Dean Bryan joined Whittier Law School in 2009 as Dean and Professor of Law. She is a national expert in family law, dispute resolution, and the complex field of child custody. She brings broad and successful administrative experience in heading multiple legal academic programs, including the Lawyering in Spanish, Environmental and Natural Resources LL.M., and Masters of Science in Legal Administration programs.

Dean Bryan has led outreach initiatives to Latin America and guided the development of exciting international opportunities for law students.

Earning her undergraduate degree at Rollins College, Dean Bryan holds a master’s degree in sociology as well as her J.D. from the University of Florida. She was a Visiting Professor at the University of Miami School of Law, a Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University, a Teacher of Legal Writing and Appellate Advocacy at the University of Illinois College of Law and has taught for twenty years at the University of Denver where she rose to the rank of Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.

Publications

• Parental Alienation in Child Custody Disputes [work in progress]
• Constructive Divorce: Procedural Justice and Sociolegal Reform (2006)
• Vacant Promises? The ALI Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution and the Post-Divorce Financial Circumstances of Women, 8 DUKE J. GENDER L. & POL’Y 101 (2001).
• Reasking the Woman Question at Divorce, 75 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 713 (2000).
• Collaborative Divorce: Meaningful Reform or Another “Quick Fix?”, 5 PSYCH., PUB. POL’Y & L. 1001 (1999).
• Women’s Freedom to Contract at Divorce: A Mask for Contextual Coercion, 47 BUFF. L. REV. 1153 (1999).
• The Coercion of Women in Divorce Settlement Negotiations, 74 DENVER U. L. REV. 931 (1997).
• Reclaiming Professionalism: The Lawyer’s Role in Divorce Mediation, 28 FAM. L.Q. 177 (1994).
• Toward Deconstructing the Deconstruction of Law and Lawyers, 71 DENV. U.L. REV. 161 (1993).
• Killing Us Softly: Divorce Mediation and the Politics of Power, 40 BUFF. L. REV. 441 (1992).
• Holding Women’s Psyches Hostage: An Interpretive Analogy on the Thomas/Hill Hearings, 69 DENV. U.L. REV. 171 (1992).

Presentations

• Divorce Procedures, University of Wisconsin School of Law, Fall 2007.
• Parental Alienation, University of Wisconsin School of Law, Fall 2007.
• Colorado Family Law Update, Judges Training Sponsored by the Colorado Judicial Department, Fall 2007.
• Closing Panel on Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Conference, University of Denver College of Law, Spring 2007.
• Constructive Divorce: Procedural Justice and Sociolegal Reform, University of Miami School of Law, Fall 2006.
• Divorce Reconstructed, Provost’s Lecture at the University of Denver, Fall 2006.
• Children in Domestic Relations Law, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, October 2001.
• Mediation in Cases of Domestic Violence, Colorado Mediation Association, October, 1999.
• Representation of Battered Women in Custody Cases, A.W.A.R.E., October, 1998.
• Women’s Freedom to Contract at Divorce: A Mask for Contextual Coercion?, DePaul Law School, October, 1998.
• Mediation in Cases of Domestic Violence, Colorado Women’s Bar Association, March, 1998.
• Women’s Freedom to Contract at Divorce: A Mask for Contextual Coercion, Northwestern Law School, April, 1997.
• The Coercion of Women in Divorce Settlement Negotiations, Conference on Coercion and Exploitation, University of Denver, College of Law, March 1997.
• Reconstructing Justice in Divorce Through Procedural and Substantive Reform, Institute of Legal Studies, University of Wisconsin, College of Law, May 1995 & American Bar Foundation, April, 1995.

• Florida Bar Association, 1983 to present
• American Bar Association, 1984 to present
• Schwab Essay Contest Committee, Family Law Section, American Bar Association, 1994 to 1998
• Publication Development Board, ABA Family Law Section, 1995 to 1997