Helen M. Alvaré

Biographical Sketch

Helen Alvaré is the Robert A. Levy Endowed Chair in Law and Liberty at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, where she teaches Family Law, Law and Religion, and Property Law. She publishes on matters concerning marriage, parenting, and the First Amendment religion clauses. She is faculty advisor to the law school’s Thomas More and Christian Legal Societies, a Member of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life (Vatican City), and an ABC news consultant on matters touching the Holy See. She cooperates with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the Organization of American States on matters concerning religious freedom and women’s rights.

Professor Alvaré’s most recent books include Religious Freedom After the Sexual Revolution, Christianity and Conscience, and Putting Children’s Interests First in U.S. Family Law and Policy: With Power Comes Responsibility. She regularly files amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeals in support of religious freedom claimants. She also speaks at academic and professional conferences in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Australia.

Prior to joining the faculty of Scalia Law, Professor Alvaré taught at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America; represented the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops before legislative bodies, academic audiences and the media; and was a litigation attorney for the Philadelphia law firm of Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & Young.

Professor Alvaré received her law degree from Cornell University School of Law and her master’s degree in Systematic Theology from the Catholic University of America.