“A Luta Continua”*
Areas of Expertise: Health Law (primarily mental health and reproductive health), Family Law, Law and Sexuality, Constitutional law.
Dr. Rachmilovitz teaches courses in health law, disability law and sexuality law as a lecturer at USC Gould School of Law and at Gonzaga University School of Law. She loves engaging with students, collectively and individually, on ever-changing areas of the law that are at the forefront of many legal, economical and social issues. She is meticulous about guiding students through their research and writing assignments and helping them develop into more effective writers, with strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Several of her students have successfully published papers they wrote with Dr. Rachmilovitz’s mentorship.
In addition, she works as a consultant to American and international clients (Israel and Uganda, for example), providing expert opinions and research on precedential constitutional and human rights cases in areas such as age of consent laws, family law, and refugee law. She also works with clients to produce court documents, translations, social media or blog content and other various writing projects.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Rachmilovitz was the first Israeli scholar to clerk for the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the highest court in that country. While at the Constitutional Court, she worked on matters involving South Africa's recognition of wrongful birth claims, intersectional employment discrimination, incarceration and hospitalization of children with mental disabilities, and South Africa's duty to investigate crimes against humanity. Additionally, Professor Rachmilovitz, along with a small committee of clerks, revised and updated the South African Judiciary's policy on sexual harassment. Notably, she was the inaugural recipient of the Orrick International Law Fellowship, which funded her appointment.
Her appointment to the Court followed a position as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Boston University (BU) School of Law, where she taught courses on health law and sexuality and the law. Her research sits at the intersection of health law, family law, and civil rights and is often interdisciplinary. Her scholarship has appeared in publications such as the Minnesota Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, and William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law, and has been adopted into Federal legislation and state Supreme Court opinions. Before joining BU she was a Visiting Fellow at the UCLA Williams Institute, a Mental Health Law Fellow at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, and a Law Fellow at the Learning Rights Law Center in Los Angeles. In Israel, she clerked for Judge Eilata Ziskind of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. She is admitted to the Israeli Bar Association (inactive).
Dr. Rachmilovitz is highly committed to promoting social justice through teaching, scholarship, activism and other endeavors that examine and intervene in how the law implicates socially disadvantaged groups. Indeed, Dr. Rachmilovitz was granted the highly-competitive “Extraordinary Ability” lawful permanent resident status (“green card”) to the United States in 2017, as a recognition of her excellence in promoting social justice. When granted the green card, the immigration officer thanked Orly for her advocacy of sexual minorities in women, and encouraged her to “keep up the good work” upon immigrating. Dr. Rachmilovitz has been based in Los Angeles, CA since 2018 and maintains a global client list.
Education:
S.J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, VA
LL.M., UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA
LL.B., University of Haifa Faculty of Law, Haifa, Israel
B.A., (psychology) University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
*The struggle continues - Southern African phrase, serving as a call to action against colonialism, racism and apartheid. It is still used today to convey that the work of social justice is ongoing.
