CSWAC Corner: Stephanie Davidson
Get to know our CSW Advisory Committee (CSWAC) members through CSWAC Corner! We are proud to have an advisory committee made up of feminist scholars working in various fields from gender studies to public health to film and television. Each month, we’ll feature a CSWAC member to learn more about them and their work.
For the month of April, we’re featuring:
Stephanie Davidson
Director, Externships and Field Placement Programs, UCLA School of Law
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently directing the Law School’s field placement and externship programs, but my professional area of expertise is in the intersections between family law, domestic violence, and economic abuse. I represented survivors for six years in the Boston area, and one year in NYC before moving to California just before the pandemic, and in both locations, I had the privilege of focusing on specific legal strategies to address the (often multigenerational) economic impact of intimate partner abuse.
Is there anything you’d like to shine a spotlight on?
I’d highlight this panel discussion I did with my student and client, just before my move to CA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suA6iBo9kuA.
Where can we find you on social media?
@ladysuperheroes on Twitter, @stephanierazel on Instagram
What are you currently reading?
I have a four-year-old, so reading is a pretty slow process. Currently, I’m working on Rachel Cusk’s Outline and Mariame Kaba’s We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice.
Other than your current research interests, what other fields would you want to explore if you had the time?
I love the intersectional work that gets done when we put trauma survivors at the center of our policies and programming. While teaching in Boston, I got to help run the medical legal partnership serving my clients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and it confirmed for me that if I had more lives to live, I’d go be an OBGYN.
Favorite food/quarantine recipes?
I often feel like the last human (and definitely the last mom) who has no interest in cooking. The Trader Joe’s frozen food aisle is the source of my sanity (and my daughter’s calories).
What have you been listening to lately? Music? Podcasts?
I’ve mostly been hiding in my comfort playlist that features the Highwomen, Brandi Carlile, the Indigo Girls and the Chicks… but for exercise no one beats Lizzo!
What movie or TV show have you seen recently that you would recommend to others and why?
I recently watched Never Have I Ever on Netflix and fell in love. I officially will watch anything Mindy Kaling has a hand in.
