Lynne Marie Kohm, J.D.
Bio
Professor Lynne Marie Kohm serves as the John Brown McCarty Professor of Family Law at Regent University School of Law. She earned her law degree from Syracuse College of Law and is a graduate of Albany University. She was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Faculty Excellence as the Regent University Professor of the year in 2005 for her work in defending marriage, equality issues in estate planning, training lawyers in family restoration, and discipling female law students.
Kohm has published prolifically on legal areas of concern to families, including marriage, women, children, families, trusts, and support obligations at death. She teaches Family Law, Wills, Trusts & Estates, Elder Law, Bioethics, and Gender and the Law. She teaches law students and lawyers many of the legal concepts and techniques that assist individuals and families in planning for incapacity and estate distribution. Her most popular book is Estate Planning Success for Women, which has been nominated for several awards because of its unique perspective on women and their influence over the transfer of wealth in the next generation.
Prior to teaching, Kohm practiced law in New York concentrating in the areas of estate planning, probate administration, real estate and family law. She is licensed to practice law in Virginia, New York, Florida, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. She is also a Certified Guardian ad Litem. Her professional affiliations include and have included the Virginia State Bar Family Law Section Board of Governors, Virginia Bar Association Domestic Relations Council, Christian Legal Society, American Bar Association, Eagle Forum, Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women for America, and Bethany Christian Services.
Kohm has a missionary heart, having served with the full-time staff of Campus Crusade for Christ for six years prior to and during law school. She and her husband have two children.
Credentials
Juris Doctor, Syracuse University College of Law 1989; Theological Studies, Institute of Biblical Studies 1986; Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, State University of New York at Albany 1980
Publications
Book Chapters:
Teen Courts: Empowerment through Child Participation, in International Perspectives and Empirical Findings on Child Participation (Tali Gal and Benedetta Duramy Eds.)(Oxford U. Press 2015), also available at https://global.oup.com/academic/product/international-perspectives-and-empirical-findings-on-child-participation-9780199366989?lang=en&cc=us#.
The Challenges of Family Law and Policy in Immigration Regulation, in Public law and Social Human Rights 83, (Ed. David A. Frenkel)( Athens Institute for Education and Research 2013).
What's the Harm to Women and Children? A Prospective Analysis, in What's the Harm: does legalizing same-sex marriage really harm individuals, families or society? 79 (Lynn D. Wardle, ed. 2008)(cited in George W. Dent, Jr., Straight Is Better: Why Law and Society May Justly Prefer Heterosexuality, 15 Tex. Rev. Law & Pol. 359 (2011)).
Death of the Obligor, in J. Thomas Oldham's Child Support (1998).
Marriage By Design, Chapter 3 of Marriage and Same-Sex Unions, A Debate, Lynn D. Wardle, Mark Strasser, William C. Duncan and David Orgon Coolidge, Eds. 78-90 (2003).
Virginia Domestic Relations Handbook, Margaret F. Brinig and Lynn Marie Kohm, Lexus Law Publishing (1999 Supplement)(2003).
Book Publications:
Lynn D. Wardle, Mark S. Strasser, Lynne Marie Kohm, Family Law From Multiple Perspectives (WEST 2014).
The Christian Guide to Wills, Living Trusts and Estate Planning: How to plan your estate for an eternity of benefits, with Mark James (2007).
Family Manifesto: What went wrong with the moral base for the family and how to restore it (William S. Hein Co. 2006)
Estate Planning Success for Women, with Mark James (2005).
Articles:
Mary, the Model of Discipleship, Springtime of Faith Foundation (2018).
Can a dead hand from the grave protect the kids from darling daddy or Mommie Dearest? 31 Quinnipiac Probate L. J. 1 (Nov. 2017).
Lynne Marie Kohm and Sandra Alcaide, Obergefell: A Game-Changer for Women, 14 Ave Maria L. Rev. 101 (2016).
Lynne Marie Kohm and Alison R. Haefner, Empowering Love and Respect for Child Offenders Through Therapeutic Jurisprudence: The Teen Courts Example, Sociology and Anthropology 4(4): 212-221 (2016).
The Unspoken Consequences of Obergefell: Calling Convictional Christian Scholars,(2016).
A Prospective Analysis of Family Fragmentation: Baby Mama Drama Meets Jane Austen,29 B.Y.U.J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 101(2015).
Kathleen A. McKee & Lynne Marie Kohm, Examining the Associations between Sustainable Development Population Policies and Human Trafficking, 23 Mich. St. Int'l L. Rev. 1 (2014).
