Nina Varsava
Assistant Professor of Law
Education
J.D., Yale Law School
Ph.D, Stanford University
M.A., University of British Columbia
B.A., University of Alberta
Biography
Nina Varsava’s research focuses on procedure, courts, judicial administration, ethics, and jurisprudence. She is especially interested in issues of precedent, interpretation, and intersystemic adjudication. She teaches courses on civil procedure, professional responsibility, and jurisprudence.
Varsava’s recent scholarship is forthcoming or has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the Yale Journal of Law and Humanities, and the NYU Law Review Online, among others. Her scholarship has been covered by media outlets such as the The New York Times and the American Bar Association Journal, and has been cited by both federal and state courts.
Following law school, Varsava served as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Supreme Court of Colorado.
Scholarship & Publications
SSRN
Law Repository
Research Interests
- Legal Theory
- Procedural Justice
- Law and Language
- Judges and Courts
- Legal Ethics
- Bioethics and Health Law
Activities
Nina Varsava presented "Precedent, Reliance Interests and the Dobbs Decision" during the Washington State University Bioethics Grand Rounds on Feb. 8, 2023.
Nina Varsava presented "Judicial Visitors" during the AALS Annual Meeting, Section on the Empirical Study of Legal Education and the Legal Profession, Jan. 6, 2023.
Nina Varsava presented "Publication Disparities at the U.S. Federal Courts of Appeals" during the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods seminar series on Dec. 5, 2022.
Nina Varsava presented "Publication Disparities at the Federal Courts of Appeals" during the 12th Annual Junior Faculty Federal Courts Workshop hosted by the University of Florida Levin College of Law on Dec. 2, 2022.
Nina Varsava presented "Stare Decisis After Dobbs" during the 2022 Wisconsin Law Review Symposium–Controlling the Supreme Court: Now and "Far into the Future"–on Oct. 29, 2022.
Nina Varsava presented "The Gender and Racial Composition of Federal Appellate Panels" during the Midwest Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting held at the University of Chicago Law School on Oct. 15, 2022.
Nina Varsava gave an invited talk on the Dobbs decision, stare decisis and reliance interests at the American Association of Legal and Social Philosophy Biannual Meeting on Oct. 8, 2022.
Nina Varsava presented "Derivative Recognition and Intersystemic Interpretation" at the University of Surrey Centre for Law and Philosophy on Sept. 21, 2022. The paper is about statutory interpretation in the intersystemic context, focusing on U.S. federal courts interpreting state statutes.
Nina Varsava presented "The Gender and Racial Composition of Federal Appellate Panels" during the American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting on Aug. 4, 2022.
Nina Varsava presented "The Gender and Racial Composition of Federal Appellate Panels" during an online workshop on the computational analysis of law on Sept. 6, 2022.
Nina Varsava presented "Derivative Recognition and Intersystemic Interpretation" during the Association of American Law Schools Jurisprudence Section Workshop on Aug. 12, 2022.
Nina Varsava presented "Derivative Recognition and Intersystemic Interpretation" during the UK-IVR Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy Annual Conference on June 10, 2022.
Nina Varsava posted a new article, "Reliance," to SSRN. The article explores the Supreme Court's stare decisis jurisprudence in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, and in particular its approach to the issue of reliance on precedent. Read the article.
Are doctrines of precedent intersystemically binding? Nina Varsava explores this topic in the federal-state context, explaining how the answer depends on our theory of law, in an article in the Notre Dame Law Review, now available on SSRN. Read the article.
Nina Varsava published a draft of "The Gravitational Force of Future Decisions" to SSRN. Read the abstract and download the paper.
News & Media
Friday, Feb 17, 2023Nina Varsava Awarded AALS Jurisprudence Future Promise Award
Friday, Feb 10, 2023Nina Varsava Discusses the Value of Reliance in the Law
The Jurisprudes PodcastFriday, Jul 8, 2022Nina Varsava Discusses Dobbs Decision, Supreme Court's Stare Decisis Jurisprudence
New Hampshire Public RadioFriday, Jun 17, 2022Nina Varsava Discusses Approach to Stare Decisis in the Leaked Dobbs Draft Opinion
Civics 101 PodcastTuesday, Jun 7, 2022Nina Varsava Discusses Supreme Court, Horizontal Stare Decisis in Dobbs Leak
Civics 101 PodcastTuesday, Feb 1, 2022Nina Varsava comments on Ninth Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke’s writings
Bloomberg LawThursday, Aug 12, 2021Nina Varsava discusses fractured Supreme Court opinions in light of Marks v. United States
'Dissenting Opinions'Friday, Jul 23, 2021Forthcoming article by Nina Varsava reviewed
JotwellThursday, Jul 1, 2021Nina Varsava discusses professional irresponsibility and judicial opinions
Emphasis AddedFriday, Jul 17, 2020Nina Varsava discusses her essay "Precedent on Precedent" and the Supreme Court ruling in Ramos v. Louisiana
Ipse DixitTuesday, Nov 26, 2019New faculty focus: Nina Varsava
Monday, Nov 18, 2019UW Law graduates, faculty receive Order of the Coif honors
Wednesday, Aug 14, 2019Professor Nina Varsava joins UW Law School faculty
Teaching Areas
- Civil Procedure
- Conflict of Laws
- Ethics & Professional Responsibilities
- Federal Jurisdiction
- Jurisprudence
Recently Taught Courses
