Professor Hawkins teaches courses in Constitutional Law, Employment Law and an original seminar on Diversity and the Law. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of law and diversity and has been published in the Fordham Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, UCLA Law Review Discourse and the Columbia Journal of Race and Law, among others. She is a recognized expert on employment law and diversity and has been interviewed or quoted in various news outlets, including TIME, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, the Courier Post, Law 360 and Philadelphia Magazine.
She is an experienced employment lawyer and diversity professional. Prior to law teaching, Professor Hawkins spent more than a decade in private practice advising clients in both the public and private sector on the development and implementation of legally defensible diversity policies and programs. She served as Special Diversity Counsel to Holland & Knight, LLP and was the first Diversity Director for Ballard Spahr, LLP. As a management side employment lawyer, Professor Hawkins has counseled and defended employers in a wide range of legal matters, including labor relations, employment discrimination, wage and hour compliance, and affirmative action planning. She has held or holds a number of professional and civic appointments, including as an Advisory Board Member of the Public Interest Law Center, as an inaugural member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Diversity Team, and as a member of the Board of the Philadelphia Diversity Law Group. Professor Hawkins earned her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center where she was the national champion of the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition.