Sarah Swan

Professor Sarah L. Swan is Professor of Law and Dean’s Civil Governance Scholar at Rutgers Law School (Newark). She writes and teaches in the areas of torts, state and local government law, criminal law, and family law. Her research often explores the growing significance of third-party responsibility as a mechanism of governance in these areas, and engages questions of social justice tort theory, local governance, intersections of public and private legal structures, and the relationship between responsibility and autonomy. Professor Swan's scholarship regularly appears in the nation's leading law reviews, including the Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, Duke Law Journal, and the UCLA Law Review. Her work has also been cited by multiple courts, including the New York Court of Appeals, the Delaware Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Professor Swan began her academic career at Columbia Law School, as an Associate-in-Law and Teaching Fellow (2015-2018), and then joined the faculty at Florida State University College of Law (2018-2022) prior to coming to Rutgers. She also initially practiced as a litigation associate for several years, specializing in the areas of insurance and commercial litigation.

Professor Swan served as Chair of the AALS Family and Juvenile Law Section (2023-2024) and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences.