Aníbal Rosario Lebrón
Professor of Law
Biography
Professor Aníbal Rosario Lebrón is a Puerto Rican attorney, linguist, poet, and photographer. Across his scholarship, teaching, and public engagement, Professor Rosario-Lebrón is interested in how institutions shape access, participation, and self-definition, as well as the conditions under which individuals and communities can exercise agency and challenge subordination.
He holds an LL.M. in Legal Theory from New York University and a J.D., a Post-Graduate Certificate in Linguistics, and a B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico. Before joining Rutgers, Professor Rosario-Lebrón taught at Howard University. He has held visiting appointments at Brooklyn Law School, Universidad Interamericana, University of Louisville, and Hofstra University, and served as adjunct professor at Universidad de Puerto Rico.
Professor Rosario-Lebrón’s scholarship explores the relationship between law, identity, status, belonging, and subordination. Drawing on constitutional theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, queer legal theory, and critical social theory, he examines questions of authority, legitimacy, agency, identity formation, and equality. His scholarship focuses on constitutional law, family law, evidence, children’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and critical pedagogy. He investigates how legal institutions shape the ways individuals understand themselves, the stories they are permitted to tell about themselves, the forms of recognition afforded to them, the relationships they develop with others and the state, and the conditions under which they may resist structures of power.
His scholarship has appeared in leading journals and edited volumes, including the University of Miami Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, Family Court Review, Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality, Washington University Jurisprudence Review, and volumes published by Cambridge University Press. In addition, he served for five years as co-editor of Thomson Reuters’ Gender and the Law. Professor Rosario Lebrón is also a contributing editor for Family Law JOTWELL.
A recognized leader in critical legal scholarship, Professor Rosario-Lebrón is a former member of the Board of Directors of LatCrit and former Co-Chair of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Section on Afro-Latinidad. He is an active participant in numerous scholarly and professional organizations, including LatCrit, the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), the Law and Society Association, and the Hispanic National Bar Association. He is a co-founder of the Capital Family Law Scholars Workshop and co-organizer of the Nonmarriage Roundtable, two important fora for the development of family law scholarship.
Drawing on his background in linguistics and access to justice, Professor Rosario-Lebrón has developed and taught courses and professional training programs in Legal Spanish and bilingual lawyering, and has worked with courts, government agencies, law firms, and public-interest organizations in the United States and abroad.
Throughout his career, Professor Rosario-Lebrón has combined scholarly inquiry with skills-based legal education. He has taught legal writing, advocacy, evidence, and lawyering courses; coached trial advocacy teams; and helped develop experiential learning opportunities for aspiring lawyers. He serves as Auxiliary Director of the Puerto Rico Invitational Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition and remains actively engaged in efforts to strengthen advocacy training and professional formation within legal education.
His approach to teaching emphasizes the relationship between legal theory, professional identity, and effective representation. He regularly presents continuing legal education programs and professional training for lawyers, judges, government agencies, and public-interest organizations in the United States and abroad.
Professor Rosario-Lebrón is also committed to expanding access to legal education and the profession. Throughout his career, he has designed and led pipeline initiatives, mentoring programs, and educational outreach projects intended to increase opportunities for students from historically underrepresented communities. In recognition of his contributions to teaching and inclusion, he is the recipient of Rutgers University's Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and the 2025 ALWD Diversity Award.
Publications
Articles
The Comorbidities of SSOGIE Equality: A Crisis Lens to Understanding Its Future, 52 N. Ky. L. Rev. 253 (2025).
Between the Pessimism of State Action and the Optimism of SSOGIE Equality, 53 SW. L. Rev. 303 (2025).
If These Blackboards Could Talk 2: The Feminist-Crit Classroom, 60 Fam. Ct. Rev. 793 (2022).
A Wee Bit Racist: What Are The Rules Of Evidence, Alex?, 1 LSU L. J. Soc. Just. & Pol’y 7 (2022).
The Ouroboros of Identity Politics, 30 Tul. J. L. & Sexuality, 131 (2021).
Evidence’s #MeToo Moment, 74 U. Miami L. Rev. 1 (2019).
If These Blackboards Could Talk: The Crit Classroom, A Battlefield, 9 Charleston L. Rev. 305 (2015).
