David M. Smolin
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David Mark Smolin is a professor of law at Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. He is also the director for Cumberland Law School's Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics. Smolin is the author of over 35 articles, primarily published as law review articles, though some of his works have appeared in magazines such as First Things. He graduated first in his class and Order of the Coif from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Smolin joined the Cumberland faculty in 1987 after clerking for Senior Judge George Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1986-1987. Prior to that Smolin worked in a psychiatric hospital.
Smolin is a nationally recognized expert in Bioethics and Biotechnology Issues; Reproductive Constitutional Issues; International Children's Issues (adoption, children's rights, child labor, child trafficking); Family & Juvenile Law; and Law and Religion. He has testified before legislative committees in the U.S. Congress, as well as five states on constitutional issues.
He is also an advocate for international adoption reform and the creator of an informational website on international adoption called www.adoptinginternationally.com.
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[edit] Biotechnology, law and ethics
Smolin heads Cumberland Law School's Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics, a center unlike any other of its kind in the United States. Research focuses on contemporary bioethical dilemmas and specific issues regarding the Center's Annual Symposium, which is typically co-sponsored by the Cumberland Law Review. For the past several years an issue of the Cumberland Law Review has been devoted to the Symposium topic.
[edit] Human rights and intercountry adoption
[edit] Child laundering
Much of Smolin's recent academic work regards international adoption. One article gaining attention is available for download at bepress legal repository:
[edit] Recent law review articles
Recent law review articles include:
- Child Laundering, Wayne Law Review (forthcoming 2006).
- The Two Faces of Intercountry Adoption: The Significance of the Indian Adoption Scandals, Seton Hall Law Review; [1] and
- Intercountry Adoption as Child Trafficking, Valparaiso Law Review [2].
[edit] Cumberland School of Law Symposium on International Adoption
On April 15th, 2005 Cumberland School of Law hosted a Symposium on International adoption.[3]. The Symposium goal was to "explore the question of how intercountry adoption can be reformed to ensure that all parties to the adoption triad (birth families, children and adoptive families) have their rights and human dignity respected."[4]
Richard Cross, a senior special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] assigned to the ICE Human Trafficking Unit in Seattle, Washington, spoke at the event. His entire lecture and audio file from the lecture are available for download on Cumberland's website.
[edit] Adopting Internationally website
Link to website: www.adoptinginternationally.com.
Recently Smolin, along with his wife, launched www.adoptinginternationally.com, a website meant to provide information regarding "the complex issues associated with international adoption." The site includes personal stories and academic analysis.
The site is also based, in part, on the Smolin's personal experience in the field of international adoption, and the Smolins are unabashedly dedicated to reforming intercountry adoption "so that it may consistently and reliably assist all members of the adoption triad (birth families, adoptees, and adoptive families)."
[edit] Education
- BA Applied Psychology, New College of Florida 1980
- Clerk Senior Judge George Edwards, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1986-87
[edit] Notable facts
- Smolin graduated first in his class and Order of the Coif from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
- His brother is quantum physicist Lee Smolin whose publications include the Life of the Cosmos, Three Roads to Quantum Gravity, and The Trouble with Physics.
- His mother is the playwright Pauline Smolin, while his father Michael Smolin is an environmental and processes engineer.
