Author Talk: Justice Was Her Calling: The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon

Professor Jennifer L. Brinkley will be discussing her newest book about Dorothy Kenyon, was a New York judge, lawyer, and civil liberties champion whose litigation strategies helped transform the Equal Protection Clause into a powerful tool for women’s rights.

Meet the Author

Jennifer L. Brinkley is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Dayton School of Law, teaching in the areas of Family Law, Criminal Law, and Evidence.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law, she worked at a firm in Bowling Green, Kentucky and then as a solo practitioner, focusing on family law and criminal defense. She then served as an Assistant Warren County Attorney, prosecuting criminal cases, child support, guardianship cases, and juvenile offenses. During her practice, she was awarded the 2009 Guardian ad Litem of the Year Award, the 2014 University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law Alumni Young Professional Award, and the 2015 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award.

Professor Brinkley previously taught at the University of Colorado at Denver and Western Kentucky University before joining the faculty at the University of West Florida in Pensacola in 2019, where she was tenured and promoted as an Associate Professor in the Legal Studies Pre-Law program. At the University of West Florida, she taught Family Law, Criminal Law, Evidence, and other courses, as well as the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program where she took students into the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution each week to study criminal law topics with incarcerated men at the prison.

Professor Brinkley has been published in the Kentucky Law Journal, Quinnipiac Law Review, Northern Illinois University Law Review, FAWL Journal, Legal Writing: Journal of Legal Writing Institute, South Carolina Law Review, LMU Law Review, Kentucky Bench & Bar, The Legal Educator, The Young Lawyer, Gonzaga Law Review, and Florida A & M University Law Review. Her first book is forthcoming October 20, 2026, from the University of California Press titled "Justice Was Her Calling: The Fierce and Fascinating Life of Dorothy Kenyon."

Moderated by Nicole P. Dyszlewski, Roger Williams University School of Law

Meet the Moderator
 

Nicole P. Dyszlewski serves as the Assistant Dean for Curricular Innovation and Professor at Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island. 

Everywhere she goes she brings bold ideas, critical thinking, and a serious commitment to justice (with just a hint of sparkle). Nicole holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, a B.A. from Hofstra University, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Rhode Island. She’s a member of the bar in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 

Nicole’s work centers on building a more inclusive and equitable legal system. Her areas of focus include DEIB pedagogy in law schools, mass incarceration, and access to information—topics where she brings both a lawyer’s insightful analysis and a librarian’s relentless curiosity. 

Nicole is the co-editor of the Integrating Doctrine & Diversity book series, the host of the Integrating Doctrine and Diversity webinar series, and a co-author of the recently published casebook, Race and the Foundations of American Law. 

Nicole is deeply involved in, and committed to, the work of the Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) at Penn State Dickinson Law. She is the co-editor and a contributor to Volume 5 of the ADI’s Building An Antiracist Law School, Legal Academy, and Legal Profession book series. She is a senior systems designer and teacher in the ADI’s Antiracist Leadership Certificate program.

She is also the co-host of the Law 401: Legal Issues Decoded podcast and was one of the founders and leaders of the Rhode Island Freedom to Read Coalition.

Refreshments provided.

Registration is not required.

Co-hosted by RWU Law, RWU Division of Equity and Inclusion, The Co-Lab at RWU, RWU Libraries, RWU Honors Program, RWU Department of Politics and International Relations and RWU Communities of Hope

Special Accommodations

Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for this event should contact Kara Dalessio, kdalessio@rwu.edu, as soon as possible, but no later than 72 business hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements may be made.