For Better and for Better: The Case for Abolishing Civil Marriage, 5 Wash. U. Jur. Rev. 189 (2013).
La juridificación de la familia y su construcción como ente apolítico [The Juridification of the Family and its Construct as a Non-Political Entity], Revista Electrónica del Instituto de Investigaciones Ambrosio L. Gioja, Año V, Número Especial, 616 (2011).
De invisibilidad, torceduras y rectitud, todas las familias tenemos un poco [All families are a bit queer, invisible, and straight], Revista Cayey 89:71 (noviembre 2009).
La revolución dentro de la revolución: Una mirada a la situación de la mujer en la Cuba socialista [The Revolution within the Revolution: A Perspective on the Condition of Women in Socialist Cuba], 75 REV. JUR. UPR 731 (2006).
Pago por tercero en las pensiones alimentarias: Evaluación crítica de su posible adopción en el nuevo Código Civil de Puerto Rico [Child Support Payments by Third Parties: An Analysis of Its Possible Incorporation into the Civil Code of Puerto Rico], 73 REV. JUR. UPR 1025 (2004).
Reconstrucción social del convicto por delitos sexuales: Una propuesta terapéutica para establecer en Puerto Rico una Corte de Delitos Sexuales [The Social Reconstruction of Sexual Convicts: A Therapeutic Proposal for the Creation of a Sex Crimes Court in Puerto Rico]. La Catarsis de Quirón, Vol. 3, Núm. 1 (2004).
Book Chapters
Commentary to Marvin v. Marvin, 557 P.2d 106 (Cal. 1976) in Feminist Judgments: Family Law (Rachel Rebouche ed.) 117-25 (Cambridge University Press) (2020).
United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000) in Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court (Kathy Stanchi, Linda Berger & Bridget Crawford eds.) 452-67 (Cambridge University Press) (2016).
Response Articles
When Saying Gay Is No Longer Sufficient: Response to Marie-Amélie George’s Expanding LGBT, 73 Fla. L. Rev. F. 21 (2023).
Reviews
Blurring the Boundaries of the Public/Private Home in the Era of the Weaponization of Parental RightsJOTWELL (Sept 17, 2025) (reviewingClare Ryan, The Public/Private Home,110 Cornell L. Rev. ____ (forthcoming 2025), available at SSRN (August 10, 2024).
Privileging Resistance, JOTWELL (November 20, 2024)(reviewing Nila Bala, Parent-Child Privilege as Resistance, ___ B.C. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming), available at SSRN (February 2, 2024)).
Desire in the Absence of Discrimination, Balkinization (July 2024), https://balkin.blogspot.com/2024/07/desire-in-absence-of-discrimination.htmlLaw’s Power in Naming & Silencing, JOTWELL (November 8, 2023) (reviewing Lisa Washington, Survived & Coerced: Epistemic Injustice in the Family Regulation System, 124 Colum. L. Rev. 1097 (2022)).
On Pointe: The Right of Children to Explore their Gender Identity, JOTWELL (September 13, 2021) (reviewing Marie-Amelie George, Exploring Identity, 54 Fam. L. Q. __ (Forthcoming, 2021)).
Rounding the Square Peg: Matsumura’s Redefining of Status Regulatory Schemes, JOTWELL (November 3, 2020) (reviewing Kaiponanea T. Matsumura, Breaking Down Status, 89 Wash. U. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming Jan. 2021)).
Book Review: Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language (Leap, W. L., & Boellstorff, T. Eds.), 18 Revista de Ciencias Sociales 175 (Summer 2008).
De derechos y reveses, Reseña: Ni una vida más para la toga [Book Review: Not A Life More for the Robe] (Daniel Nina Ed.), El Nuevo Día, 26 de noviembre de 2006.
Books (Editor)
Gender the Law (Thomson Reuters 2024-2025 ed.) (Jamie Abrams & Aníbal Rosario Lebrón, eds.) (2025).
Gender the Law (Thomson Reuters 2024 ed.) (Jamie Abrams, Daniela Kraiem, Aníbal Rosario Lebrón, eds.) (2024).
Gender the Law (Thomson Reuters 2023 ed.) (Jamie Abrams, Daniela Kraiem, Aníbal Rosario Lebrón, eds.) (2023).
Women and the Law (Thomson Reuters 2022 ed.) (Jamie Abrams, Daniela Kraiem, Aníbal Rosario Lebrón, eds.) (2022).
Selected Blog-Newspaper Articles
Democracy joined the group, 80 Grados (2 de agosto de 2019).
A Winning Tradition: The PR Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition, From the Bar (2012-2013 Winter/Spring).
Atando los cabos sueltos del machismo en el sistema judicial de P.R. [Tying Up the Loose Ends of Machismo in P.R.’s Judicial System], DerechoalDerecho (2011).
Selected Conferences, Media Appearances, & Workshops
Faith, Speech, and LGBTQIA+ Rights: The First Amendment at a Crossroads, Fordam’s OUTLaws Symposium (March 2026, New York)
Rights at a Crossroads: Gender, Sexuality, and Autonomy in a Shifting Legal Landscape, 30th Anniversary of the Marsha Wenk Fellowship & Legacy - Rutgers Women’s Rights Law Reporter Symposium (March 2026, Newark)
Children and the Law, Sponsored by Family and Juvenile Law and Law, Medicine and Health Care: Children in the (Re)Making of America, 2026 AALS Annual Meeting(January 2026, New Orleans)
Pedagogía Fem-Crit en el Interregno: Resistencia en la Lucha por la Igualdad de Género y la Diversidad Sexual, IV Congreso Red ALAS (Noviembre 2025, Ciudad de México)
Fem-Crit Pedagogy as Resistance in the SSOGIE Equality Interregnum (Plenary), LatCrit 2025 Biennial Conference - 30th Anniversary Conference (October 2025, Denver)
The Future of Equal Protection Jurisprudence after U.S. v. Skrmetti, Rutgers Outlaws & ACS (Sep. 2025, Newark)
Herramientas en el Derecho Evidenciario para la Adjudicación Efectiva en Casos de Agresión Sexual, Congreso Judicial Justicia con Perspectiva de Género (June 2021)
Teoría Crítica de la Raza: Una propuesta que causa polémica en Georgia, Univision (May 2021)
The Rules that Bond White Supremacy, Fighting White Supremacy in the 21st Century, Inaugural LSU Law Journal for Social Justice & Policy Symposium (March 2021).
"Fui a buscar apoyo y encontré más violencia", Probono Justicia En Salud Derecho (December 2020)
Strategies for Efficient, Sustainable, & Transformative Online Teaching [Teaching Plenary] 2020 Family Law Scholars & Teachers Conference (June 2020) [Co-Presenter with Prof. Jamie Abrams].
Aníbal Rosario-Lebrón on Truth and the Federal Rules of Evidence, Ipse Dixit (February 2020).
Verano del ‘19: Fleeting or Enduring Co(Ally)tions?, From Hurricane Maria to the Political Summer Storm of 2019 (September 2019, Pittsburg, PA)
From Interview to Judicial Opinion: Using Civil Right Litigation to Train Practice Ready Attorneys, 2019 Biennial Empire State Legal Writing Conference (May 2019, New York).
Bridging the Access to Justice Gap through Bilingual Education, 4th National People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, American University (March 2019, Washington).
Is Law an Effective Tool against Gender Bias? From the Classroom to the Boardroom: A Discussion about Gender Bias Workshop [Roundtable] (April 2015, Louisville).
Spanish for Lawyers Workshop, 3rd Annual MetroLALSA Conference Pa’lante: Raising the Bar (April 2013, New Jersey); 4th Annual MetroLALSA Conference Pa’lante: Arriba Juntos (April 2014, New York).
Effective Lawyering Workshop – A week-long workshop for the attorneys of the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Equatorial Guinea and Centurion Law Firm (main counsel to the Energy industry in the Gulf of Guinea) (June 2014, May 2013 - Malabo, Equatorial Guinea).
Marriage: For Gays, For Straights, or For No One?, Day of Dialogue at Hofstra University (October 2012, New York).
18 IUS SOLI-Il diritto di essere Italiani [18 Jus Soli-The Right of Being Italian], A Round Table on the film by Fred Kudjo Kuwornu, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò New York University (May 2012, New York)