A Brief Assessment of the 25-Year Effect of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, presentation at the International Scholars Association, Toronto, CA, March 25, 2014; published at 23 Cardozo J. Int'l. & Compar. L. 323 (2015).
Children as Property, or a Commodity of Sexually Autonomous Adults? Symposium "Human Rights and the Sexualization of Culture," Journal of Global Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law (2015).
Roe's Effect on Family Law, 42 Washington & Lee L. Rev. 441 (2014).
Marriage, State Domestic Relations Power, and Family Strength, Virginia Lawyer (Feb. 2014), at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2427462.
Federalism or Extreme Makeover of State Domestic Regulations Power? Rules and Rhetoric of Windsor (and Perry), 6 Elon L. Rev. 337 (2014).
Why Marriage is Still the Best Default in Estate Planning Conflicts, 117 Penn State L. Rev. 1219 (2013).
Rethinking Mom and Dad, 42 Capital L. Rev. (2014).
The Challenges of Teaching Gender Equality in a World of Gendercide, 6 Regent J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 1 (2014).
Keila E. Molina and Lynne Marie Kohm, Are We There Yet? Immigration Reform for the Best Interests of Children, Berkeley La Raza L. J. (2013)(reprinted Regent J. Int'l L. (2013)).
Lynne Marie Kohm and Rachel K. Toberty, A Fifty-State Survey of the Cost of Family Fragmentation, 25 Regent U.L. Rev. 25 (2012), and cited in New York Children's Lawyer.
Lynn D. Wardle and Lynne Marie Kohm, The "Echo-Chamber Effect" in Legal Education: Considering Family Law Casebooks, 6 St. Thomas J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 104 (2011).
Take it to Court, Fostering Families: Leading Christians on Pressing Questions, Village Green, ChristianityToday.com (May 2012).
The Intersection of Family Law and Immigration: Virginia and the Big Picture, 60 Virginia Lawyer 34 (Feb. 2012).
Lynne Marie Kohm, Diane J. Chandler, and Doris Gomez, Christianity, Feminism, and the Paradox of Female Happiness, 17 Trinity L. Rev. 191 (2011).
A Hitchhiker's Guide to ART: Implementing Self-Governed Personally Responsible Decision-Making in the Context of Artificial Reproductive Technology, 39 Capital U. L. Rev. 413 (2011)(cited as authority in Michele Goodwin, A View from the Cradle: Tort law and the Private Regulation of Assisted Reproduction, 59 Emory L. J. 1039 (2010); Priyanka Shivakumar, Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch: How Multiple Pregnancies are Endangering the Right to Abortion,78 Brooklyn L. Rev. 201 (2012)).
The Latest Twist on the Rich Girl Dilemma: My Partner Wants My Money and My Child, 3 Texas Tech. Est. Plan. & Comm. Prop. L. Rev. 1 (2011).
The First Amendment, Homosexual Unions, and "Newspeak": Has the Language Surrounding the Marriage Debate Altered the nature of Marriage Itself, or Affected the truth of the Issues Inherent in Alternative Marriage Demands? 4 Liberty U. L. Rev. 593 (2010).
Restoring the Lost Virtue of Prudential Justice to the Life Debate, 22 Regent U. L. Rev. 191 (2009-2010).
Suffer the Children: How the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Has Not Supported Children, 22 N.Y. Int'l. L. Rev. 57 (Summer 2009)(cited in Pierro A. Tozzi, U.N. "Alternative Care" Guidelines Scrutinized for Pitting Children Against Parents, 12 Catholic Fam.& Human Rights Inst., http://www.c-fam.org/publications/id.1484/pub_detail.asp (Oct. 22, 2009); David V. Chipman and Mindy M. Rush, The Necessity of "Right to Travel" Analysis in Custodial Parent Relocation Cases, [ ], Rosenthal v. Rosenthal, 745 N.E.2d at 361 (2010); Eric Engle, The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 29 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 793 (2011); Shima Baradaran and Stephanie Barclay, Fair Trade and Child Labor, 43 Colum. Human Rights L. Rev. 1 (2011).
A Christian Perspective on Gender Equality, 15 Duke J. Gender L. & Pol'y 339 (2008)(cited in Howard Friedman, Recent Articles and Books of Interest, Newstex (Feb. 9, 2009); David S. Caudill, Religious Legal Theory: The State of the Field on the Historical Invention of a Failed Project: A Critical Response to Skeel's Assessment of Christian Legal Scholarship, 40 Seton Hall L. Rev. 971 (2010); and Annotated Legal Bibliography on Gender, 15 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 721 (2009)).
