David J. Herring has written extensively on child welfare law issues.   His most recent work focuses on behavioral biology research and its implications for children placed in foster care.   His previous work focused on the political functions of the family in American society.

Herring spearheaded Pitt Law School's clinical legal education program.   Since joining the Pitt Law faculty in 1990, he has initiated the school's live-client, in-house clinic programs — the Child Welfare Law Clinic, the Community Economic Development Clinic, the Elder Law Clinic, the Environmental Law Clinic, the Family Law Clinic, the Health Law Clinic, and the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic.   Herring and the school's clinic students were instrumental in starting the Court Appointed Special Advocates program in Allegheny County.   CASA trains volunteers to represent the interests of children in child welfare court proceedings.   He received CASA's first Children's Voice Award for Excellence in Child Advocacy.

Education

Specialization

• Child Welfare Law
• Law and Biology

Selected Publications

Books and Monographs:

• David J. Herring, Everyday Law for Children (Paradigm Publishers 2006).
• David J. Herring, The Public Family: Exploring Its Role in Democratic Society (University of Pittsburgh Press 2003).

Scholarly Articles:

• David J. Herring, Evolutionary Theory and Kinship Foster Care: An Initial Test of Two Hypotheses, Capital Law Review, Forthcoming.
• David J. Herring, Kinship Foster Care: Implications of Behavioral Biology Research 56 Buffalo Law Review 495.
• David J. Herring, Legal Scholarship, Humility, and the Scientific Method, 25 QLR 867 (2007).
• David J. Herring, The Multiethnic Placement Act: threat to foster child safety and well-being, 41 University of Michigan J.L. Reform 89 (2007).
• David J. Herring, Foster Care Safety and the Kinship Cue of Attitude Similarity, 7 Minn. J. L. Sci. & Tech. (2006).
• David J. Herring, Foster Care Placement: Reducing the Risk of Sibling Incest, 37 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 1145 (2004).
• David J. Herring, Child Placement Decisions: The Relevance of Facial Resemblance and Biological Relationships, 43 Jurimetrics 387 (2003).
• David J. Herring, Behavioral Genetics and the Best Interests of the Child Decision Rule, 36 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 1 (2002).
• David J. Herring, Troxel and the Rhetoric of Associational Respect, 62 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 649 (2001).
• David J. Herring, The Adoption and Safe Families Act–Hope and Its Subversion, 34 Fam. L.Q. 329 (2000).
• David J. Herring, Clinical Legal Education: Energy and Transformation, 31 Toledo L. Rev. 621 (2000).

SSRN Author Page

Awards and Honors

• Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award (1998)