Before coming to Miami Law and publishing in the Race & Social Justice Law Review, Emily Kaufman grew up thinking about science–wormholes, astrophysics, chemical equations–at the math and science high school she attended in suburban Delaware, thinking she would become a chemist or astrophysicist. Later, she toyed with attending business school like her Wall Street cousins but may have been unduly influenced by the ABC legal drama "How to Get Away with Murder," which debuted in 2014.
As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, she stumbled upon a gender and the law class and found her calling.
"The TV show made me take the class," the 27-year-old said. "And then taking the class made me realize, 'oh, this is what I want to do.' I decided to get my act together and get really good grades so I could go to law school."
In between Ann Arbor and South Florida, Kaufman dove into politics as a campaign organizer for Beto O'Rourke and Senator Elizabeth Warren, working in Texas, and as a congressional intern in Washington, D.C.
She admits that one of the draws to Miami Law was the weather and that her Grandma Barbara lives in Boca Raton. Kaufman has yet to make it to the beach as often as she hoped but has gotten to spend time with Barbara and all her girlfriends. "I even won $20 at bingo," she said.
At Miami Law, Kaufman leaned into getting the most out of an experiential education: she was a judicial intern with Judge Eduardo Robreno in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a research assistant for Professor Sergio Campos on multi-district litigation, and interned at the U.S. Department of Labor doing legal research and writing on Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations, issues concerning wage theft, and child labor violations. She also joined the University of Miami American Constitution Society, rising to executive director, was the OUTLaw Social Chair her 2L year, and is currently senior articles editor at the University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review.
It was at the law review that Kaufman unbottled a subject close to her heart. Many of the laws being passed at the state and national level target the transgender community, of which she is a proud member and fierce advocate.
"Transitioning helped me to see the world for what it is in a lot of ways," she said, "and law school has helped me to explain it in a way that hopefully people will understand."
In her piece, On Liberty: From Due Process to Equal Protection—Dobbs' Impact on the Transgender Community for Miami Law's Race & Social Justice Law Review, Kaufman explores the concepts of personal liberty in the context of abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org and the implications on the transgender community. She unpacks the impact of Dobbs on the substantive due process within the 14th Amendment and addresses the remaining avenue for advancing the rights of transgender people under the Equal Protection Clause.
"I got a really good legal education here," Kaufman said. "I really like the Miami Law community, the professors, and the people I have met."
While she has made dozens of outstanding connections in the South Florida legal community, Kaufman will return to the northeast to practice after graduation in May. While she plans to practice general litigation, she is committed to continuing to write and support her transgender community.
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