Laura Beth Nielsen

Laura Beth Nielsen headshot

Research Professor

750 N. Lake Shore Drive
4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60611

Joint appointment

Associate Professor of Sociology and Law, Northwestern University

Education

Ph.D., Jurisprudence & Social Policy, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., University of California, Berkeley

Bio

Laura Beth Nielsen is a Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Legal Studies at Northwestern University. She is a graduate of the…

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Research focus

The sociology of law, with particular interests in legal consciousness and the relationship between law and inequalities of race, gender, and class.

Projects

Public Interest Law Firms: Latest finding: Feb 21, 2008, with Catherine R. Albiston; Using a multi-method research design, this project investigates how lawyers in public interest law organizations (PILOs) conceptualize and pursue their goals. At the organizational level of analysis,…
Cause Lawyering in Context: Latest finding: Feb 12, 2008, with Catherine Albiston; The Constraints and Opportunities of Practicing Public Law in Public Interest Law firms will provide an unprecedented, empirical portrait of a national sample of the public interest bar. Aenean eros…
Employment Discrimination Litigation: Latest finding: Feb 11, 2008, with Robert L. Nelson, Ryon Lancaster, John Donohue III, Peter Siegelman; At the center of current debates about the role of anti-discrimination law in American society is the system of discrimination litigation. Despite the sheer magnitude of changes in employment…

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Commentary

Few discrimination suits filed as class actions: Study

Jun 16, 2010

Most plaintiffs in employment discrimination lawsuits are solo plaintiffs and are likely to receive modest settlements if they receive anything at all, says a study by the Chicago-based American Bar…

Most Employment Lawsuits Brought By Individuals

Jun 16, 2010

The American Bar Foundation study, Individual Justice or Collective Legal Mobilization? Employment Discrimination in the Post Civil Rights United States, was published in the June issue of the…

Study: Few Discrimination Suits Filed as Class Actions

Jun 16, 2010

The American Bar Foundation study, which covers employment discrimination cases filed in federal courts between 1987 and 2003, found that about 19 percent of cases are dismissed, and 50 percent of…

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