Profile

Prior to beginning his academic career, Professor Jack B. Harrison spent almost twenty years as a practicing attorney, representing clients in litigation matters in the areas of product liability defense and employment discrimination defense. Professor Harrison was a partner at Frost Brown Todd, where he was the first openly gay person elected partner at a large Cincinnati law firm. Professor Harrison then moved his practice to Cors & Bassett, where he remains Of Counsel.

Professor Harrison has always been active in bar organizations throughout his career, including service on the Board of Trustees, the Admissions Committee, and the Fee Dispute Committee for the Cincinnati Bar Association. He was appointed by Chief Judge Susan Dlott to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Admissions Committee. Beyond the legal community, Professor Harrison has served on Boards of Directors for The Point Foundation, the Cincinnati Opera, Caracole, and the National Gay and Lesbian Law Association.  Professor Harrison currently serves as an officer for the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues Section of the Association of American Law Schools.
 

Professor Harrison has also been involved in a number of pro bono matters throughout his career, including the representation of inmates alleging constitutional violations against state corrections facilities. In partnership with the Ohio Justice and Policy Center and others, Professor Harrison represented a class of severely mentally ill Ohio inmates in a suit against the Corrections Department of the State of Ohio regarding the lack of adequate pre-release discharge planning for these inmates.

Professor Harrison is also the coordinator for the trial competition teams at NKU Chase. 

Professor Harrison’s research and scholarship is focused on topics related to civil procedure / federal courts and sexuality, identity and the law.

Contact

• Office: NH 525
• Email: harrisonj4@nku.edu
• Phone: 859.572.5447
   
• Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Education

• BA Political Science, cum laude, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
• STB, MA, with honors, St. Mary's Seminary and University
• JD, University of Cincinnati College of Law (Order of the Coif and Editor in Chief of the Cincinnati Law Review)

Courses Taught

• Civil Procedure
• Remedies
• Family Law
• Professional Responsibility
   
• Sexuality, Identity, and the Law
   
• Torts
• Trial Advocacy
• Deposition Strategies

Scholarship

Emerging from Davy Jones’ Locker: The Revival of Counterclaims against the Government in Civil Forfeiture Actions, 104 Marq. L. Rev. _ (forthcoming 2021), co-author Brendan Sullivan.

Erie SLAPP Back, 95 Wash. L. Rev. 1253 (2020) SSRN

Amicus curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens, a case that addresses the question of whether Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition proscribes discrimination against individuals for being transgender.  The brief was submitted on behalf of Law and History Scholars in support of the EEOC and Aimee Stephens, arguing that in order to determine the original public meaning of “because of sex” in Title VII, the Court must focus on the history of how transgender individuals were understood, both in popular culture and in the halls of Congress, when Title VII was passed and amended.  (July 3, 2019) 

“Because of Sex," 51 Loy. L.A.L.Rev. 91 (2018) SSRN

"To Sit or Stand":  Transgender Persons, Gendered Restrooms, and the Law, 40 U. Haw. L. Rev. 49 (2017) SSRN

Registration, Fairness and General Jurisdiction, 95 Neb. L. Rev. 477 (2016) SSRN

At Long Last Marriage, 24 Am. U. J. Gender & Soc. Pol’y & L. 1 (2015) SSRN (among the top ten downloaded articles on SSRN in the categories of Constitutional Claims, Due Process & Equal Protection and Family Law.)  

On Marriage and Polygamy, 42 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 89 (2015) SSRN (among the top ten downloaded articles on SSRN in the categories of Marriage and Social Norms & Institutions)

Here and There and Back Again: Drowning in the Stream of Commerce, 44 Stetson L. Rev. 1 (2014) SSRN

Management of Electronic Data in Litigation, LEX LOCI (Northern Kentucky Bar Association) (December 2012)

The Strange Intersection between Law, Religion, and Government in the Regulation of Marriage, 6 Charleston Law Review 547 (2012) SSRN

The Future of Same-Sex Marriage After Lawrence v. Texas and the Election of 2004, 30 U. Dayton L. Rev 314 (2005)

Some Accurate Information is Better than No Information At All: Arguments Against an Exception to the Learned Intermediary Doctrine Based on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising, 78 Or. L. Rev. 605 (1999)

Hate Speech: Power in the Marketplace, 20 J.C. & U.L. 461 (1994)

The Government as Pornographer: Government Sting Operations and Entrapment, 61 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1067 (1993)

How Open Is Open?: The Development of the Public Access Doctrine Under State Open Court Provisions, 60 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1307 (1992)
 

Speaking Engagements and Recognitions

Presented at the 2019 AALS Annual Meeting as part of a panel on the topic: “LGBTQ Rights Halfway Through Trump’s (First?) Term: Advancement, Retrenchment, Potential.”  In his presentation, Professor Harrison discussed developments in the law related to discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, a topic that is the focus of his article in the Loyola Los Angeles Law Review, “Because of Sex.”

Presented a work in progress, “To Sit or Stand”: Transgender Persons, Gendered Restrooms, and the Law, as part of a panel on Gender and Sexuality at the New Scholars workshop at the annual conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools

Presented on The Post-Obergefell Impact on Family Law at the annual conference of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel

Presented On Marriage and Polygamy at the annual conference of the Central States Law School Association.

Presented a current work in process, The Death of General Jurisdiction After Goodyear and Bauman, at the annual conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools.

Selected for inclusion, The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (2010-2019)

Selected as a Top Rated Lawyer in Labor & Employment Litigation by American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell™