Douglas E. Abrams

• Children and the law
• Family law
• Juvenile justice
• Constitutional Law
• American Legal History
• Youth sports

Teaching, Scholarship, Public Service

Professor Abrams joined the University of Missouri faculty in 1990. In the past 22 years, he has written or co-authored five books and the U.S. Supreme Court has cited his law review articles in four decisions.

From 1976-78, he served as law clerk to Judge Hugh R. Jones of the New York Court of Appeals (New York's highest court). From 1978-81, he was in private practice with Kaye Scholer, a Park Avenue firm in New York City. From 1982-89, he was an associate professor at Fordham University Law School.

Professor Abrams’ first book was The Law of Civil RICO (Aspen 1991). Thomson West recently published the fourth editions of his casebook, Children and the Law--Doctrine, Policy and Practice (co-author), and his Children and the Law In a Nutshell (co-author). In 2003, he wrote A Very Special Place in Life: The History of Juvenile Justice in Missouri. His most recent book is Contemporary Family Law, a West casebook whose third edition will appear in early 2012 (co-author).

With his book royalties, Professor Abrams has created the Happiness For Health program (HFH) at the MU Children's Hospital. HFH is a permanent endowment that provides toys, stuffed animals and games for sick and injured children at the hospital. HFH also provides parties for children hospitalized on their birthdays and other special occasions. http://www.muhealth.org/body_chdev.cfm?id=1662

He serves on the bipartisan 15-member Advisory Board of the Missouri Division of Youth Services (DYS), which is considered to be the nation's finest statewide juvenile justice treatment agency. He also serves as treasurer and a member of the board of directors of the Missouri Juvenile Justice Association, which promotes justice for the state's children, youth and families. He is a Fellow of the MU Center for Family Policy and Research.

In 2007-2008, Professor Abrams served on the Governor’s Internet Harassment Task Force, which helped draft legislation to curb Internet stalking and harassment in Missouri. He testified in support of the legislation’s constitutionality before state House and Senate Committees, and the Governor signed the legislation into law. He also served on a committee appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to revise the statewide rules of juvenile court practice and procedure.

Professor Abrams is a Fellow of The Missouri Bar Foundation, which seeks to improve the legal system through law-related research, education and charitable endeavors. He has testified before state House and Senate committees in support of the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan. He serves on a special Missouri Bar committee that advises the Board of Governors on issues relating to member lawyers’ First Amendment speech rights concerning positions the Bar takes. He served on the Missouri Bar Special Committee on Parental Rights and Adoption Issues. He also served on the Missouri Bar Commission on Children and the Law, and the General Assembly enacted several bills he drafted relating to children's welfare.

He is the Associate Editor of the Juvenile and Family Court Journal, and he chairs the editorial board of the Journal of the Missouri Bar. He writes an article about legal writing in each issue of Precedent, the Missouri Bar's quarterly magazine. He frequently addresses Missouri Bar continuing legal education (CLE) and civic education programs. His 167-page chapter, "Child Abuse and Neglect," appears in Missouri Juvenile Law, The Missouri Bar's CLE Deskbook.

In 1994, Professor Abrams received the Meritorious Service to the Children of America Award, presented by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges to recognize his public service. In 2000, he received a Spurgeon Smithson Award, presented by the Missouri Bar Foundation for outstanding service to the cause of justice. In 2005, he received a Chairperson's Award from the Missouri Bar's Young Lawyers Section. In 2011, he received the Missouri Bar's Distinguished Service Award.

At the law school, Professor Abrams has received the Administration of Justice, Distinguished Faculty Achievement, and Teacher-of-the-Year awards. He teaches Children and the Law, Constitutional Law, Family Law, and American Legal History.

Sports Ethics

Professor Abrams was a goaltender on the Wesleyan University hockey team for four years. In 1973, he set the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III record for most saves in a game (64). He was the first Wesleyan hockey player to be named to the weekly ECAC All-East Team, and he received Wesleyan's Scholar-Athlete Award.

Professor Abrams coached youth ice hockey at all age levels for more than 40 years, and he now writes and speaks about coaching, player safety, and sports ethics. The Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader has called him "one of the people who help serve as the conscience for anyone involved in youth sports," and "a nationally known authority on youth sports." The Minneapolis Star Tribune has called him "a national watchdog of youth sports." Rick Wolff, himself a nationally prominent figure in sports psychology, calls Professor Abrams "one of the nation's premier experts in the complex world of sports parenting and amateur sports."

In 1990, Professor Abrams created the first organized youth hockey teams in mid-Missouri. During his eleven-year tenure as president of the new mid-Missouri youth hockey program, the program grew from 19 players to 180, while enrolling every interested child, encouraging beginners, teaching sportsmanship, providing need-based scholarships, and fully involving each player in every practice and game. In 1999, he received the Missouri Park and Recreation Association's Citation Award for his pioneering service.

Professor Abrams' coaching stressed citizenship education. As the players improved their athletic skills each year, his teams also conducted community service projects. Over the years, his high school teams collected toys and stuffed animals for the sick and injured children at the MU Children’s Hospital and often visited the Hospital. His younger teams collected new and used backpacks for abused and neglected children in the local family court, collected cans of food for local food banks that serve needy families, conducted children’s book drives for county health department clinics, and did a variety of similar projects. In 2001, his teams also held a special night to raise donations for organizations supporting victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

For their charitable initiatives, his teams won the 2006 Honoring the Game Award, presented by the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University. The Governor issued a proclamation stating that his teams had “brought honor to Missouri,” and a local newspaper called one of his teams “a philanthropic organization on skates.”

Professor Abrams serves on the Team of Experts of MomsTeam, a leading resource for youth sports parents about safety, nutrition, sportsmanship and coaching. He is a Champion of the Positive Coaching Alliance. He also serves on the Expert Panel of the Center For Sports Parenting, which is part of the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island.

Professor Abrams' youth sports articles appear in law reviews and on the editorial pages of national newspapers, and he is interviewed on radio and television. He writes regular columns about coaching and sports ethics on momsteam.com and askcoachwolff.com (Professor Abrams' sports publications are listed on pages 8 - 16 of his CV (PDF)).

Recent Publications

Academic Journals

Professional Journals