Rate My Professor Lisa Avalos

Lisa Avalos served as Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville from 2013 to 2018. Prior to joining the University of Arkansas, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing at Georgetown University Law Center from 2011 to 2013. Avalos earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2006. She also holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University in 1995, an M.A. in Sociology from Northwestern University, and a B.A. in Psychology from Northwestern University. Before pursuing her legal career, she practiced as an associate at McDermott Will & Emery in New York City and Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg in Chicago. Earlier, Avalos was an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College from 1996 to 2003 and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for Research on Women, University of Memphis from 1995 to 1996.

Avalos's research specializations encompass criminal law and procedure, with an emphasis on sexual offenses, gender-based violence, and human rights. During her tenure at the University of Arkansas School of Law, she taught courses including Legal Research and Writing, Gender-based Violence and Human Rights, White Collar Crime, and Sex Crimes: Emerging Law & Policy Issues. Key publications include "Prosecuting Victims While Rapists Run Free: the Consequences of Police Failure to Investigate Sex Crimes in Britain and the United States" (23 Mich. J. Gender & L. 1, 2016), "Female Genital Mutilation and Designer Vaginas in Britain: Crafting an Effective Legal and Policy Framework" (48 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 621, 2015), "Policing Rape Complainants: When Reporting Rape Becomes a Crime" (20 Iowa J. Gender, Race & Justice 459, 2017), "The Chilling Effect: the Politics of Charging Rape Complainants With False Reporting" (83 Brook. L. Rev. 677, 2018), and co-authored "Ending Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage in Tanzania" (38 Fordham Int'l L.J. 639, 2015). She contributed to symposia on honor-based violence and public lectures on honor killings in North America and Europe at the University of Arkansas. Her scholarship addresses police failures in sex crime investigations and the prosecution of rape complainants, influencing criminal justice responses to sexual assault.