Logo
Biography

B.A., Stanford University
J.D, Columbia Law School; Harlan Fiske Stone scholar

Dale Margolin Cecka joins the faculty of Albany Law as an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Family Violence Litigation Clinic. Prior to this appointment, Prof. Cecka was a Clinical Professor of Law and the Founder and Director of the Family Law Clinic at the University of Richmond School of Law from 2008-2018. After relocating to Atlanta in 2018, Prof. Cecka served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia and as a Senior Staff Attorney for the Cobb County Superior Court, as well in private family law practice.  

From 2004-2006, Prof. Cecka was a Skadden Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of New York, where she advocated for pregnant and parenting teenagers and adolescents aging out of foster care, primarily in the Bronx Family Court. At the end of her Skadden Fellowship, Prof. Cecka was awarded a Clinical Teaching Fellowship at St. John's University School of Law, and served as the Interim Director of the Child Advocacy Clinic, where she represented children in all five boroughs of New York as well as in Nassau Family Court.

Prof. Cecka's scholarship focuses on the constitutional rights of parents and inequities in the child welfare and family court systems.  Her articles have appeared in the Catholic University Law Review, the University of South Carolina Law School and the West Virginia University Law School, among others, and she was a contributor to the book, Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Opinions of the United States Supreme Court, published by the Cambridge University Press in 2016.  Prof. Cecka's articles have been cited in several Supreme Courts across the country. For the past 6 years, Prof. Cecka has also been the lead author of the treatise on Family Law for Virginia (Family Law: Theory, Practice and Forms). Prof Cecka has appeared on National Public Radio and in various podcasts and has published an Op-Ed in The Washington Post related to her advocacy in family law and child welfare.

Prof. Cecka obtained her undergraduate degree from Stanford University in 1999 and her law degree from Columbia University School of Law in 2004, where she was a Harlan Fisk Stone Scholar.

 


In the News

Professor Dale Cecka was quoted in the Scary Mommy  story "Abortion Won At The Ballot Box, But Will It Be Enough?" on November 21, 2024.

Professor Dale Cecka was quoted in the Forbes online story "Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2024: Heal, Hold And Center" on October 31, 2024.

Professor Dale Cecka was quoted in the Stateline online story "New abortion-rights measures in 7 states could trigger legal, legislative challenges" on November 11, 2024

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka published an op-ed titled "The Fatal Consequences of Giving Violent Men Access to Their Children" in Governing on October 25, 2024.

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka appeared on an episode of the Jabot Podcast titled: "Using Your Law Degree For Good," on October 22, 2024.

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka was quoted in the sheknows.com article: "As More States Introduce Birth Control Restrictions, Here’s How They Could Impact Your Teen," on October 15, 2024.

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka was quoted in the 19th article: "The complicated legacy of the 1994 crime bill," on September 16, 2024.

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka published an op-ed titled "The Violence Against Women Act Turns 30 Today—But Are We Still Failing Survivors?" in Common Dreams on September 13, 2024.

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka published an op-ed titled "How "It Ends With Us" gets domestic violence wrong" in Salon on August 21, 2024.

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka was quoted in the Reuters article: "US Supreme Court ruling on emergency abortions offers no clarity for states," on June 27, 2024.

Selected Achievements

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka, Improper Delegation of Judicial Authority in Child Custody Cases: Finally Overturned. 52 U. Rich. L. Rev. 181 (2017) was cited by the Virginia Court of Appeals in Rainey v. Raney 74 Va. App 359 (2022).

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka, Inequity in Private Child Custody Litigation, 20 CUNY L. Rev. 203 (2016) was quoted by the Alabama Supreme Court in G. v. B.G. (Ex parte J.G.), 281 So.3d 371 (Ala. 2019).

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka, No Chance to Prove Themselves: The Rights of Mentally Disabled Parents Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and State Law, 15 Va. J. Soc. Poly & L. 112 (2007) was cited by the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Iowas Court of Appeals. In re Hicks/Brown 2016 WL 1650104 (Mich. Ct. App. 2016); In re: J.L., 868 N.W.2d 462 (Iowa App. 2015).

Professor Dale Margolin Cecka received the Empowerment Award from Faces of Virginia in 2009.

Dale Margolin Cecka Curriculum Vitae
Dale Cecka

Dale Margolin Cecka

Assistant Professor of Law; Director, Family Violence Litigation Clinic

Area of study
SSRN Profile