Nina A. Kohn

David M. Levy L’48 Professor of Law (315) 443-6565 nakohn@syr.edu Curriculum Vitae [PDF] https://twitter.com/NinaKohn

Nina A. Kohn is the David M. Levy Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law, a faculty affiliate with the Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute, and a member of the American Law Institute. She is also the Solomon Center Distinguished Scholar in Elder Law with the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School. She has served as a Visiting Professor at Yale Law School, Cornell Law School, and the University of Maine School of Law.

Professor Kohn’s scholarly research focuses on elder law, advance planning and medical consent, and the civil rights of older adults and persons with cognitive capacity challenges. Her work has appeared in diverse fora including the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal Online, the Boston University Law Review, and The Washington Post. Her recent articles have addressed long-term care reform, family caregiving, supported and surrogate decision-making, financial exploitation of the elderly, vulnerability, and discrimination in old age, voting rights of institutionalized persons, and legal education. She is also the author of “Elder Law: Practice, Policy & Problems” (Wolters Kluwer, 3d ed. 2024).

At Syracuse, Professor Kohn has taught elder law, trusts and estates, torts, family law, and an interdisciplinary gerontology course. She has also served as Associate Dean for Research as well as Associate Dean for Online Education. In the later role, she led the development of JDinteractive, the nation’s first fully interactive online J.D. program.

Professor Kohn is active in public service and law reform work. She served as the Reporter for both the Uniform Health Care Decisions Act and the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act. As a member of the American Law Institute, she also serves as an Advisor to the Medical Malpractice and Miscellaneous Provisions portions of the Restatement Third of Torts.

Professor Kohn earned an A.B. summa cum laude from Princeton University and J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard University. She clerked for the Hon. Fred I. Parker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Following her clerkship, she was awarded a fellowship by the Skadden Fellowship Foundation to provide direct representation to nursing home residents and frail elders. She is a past recipient of the College of Law’s Res Ipsa Loquitur award recognizing excellence in teaching, and Syracuse University’s Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Distinguished Faculty Fellowship.