Professor Jack B. Harrison is the David and Nancy Wolf Chair in Ethics and Professional Identity. In this role, Professor Harrison directs programs that expand education in the areas of ethical conduct and social justice, enhance pro bono work and public-interest service by students, and provide training in diversity, equity and inclusion.
Professor Harrison is also the director of the Chase Center for Excellence in Advocacy, which offers students specialized opportunities to develop oral advocacy skills, and coordinator of student trial competition teams.
Professor Harrison’s research and scholarship is focused on topics related to civil procedure, federal courts, and sexuality, identity and the law.
Prior to beginning his academic career with Chase in 2011, he spent almost twenty years as a practicing attorney, representing clients in litigation matters in the areas of product liability defense and employment discrimination defense. Professor Harrison was a partner at Frost Brown Todd in Cincinnati, where he was the first openly gay person elected partner at a large Cincinnati law firm. Professor Harrison later moved his practice to Cors & Bassett in Cincinnati, where he remains of-counsel.
Professor Harrison has long been active in bar organizations, including service to the Cincinnati Bar Association on the board of trustees, the admissions committee and the fee arbitration committee. He has served as Chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues Section of the Association of American Law Schools and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the section. Beyond the legal community, Professor Harrison has served on boards of directors for The Point Foundation, the Cincinnati Opera, Caracole, and the National Gay and Lesbian Law Association.
Professor Harrison has been involved in a number of pro bono matters throughout his career, including representation of inmates alleging constitutional violations against state corrections facilities. In partnership with the Ohio Justice and
Policy Center and others, he represented a class of severely mentally ill Ohio inmates in a suit against the Corrections Department of the State of Ohio regarding the lack of adequate pre-release discharge planning for those inmates.
He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Mount St. Mary’s University and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Is a Green Tie Enough? – Truth and Lies in the Courtroom, 75 Okla. L. Rev. ____, (forthcoming 2023)
Emerging from Davy Jones’ Locker: The Revival of Counterclaims against the Government in Civil Forfeiture Actions, 104 Marq. L. Rev. 859 (2021), co-author Brendan Sullivan. SSRN
Erie SLAPP Back, 95 Wash. L. Rev. 1253 (2020) SSRN
Amicus curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens, a case that addresses the question of whether Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition proscribes discrimination against individuals for being transgender. The brief was submitted on behalf of Law and History Scholars in support of the EEOC and Aimee Stephens, arguing that in order to determine the original public meaning of “because of sex” in Title VII, the Court must focus on the history of how transgender individuals were understood, both in popular culture and in the halls of Congress, when Title VII was passed and amended. (July 3, 2019)
“Because of Sex," 51 Loy. L.A.L.Rev. 91 (2018) SSRN
"To Sit or Stand": Transgender Persons, Gendered Restrooms, and the Law, 40 U. Haw. L. Rev. 49 (2017) SSRN
Registration, Fairness and General Jurisdiction, 95 Neb. L. Rev. 477 (2016) SSRN
At Long Last Marriage, 24 Am. U. J. Gender & Soc. Pol’y & L. 1 (2015) SSRN (among the top ten downloaded articles on SSRN in the categories of Constitutional Claims, Due Process & Equal Protection and Family Law.)
On Marriage and Polygamy, 42 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 89 (2015) SSRN (among the top ten downloaded articles on SSRN in the categories of Marriage and Social Norms & Institutions)
Here and There and Back Again: Drowning in the Stream of Commerce, 44 Stetson L. Rev. 1 (2014) SSRN
Management of Electronic Data in Litigation, LEX LOCI (Northern Kentucky Bar Association) (December 2012)
The Strange Intersection between Law, Religion, and Government in the Regulation of Marriage, 6 Charleston Law Review 547 (2012) SSRN
The Future of Same-Sex Marriage After Lawrence v. Texas and the Election of 2004, 30 U. Dayton L. Rev 314 (2005)
Some Accurate Information is Better than No Information At All: Arguments Against an Exception to the Learned Intermediary Doctrine Based on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising, 78 Or. L. Rev. 605 (1999)
Hate Speech: Power in the Marketplace, 20 J.C. & U.L. 461 (1994)
The Government as Pornographer: Government Sting Operations and Entrapment, 61 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1067 (1993)
How Open Is Open?: The Development of the Public Access Doctrine Under State Open Court Provisions, 60 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1307 (1992)
October 28, 2022 presentation at a symposium at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, “Reproductive Rights Post-Dobbs,” on “How Did We Get Here? Casey, Roe, and Dobbs.”
August 10, 2022 presentation at the Cincinnati Bar Association on the topic Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization: Understanding a Post-Roe America.
October 21, 2021 presentation as part of NKU’s Spotlight on Scholarship on research on jury selection and the failure of Batson. My presentation was entitled, “Is a Green Tie Enough – Batson, Truth, and Lies in the Courtroom, the topic of a recent article.
As Chair of the AALS Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues, participated in the following sessions at the 2021 AALS (Virtual) Annual Meeting in January, 2021:
(1) New Voices on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issue
(2) Implications of the 2020 Supreme Court Title VII Trilogy: Bostock, Zarda, & Harris Funeral Home
(3) Arc of Career - Opportunities and Challenges for LGBTQ+ Persons in Leadership in Law Schools
July 2020 presentation at the Cincinnati Bar Association on the topic LGBTQ Rights Before the Supreme Court in 2019 -2020 and Beyond. The presentation a review of LGBTQ related issues that have come before the Court in the last year, the arguments, and the outcomes. The most notable of these was the outcome in the Title VII trilogy of cases, in which Professor Harrison authored an amicus brief on behalf of law and history professors. The presentation then looked forward at issues that likely will come before the court in the near term, specifically those focused on religious exemptions to antidiscrimination laws of general application.
September 24, 2020 presentation at the Kentucky League of Cities Annual Conference. The presentation focused on unique ethical issues faced by local government attorneys. Topics discussed included: (1) maintaining attorney-client privilege as a local government attorney; (2) functioning within the requirements of open meetings and open records requirements; (3) potential ethical pitfalls when providing advice in a political environment and (4) managing personnel issues.
December, 2020 presentation on behalf of the Cincinnati Bar Association to approximately 100 attorneys on the topic Implications for employer, employees and LGBTQ+ person of the 2020 Supreme Court Title VII Trilogy: Bostock, Zarda, & Harris Funeral Home.
Participated on a panel at the 2020 meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools on the topic: New Frontiers in Reproductive Justice Scholarship and Pedagogy. In my presentation as part of this panel, I discussed a work in progress examining surrogacy, birthright citizenship, and children of same-sex married couples. It concerns the denial of birthright citizenship to the daughter of two married American citizens.
Presented at the 2019 AALS Annual Meeting as part of a panel on the topic: “LGBTQ Rights Halfway Through Trump’s (First?) Term: Advancement, Retrenchment, Potential.” In his presentation, Professor Harrison discussed developments in the law related to discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, a topic that is the focus of his article in the Loyola Los Angeles Law Review, “Because of Sex.”
Presented a work in progress, “To Sit or Stand”: Transgender Persons, Gendered Restrooms, and the Law, as part of a panel on Gender and Sexuality at the New Scholars workshop at the annual conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools
Presented on The Post-Obergefell Impact on Family Law at the annual conference of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
Presented On Marriage and Polygamy at the annual conference of the Central States Law School Association.
Presented a current work in process, The Death of General Jurisdiction After Goodyear and Bauman, at the annual conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools.
Selected for inclusion, The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (2010-2023)
Selected as a Top-Rated Lawyer in Labor & Employment Litigation by American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell™
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