On Mutual Consent to Divorce: A Debate with Two Sides to the Story, 8 Appalachian J. L. 35 (2008), cited in Nancy Levit, Prenuptial and Postnuptial and Property, 23 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial L. (2010); Govind Persad, What Marriage Law Can Learn from Citizenship Law (and Vice Versa), 22 Tul. J.L. & Sexuality 103 (2013).
On Mutual Consent to Divorce: A Debate with Two Sides to the Story, Virginia State Bar Family Law News (December 2008)(cited in Annotated Legal Bibliography on Gender, 16 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 145 (2009); Rebecca Mae Salokar, Gay and Lesbian Parenting in Florida: Family Creation Around the Law, 4 F.I.U. L. Rev. 473 (2009).
Tracing the Foundations of the Best Interests of the Child Standard in American Jurisprudence, 10 J. L. Fam. Stud. 337(2008)(cited in Mary Ann Mason, The Roller Coaster of Child Custody Law over the Last Half Century (2013); I. Glenn Cohen, Regulating Reproduction: The Problem with Best Interests, 96 Minn. L. Rev. 423 (2011); Myrisha S. Lewis, Making Sex the Same: Ending the Unfair Treatment of Males in Family Law, 27 Wis. J.L. Gender & Soc'y 257,(2012); Mary Zenorini Silverzweig, Stepping Through the Quagmire: "You're Not My Dad!" 11 J. L. Fam. Stud. 497 (2009); and Kathryn J. Harvey, The Rights of Divorced Lesbians: Interstate Recognition of Child Custody Judgments in the Context of Same-Sex Divorce, 20 Cap. U. L. Rev. 363, 371-72 (2002); Ruth Zafran, Children's Rights as Relational Rights: The Case of Relocation, 18 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 163 (2010); David V. Chipman and Mindy M. Rush, The Necessity of "Right to Travel" Analysis in Custodial Parent Relocation Cases, [ ], Rosenthal v. Rosenthal, 745 N.E.2d at 361 (2010); Abbott v. Abbott, 2009 WL 4099525 (Appellate Brief) (U.S., November 24, 2009), Brief of the University of Cincinnati College of Law Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic as Amicus Curiae Supporting Respondent, (No. 08-645.); Lauren Barth, Consultant Conduct in Anticipation of a Child Custody Evaluation: Ethical and Social Dilemmas and the Need for Neutral Parent Education, 42 Fam. L.Q. 309, 326 (2008); Sacha M. Coupet, "Ain't I a Parent?": The Exclusion of Kinship Caregivers from the Debate Over Expansions of Parenthood, 34 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 595 (2010); Shawn P. Ayotte, Protecting Servicemembers from Unfair Custody Decisions, 45 New Eng. L. Rev. 655 (2011); Charles R. Stoner, Sandra J. Perry, and Tanya M. Marcum, The Court, the Parent, and the Child: Mediator Perceptions of the Purpose and Impact of Mandated Mediation in Child Custody Cases, 13 J. L. Fam. Stud. 151 (2011); Richard Carlson, Seeking the Better Interests of Children with a New International Law of Adoption, 55 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 733 (2011); Erin Y. Hisano, Gestational Surrogacy Maternity Disputes: Refocusing on the Child, 15 Lewis & Clark L. Rev., 517 (2011); Nadia Stewart, Adoption of Same-sex Couples and the Use of the Representation Reinforcement Theory to Protect the Rights of Children, 17 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 347 (2011); Dana E. Prescott, The AAML and a New Paradigm for "Thinking About" Child Custody Litigation: The Next Half Century, 24 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law. 107 (2011); Todd Heine, Home State, Cross-Border Custody, and Habitual Residence Jurisdiction: Time for a Temporal Standard in International Family Law, 17 Ann. Surv. Int'l & Comp. L. 9 (2011), Dana E. Prescott, Judicial Decision Making, Personality Theory, and Child Custody Conflict: Can Heuristics Better Predict a Difference Between Parents Who Do and Those Who Dn't? 11 Whittier J. Child & Fam. Advoc. 185 (2013), etc.
From Eisenstadt to Plan B, 33 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 787 (2007)(cited in Jennifer E. Spreng, Pharmacists and the "Duty" To Dispense Emergency Contraceptives, 23 Issues L. & Med. 215 (2008); James T. O'Reilly, Losing Deference in the FDA's Second Century: Judicial Review, Politics, and a Diminished Legacy, 93 Cornell L. Rev. 939 (2008); 23 Issues L. & Med. 301 (2008); 83 N. Dak. L. Rev. 1365 (2008); 9 U. Pa. J. Lab. & Emp. L. 235 (2007); Bibliography, 14 Cardozo J. L. & Gender 819 (2008); Jennifer E. Spreng, New Perspectives on Familiar Issue: Conscientious Objectors Behind the Counter: Statutory Defenses to Tort Liability for Failure to Dispense Contraceptives; Maya M. Noronha, Current Developments 2009-2010: Removing Conscience from Medicine: Turning the Hippocratic Oath into a Hypocrite's Pledge, 23 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 733 (2010); Diana Snydert, 6 Hous. J. Health L. & Pol'y 299 (2005); Tasha M. Laspina, Eliminating the Need for "Plan B" When Trying to Obtain Plan B, 12 Geo. J. Gender & L. 213 (2011).).
