Jessie Allen

Jessie Allen is a Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, specializing in jurisprudence, legal ethics, and property law. Her work reimagines traditional legal frameworks to advance socially progressive legal systems, particularly through exploring more-than-human personhood in property doctrine and racial justice in voting rights.

Education:

• JSD (Doctorate in Law), Columbia University School of Law (Heffernan Fellow)
• JD (Summa Cum Laude), Brooklyn Law School
• BFA in Theater, New York University School of the Arts

Research Interests: Professor Allen examines legal rituals, Blackstone’s Commentaries’ modern relevance, and systemic racial biases in U.S. legal systems. Her current projects include analyzing property law’s capacity to recognize non-human entities and studying doctrinal reasoning’s psychological effects on judicial objectivity. She critiques legal systems through a racial justice lens, focusing on felony disenfranchisement and voting rights advocacy.

Blogs & Outreach: She authors Blackstone Weekly, a blog interpreting 18th-century legal principles for contemporary issues. Her interdisciplinary approach blends legal scholarship with theater and art to explore law’s performative dimensions.

Professional Experience: Prior to academia, Allen was a Bristow Fellow at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Solicitor General’s Office, litigated voting rights cases as a senior attorney at Advancement Project, and worked at the Brennan Center for Justice addressing criminal conviction-based disenfranchisement.