Biography
Professor Boyer is a nationally-recognized expert in child welfare law who has litigated, taught, consulted and written extensively in the area of child abuse and neglect. He has represented clients in a wide range of proceedings including child welfare, adoption, juvenile delinquency, special education, and disability hearings, with his focus being primarily on issues of child maltreatment. He has designed and co-directed an intensive trial skills course for child advocates, and his publications include a book of training materials for child advocates, as well as numerous scholarly and practice-oriented articles. He has served as Chair of the American Bar Association's Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children and as a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, and he has been elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in recognition of his "outstanding dedication to the welfare of the community and the highest principles of the legal profession." He currently sits on the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute's Board of Directors. Before joining Loyola in 2001, Professor Boyer taught for 12 years at the Northwestern University Law School, where he helped in 1991 to establish Northwestern's nationally-renowned Children and Family Justice Center, a multidisciplinary project focused on Juvenile Court reform. He was an associate at the law firm of Jenner & Block before joining the Northwestern Law School faculty in 1989.

Education
B.A., Dartmouth, 1982
J.D., Northwestern, 1986

Loyola University Chicago
School of Law
16 E. Pearson Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 915-7927
Fax: (312) 915-7201
Email: bboyer@luc.edu

Fall 2008 Teaching Schedule

Courses Taught

Child and Family Law Clinic
ChildLaw Trial Practice

Publications

Articles

Neglected, Abused and Dependent Children - Dispositions and Permanency, (co-authored with Anita Weinberg) in Illinois Juvenile Law and Practice (IICLE 2007)

Justice, Access to the Courts, and the Right to Counsel for Indigent Parents: The Continuing Scourge of Lassiter v. Department of Social Services, 36 Loy.U.Chi. L.J. 363 (2005), reprinted in 15 Temple Pol. & Civ. Rights L. Rev. 635 (2006), and Spreading Justice, Journal of the ABA Litigation Section (Spring 2007) [article]

The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara: Contemporary Lessons in the Child Welfare Wars, 45 Villanova L.Rev. 245 (2000)

Ethical Issues in the Representation of Parents in Child Welfare Cases, 64 Fordham L. Rev. 1621 (March 1996)

Jurisdictional Conflicts Between Juvenile Courts and Child Welfare Agencies: The Uneasy Relationship between Institutional Co-Parents, 54 Maryland L. Rev. 377 (1995)

Parental Rights v. Best Interests of the Child: A False Dichotomy in the Context of Adoption, 2 Duke J. Gender L. & Pol. 63 (1995) (with A.Appell)

Problems in Training the Child Advocate, National Institute for Trial Advocacy (1995) (with T. Geraghty)

Professional Service

Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Member, Board of Directors (2006-present)

Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism (2005-2006)

Consultant, Nebraska Supreme Court Commission on Children and the Courts (2005)

American Bar Association, Steering Committee on Unmet Legal Needs of Children, Chair (2001- 2004) and Member (2000-01)

ABA Advisor to National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, Drafting Committee on Standards for the Protection of Children from International Abduction (2004-2007)

Reporter, Illinois Supreme Court Special Committee on Professionalism (2002-2005)

Advisory Committee, ABA Center on Children and the Law (2001- present)

Advisory Board, ABA Child Custody Pro Bono Project (2001- present)

Recent Presentations

Speaker, Cook County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program, Chicago, IL (April 2008)

Facilitator, Workshop on Information Sharing in Adoption, Conference on Adoption Ethics and Accountability, Washington D.C. (October 2007)

Panelist, Symposium Program on Youth Gangs, Globalization, and Tights, Northwestern University School of Law (November 2005)

Speaker, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Domestic Relations Division, on Issues in Representation of Children in Custody Disputes (October 2005)

Speaker, ABA Biannual Conference on Children and the Law, on Teen Dating Violence Prevention, Washington D.C. (June 2004)

Trainer, Illinois Judicial Conference, on Special Evidentiary Issues in Child Protection Hearings, Bloomington, Illinois (June 2004)

Panelist, program on the 2002 Uniform Parentage Act, Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association, San Francisco, California (August 2003)

Speaker, Family Mediation Services Clinic, Circuit Court of Cook County, on International Child Abduction Cases, Chicago, Illinois (June 2003)

Speaker, Juvenile Court of Cook County, on Evidentiary Issues in Child Protection Proceedings, Chicago, Illinois (September 2002)

Plenary Speaker, Ohio Judicial College, on Relationship between Juvenile Courts and Executive Agencies, Cleveland, Ohio (June 2002)

Speaker, ABA Biannual Conference on Children and the Law, on Foster Care and Federal Disability Benefits, Washington D.C. (June 2002)

Plenary Speaker, Beyond the Bench XII, Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts Annual Conference (December 2000)

Law Faculty
Law Administration & Staff