"To Grandmother's House We Go!" Securing the Legal Interests of Grandparents, Newsletter of the General Practice Section of the Virginia State Bar, Winter 2008 (co-authored with Melinda Inman Butler and Darrell M. Harding).
Virginia: Judicially Honoring the Rule of Law, State Supreme Court Project, Americans United for Life, Chicago, IL (2008).
International Examination of Same Sex Parent Adoption, (co-authored with Megan Lindsey and William Catoe), 5 Regent U. J. Int'l L. 237 (2007)(presented at the International Family Law Society European Regional Conference, Chester, England, July 2007); cited in A Selective Bibliographic Index of Juvenile Law Publications, 30 U. La Verne L. Rev. 216 (2008).
Nancy Levitt, Pitfalls and Promises: Cohabitation, Marriage and Domestic Partnerships: Bibliography: Cohabitation, Domestic Partnerships, and Nontraditional Families Annotated Bibliography, 22 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law (2009)( noting the exploitation of women and children by same-sex parent adoption) Mary Kay Kisthardt, Children's Interests: An Annotated Bibliography, 22 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial L. 517 (2009).
Nadia Stewart, Adoption of Same-sex Couples and the Use of the Representation Reinforcement Theory to Protect the Rights of Children, 17 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 347 (2011).).
Family Law and Juvenile Law Annual Survey, 42 U. Rich. L. Rev. 417 (2007).
What's My Place in this World? 35 Cap. U. L. Rev 563 (2007)(cited in Jennifer Baker, A War of Words: How Fundamentalist Rhetoric Threatens Reproductive Autonomy, 43 U.S.F.L. Rev. 671 (2009); Mary Kay Kisthardt, Children's Interests: An Annotated Bibliography, 22 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial L. 517 (2009); Naomi Cahn, No Secrets: Openness and Donor-Conceived "Half-Siblings," 39 Cap. U.L. Rev. 313 (2010); Naomi Cahn, Old Lessons for a New World: Applying Adoption Research and Experience to ART, 24 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law 1 (2011).).
Women as Perpetrators: Does Motherhood have a Reformative Effect on Prostitution? 33 Fordham U. L. J. 407 (2006)(cited in Angela A. Jones, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Victime of Human Sex Trafficking: A Perpetuation of Chronic Indignity, Global and Local Perspectives, 4 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 317 (2009).
Understanding and Encouraging Realistic Reconciliation in an Age of Divorce, 32 VBA J. 8 (June/July 2006).
Mary Kay Kisthardt, Children's Interests: An Annotated Bibliography, 22 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial L. 517 (2009); Michael England, 9 Whittier J. Child & Fam. Advoc. 279 (Spring 2010); Lewis v. Harris, 2004 WL 5234685 (Appellate Brief) (N.J.Super.A.D., September 22, 2004), Brief and Appendix of Amici Curiae Monmouth Rubber & Plastics, Corp., and John M. Bonforte Sr. in Support of Defendants-Respondents, (No. A-2244-03T5.)). Family Law and Juvenile Law Annual Survey, 42 U. Rich. L. Rev. 417 (2007).
Even in Virginia? Same-sex cohabitation as termination for spousal support, 36 VBA J. 8 (June/July 2007).
Women as Perpetrators: Does Motherhood have a Reformative Effect on Prostitution? 33 Fordham U. L. J. 407 (2006)(cited in Angela A. Jones, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Victime of Human Sex
Trafficking: A Perpetuation of Chronic Indignity, Global and Local Perspectives, 4 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 317 (2009).
Cohabitation and the Renaissance of Marriage (coauthored with Karen M. Groen), 17 Regent U. L. Rev. 261 (2005); cited in Lynn D. Wardle, What is Marriage? 6 Whittier J. Child & Fam. Advoc. 53 (2006); Nancy Levitt, Pitfalls and Promises: Cohabitation, Marriage and Domestic Partnerships: Bibliography: Cohabitation, Domestic Partnerships, and Nontraditional Families Annotated Bibliography, 22 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law (2009)( noting the exploitation of women and children); Thomas Jacobs, 2 Children and the Law: Rights and Obligations §6:2; Elizabeth Hodges, Private Ordering: Will you "Contractually" Marry Me? 23 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial L. 385 (2010)).
