Kristen Barnes

Kristen Barnes is a Professor of Law in the College of Law at Syracuse University. Professor Barnes teaches courses on Property, Housing Law, and Voting Rights Law. Dr. Barnes’s scholarship focuses on anti-discrimination and equality law, property, housing, education, constitutional law, and pensions. She has published articles in top law review journals including Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy, Harvard Journal of Racial and Ethnic Justice, and Chicago-Kent Law Review.

The American Bar Foundation awarded Dr. Barnes a residency as a visiting scholar for the 2019-2020 and 2018-2019 academic years. She has presented her work at numerous prestigious conferences such as the American Society of International Law Midyear Meeting, Harvard Law School’s Institute of Global Law and Policy Conference, the Association of Law, Property, and Society Annual Conference, Loyola Law School’s Constitutional Colloquium, and Fordham Law School’s International and Comparative Urban Law Conference.

Professor Barnes has served in several AALS leadership roles including Chair of the Section on Property Law, Chair of the Real Estate Transactions Section, and Chair-Elect of the European Law Section. In the international arena, Barnes has served as Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law Midyear Meeting (2019). She is also a member of the University of California – Berkeley’s Comparative Law Equality Working Group. Prior to entering academia, Professor Barnes practiced commercial real estate law in Chicago and clerked for a federal district court judge in the Northern District of Illinois.

Barnes received her B.A. in Political Science from Vassar College, J.D. from Harvard Law School, and Ph.D. in Literature from Duke University.