Beth S. Posner is a Clinical Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, and her area of practice and teaching has focused primarily on domestic violence and sexual assault and related family law and Title IX issues.
Professor Posner earned her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College with honors, an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and her JD with honors from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Following graduation from law school, Professor Posner coordinated and oversaw statewide domestic violence initiatives for what was then Legal Services of North Carolina and then spent three years practicing indigent criminal defense with the North Carolina Office of the Appellate Defender. From 2003-2013 she held joint positions as an attorney and then managing attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina and as an adjunct professor at UNC School of Law. She left Legal Aid in 2013 when she was appointed to the faculty at UNC. At Carolina, Professor Posner has taught in the Immigration and Civil Clinics and founded and teaches in the Domestic and Sexual Violence Clinic in which students represent plaintiffs in state court in domestic violence protection order hearings and other related matters as well as complainants in Title IX and campus sexual misconduct matters. Professor Posner also developed and teaches a seminar on trauma-informed lawyering.
Professor Posner is an advisor for several student groups and pro bono projects involving domestic violence, sexual assault, family law, and reproductive justice. In 2014 and in 2023, she was awarded UNC School of Law’s Faculty of the Year Pro Bono Publico Award, and in 2021 she was the recipient of the Law School’s Robert G. Byrd Award for Excellence and Creativity in Teaching. She was a 2022 recipient of the University of North Carolina’s Award for Distinguished Post-Baccalaureate Teaching. She is currently leading the University of North Carolina’s effort to expand the Carolina Women’s Center.
In addition to her teaching and service at Carolina, Professor Posner teaches nationally as a faculty member for the ABA Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. In North Carolina, she regularly provides substantive technical assistance to domestic violence and family law attorneys and coordinates and participates in trainings for lawyers, advocates, students, and social services providers on issues related to domestic violence and sexual assault. Professor Posner was a 2016 recipient of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys Gwynneth B. Davis Award for her activities promoting the participation of women attorneys in the legal profession and the rights of women under the law.