Johanna Bond

Johanna Bond is a committed educator and renowned scholar of international human rights law, with a focus on gender and intersectional human rights. She began serving as the Dean of Rutgers Law School in 2023, leading one of the largest public law schools in the Northeast. When Bond was hired, she became the first unitary dean overseeing both of the law school campuses in Newark and Camden. As the first unitary dean, Bond was charged with unifying the law school while recognizing its unique campus cultures and establishing its vision and strategy. 

Before joining Rutgers Law School, Bond held an endowed chair, the Sydney Lewis Chair in Law, at Washington and Lee University School of Law. Bond also served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Washington and Lee for four years. In 2021, Bond published Global Intersectionality and Contemporary Human Rights (Oxford University Press), a book that draws heavily on intersectionality theory to argue that the UN Human Rights treaty-based system should better accommodate and provide remedies for intersectional human rights violations, or violations that affect individuals or groups based on intersecting identity categories, such as race and gender. Bond has published widely in law journals, including the Southern California Law Review, Emory Law Review, Yale Journal of Law and Human Rights, Columbia Journal of Gender & Law, and many others. 

Bond began her teaching career at Georgetown Law, where she created and offered the first human rights fact-finding class, which brought students to other countries to collaborate with local human rights organizations to document serious gender-based human rights violations. A firm believer in experiential education, Bond continued to teach the human rights fact-finding class at every law school where she has taught since Georgetown. Also, consistent with her commitment to access for all students, Bond has raised funds to significantly offset travel costs. At Rutgers, Bond has worked with donors to provide the same opportunities for all students to participate in course-related travel in Cuba, Geneva, South Africa, and other countries, regardless of their ability to pay. 

That same commitment to access is what drew Dean Bond to Rutgers Law School. Since Bond arrived at the law school, Rutgers Law has continued to attract students who bring both academic excellence and diverse life experiences. Her commitment to student success has led to an almost 8-point increase in the bar passage rate in 2025 and to a significant institutional investment in student success on the bar exam and in employment post-graduation. Bond also implemented the law school’s first academic advising program, ensuring that all students, including the 91% of first-generation law students, receive the academic guidance they need to succeed in law school. 

Bond secured the largest gift in the law school’s history, a $7 million endowed gift to support students and decanal initiatives. She also secured a $6.5 million gift to open a new legal clinic named after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who began her own teaching career at Rutgers Law School in 1963. The newly re-established clinic takes on gender justice litigation, conducts policy work on gender justice issues, and trains students to be client-centered advocates for justice. 

Raising more than $20 million dollars in her first two years, Bond has successfully re-engaged Rutgers Law alumni, leading to a 65% increase in engagement in 2025 under Bond’s leadership. Bond also oversaw the creation and implementation of Rutgers Law Alumni Connect, an online platform that connects alumni with one another and includes searchable features by graduation date, legal expertise, geographic region, student organization affiliation, and more. Importantly, this platform allows Rutgers Law alumni to refer cases to one another and receive referrals, offering significant added value. To join RLaw Alumni Connect, please click here to register. 

In 2024, Bond led the law school in a strategic planning process that resulted in a clear mission, identified values that guide the law school’s work, and a roadmap to achieving that strategic mission. Click here to explore the Strategic Plan. Under Bond’s leadership, from 2023 to 2025, the law school has moved up in the US News Rankings from 109 to 100, with the legal writing program ranked 8^th and the clinical program ranked 11^th in the nation. The law school is expected to continue on this upward trajectory, with strategic investment in the programs that matter most to students: employment and bar passage. In addition to enhancing the law school’s overall ranking, Bond increased academic quality and student body diversity throughout her years as Dean.  

Bond hosts the Power of Attorney podcast, which won a Gold and a Silver Anthem Award in 2025. The award-winning episode featured Bond as a guest to discuss the emergency immigration program she created with the help of then-General Counsel John Farmer. Bond raised funds to create the Rapid Response Team, which provides 24/7 emergency access to an experienced immigration attorney for anyone in the Rutgers University community. The Rapid Response Team has assisted many in the Rutgers community with urgent immigration issues, including detention both on and off campus and student visa issues. 

Bond serves as a member of the Rutgers University Women’s Leadership Consortium and as a member of the Rutgers Democracy Lab Advisory Board. Bond is committed to expanding access to leadership in law school and is a frequent contributor to the Building Pathways to Law School Leadership Workshop. 

Originally from Ramsey, New Jersey, Bond feels comfortable in the Garden State. After falling in love with the Rocky Mountains, Bond attended Colorado College and became a lifelong proponent of the liberal arts. After college, Bond attended the University of Minnesota Law School and subsequently clerked for U.S. District Judge Ann D. Montgomery. Bond then landed a prestigious fellowship through the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown Law and later served as the program's Executive Director. She became a Teaching Fellow and later a Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law School.