The State of Marriage in America – and in Virginia, 53 Virginia Lawyer 23 (Feb. 2005).
Does Marriage Make Good Business? Examining the Notion of Employer Endorsement of Marriage, 25Whittier L. Rev. 563 (2004); cited in 6 U. Pa. J. Lab. & Emp. Law 865 (Spring 2004); Selected Current Bibliography on Labor & Employment Law, 98 Nw. U. L. Rev. 579 (2004); Daniel W. Olivas, Tennessee Considers Adopting the Louisiana Covenant Marriage Act: A Law Waiting to be Ignored, 71 Tenn. L. Rev. 769 (2004); Karen Turnage Boyd, The Tale of Two Systems: How Integrated Divorce Laws Can Remedy the Unintended Effects of Pure No-Fault Divorce, 12 Cardoza J. L. & Gender 609 (2006).
Moral Realism and the Adoption of Children by Homosexuals, 38 New Eng. L. Rev. 643 (2004) (cited in Dara E. Purvis, Intended Parents and the Problem of Perspective, 24 Yale J.L. & Feminism 210 (2012;In re Matter of Adoption of X.X.G. and N.R.G., 45 So. 3d 79 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2010); Mark Strasser, Adoption and the Best Interests of the Child: On the Use and Abuse of Studies, 38 New Eng. L. Rev. 629 (2004); Heather Farm Latham, Desperately Clinging to the Cleavers: What Family Law Courts are Doing about Homosexual Parents, and What Some are Refusing to See, 29 Law & Psychol. Rev. 223 (Spring 2005); Leah C. Battaglioli, Modified Best Interest Standard: How States Against Same-Sex Unions Should Adjudicate Child Custody and Visitation Disputes Between Same-Sex Couples, 54 Cath. U.L. Rev. 1235 (2005); Christopher Colorado, Tying the Braid of Second-Parent Adoptions – Where Due Process Meets Equal Protection, 74 Fordham L. Rev. 1425 (2005); Kris Franklin, Court Handling of Gay Rights Litigation: The "Authoritative Moment": Exploring the Boundaries of Interpretation on the Recognition of Queer Families, 32 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 655 (2006); Richard F. Storrow, Rescuing Children from the Marriage Movement: The Case Against Marital Status Discrimination in Adoption and Assisted Reproduction, 39 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 305 (2006); Protecting Children: An Annotated Bibliography, 19 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial Law. 401 (2005); Camille S. Williams, Family Norms in Adoption Law: Safeguarding the Best Interests of the Adopted Child, 18 St. Thomas L. Rev. 681 (2005); 2006, Lynn D. Wardle, Global Perspective on Procreation and Parentage by Assisted Reproduction, 35 Cap. U. L. Rev. 413 (2007); Kathy T. Graham, Same-sex Couples: Their Rights as Parents, and Their Children's Rights as Children, 48 Santa Clara L. Rev. 999 (2008); Mary Kay Kisthardt, Children's Interests: An Annotated Bibliography, 22 J. Am. Acad. Matrimonial L. 517 (2009); Michael England, 9 Whittier J. Child & Fam. Advoc. 279 (Spring 2010); Lewis v. Harris, 2004 WL 5234685 (Appellate Brief) (N.J.Super.A.D., September 22, 2004), Brief and Appendix of Amici Curiae Monmouth Rubber & Plastics, Corp., and John M. Bonforte Sr. in Support of Defendants-Respondents, (No. A-2244-03T5.)).
Affiliations
Member, Partner Compensation Committee, Chrisman, Bynam & Johnson.
President, (elected, three term) Faculty Senate, participating in University strategic planning, budget- ing, tenure policy review, workload policy review, and self governance policy review, and attending regular Academic Council and President’s Cabinet meetings.
Co-Director/Law School Liaison, Oxford Study Abroad program.
Other Memberships:
American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA); International Trademark Association (INTA); American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property (ABA–IP); Virginia State Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property (VSB–IP).
(These are representative memberships; some are lapsed, and others have lapsed from time to time).
MEMBERSHIPS
Institutional Review Board
Awards
Regent University Chancellor’s Award, Professor of the Year 2005 Regent University Faculty Recognition Award Spring 2004.
Regent University 2L Class Professor of the Year 2003.
Regent University 3L Class Professor of the Year 2002.
Regent University Class of 1996 Outstanding Professor Award.
Regent University Student Bar Association awards 1997, 1998, 1999.