Nancy Duff Campbell

Early career

Ms. Campbell received her undergraduate degree from Barnard College in 1965 and her law degree from New York University School of Law in 1968. Following that she became a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Catholic University School of Law in Washington, D.C., and an attorney with the Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law (now the Welfare Law Center) in New York. The National Women's Law Center began when female administrative staff and law students at the Center for Law and Social Policy demanded that their pay be improved, that the center hire female lawyers, that they no longer be expected to serve coffee, and that the center create a women's program. Marcia Greenberger was hired in 1972 to start the program and Campbell joined her in 1978. In 1981, the two decided to turn the program into the separate National Women's Law Center.

Notable cases

Ms. Campbell's participated in successful Supreme Court litigation establishing that two-parent families with unemployed mothers are entitled to AFDC benefits (Califano v. Westcott). She was involved in the organization and leadership of the Coalition on Women and Taxes, which claimed to have "led to expanded tax assistance for single heads of household and the removal of six million low‑income families from the tax rolls in the Tax Reform Act of 1986". She also won a case establishing the uniform right to child support enforcement services for all custodial parents without regard to income (Parents Without Partners v. Massinga).

Honors and awards

Working Woman magazine named Ms. Campbell one of the "25 heroines whose actions over the last 25 years have advanced women in the workplace", and she was named a "Woman of Genius" by Trinity College. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for her work to improve child support enforcement, and was appointed by Congress to the U.S. Commission on Child and Family Welfare to make recommendations on topics including child support, custody and visitation, family services, and family and juvenile court systems. She is the recipient of the District of Columbia Bar's William J. Brennan Award, in recognition of her legal service in the public interest, and was honored by the Center for Law and Social Policy at its 25th Anniversary Dinner. She has served on the Executive Committee of the District of Columbia Bar Board of Governors and is a member of the Princeton University Center for Research on Child Wellbeing Advisory Board, Alliance for National Defense Board of Advisors, Community Tax Law Report Board of Advisors, Institute for Women's Policy Research Board of Advisors, National Conference of State Legislatures Child Care Advisory Committee and Campaign for Family Leave Income Advisory Committee. She is also a Fellow of the American Bar Association.