of care.

Forell holds dual American/Australian citizenship. She grew up on Australia's Gold Coast and is currently working on a legal history article about how the law treated women such as her great-great-grandmother Ellen Murphy who, at age 12, was transported for 14 years from London to Hobart, Tasmania for stealing four books and a bolt of jeans material.

Horse-riding, biking, travel, and her family (husband, Dick and children, Ian and Emily) are Forell's nonacademic passions. She is a founding member of Lane County Domestic Violence Council and is past President of the Board of Directors for Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS).