Donna M. Matthews Attorney at Law

Articles

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Reconsidering Alternative Liability, with Arthur C. Johnson and Dennis Gerl (in manuscript). Avoiding Gender Equality, Women 's Rights Law Reporter, April 1998. Employment Law After Gilmer: Compulsory Arbitration of Statutory Antidiscrimination Rights, Berkeley Journal of Employment & Labor Law, July 1997. Making the Crucial Connection: A Proposed Threat Hearsay Exception, Golden Gate Law Review, April 1997.

Selected Cases

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Civil Litigation and Appeals. Dissolution of marriage, child custody, guardianship, child support modificat ion and enforcement. Administrative due process, First Amendment, and discrimination cases against the OUS. Oregon land use, environmental protection, and citizen involvement. Companion animal law.

Book

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A Law of Her Own: The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man. Caroline Forell and Donna Matthews. New York: New York University Press, ISBN 0-8147-2676-3. Available at Amazon.com – Now in Paperback! "Despite the apparent progress in women 's legal status, the law retains a profoundly male bias, and as such contributes to the pervasive violence and injustice against women." In A Law of Her Own, the authors propose to radically change law' s fundamental paradigm by introducing a "reasonable woman standard" for measuring men 's behavior. Advocating that courts apply this standard to the conduct of men-and women-in legal settings where women are overwhelmingly the injured parties, the authors seek to eliminate the victimization and objectification of women by dismantling part of the legal structure that supports their subordination. "A woman-based legal standard-focusing on respect for bodily integrity, agency, and autonomy-would help rectify the imbalance in how society and its legal system view sexual and gender-based harassment, rape, stalking, battery, domestic imprisonment, violence , and death. "Examining the bias of the existing" reasonable person "standard through analysis of various court cases and judical decisions, A Law of Her Own aims to balance the law to incorporate women 's values surrounding sex and violence.