Parental Rights Advisor Honored for Life of Leadership and Influence
On Tuesday, March 24, the New York University Annual Survey of Law dedicated its 83rd volume to Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law Emeritus Martin Guggenheim, whom we are honored to have on our Board of Advisors.
In an hour-long tribute available on YouTube, Guggenheim is honored by former students and colleagues who are themselves heavy-hitters in the world of family defense.
In opening remarks, NYU School of Law dean Troy Mackenzie said of Marty, “Through his scholarship, through his advocacy, through his teaching, Marty has reshaped how the law understands family integrity, State power, and ultimately justice.”
The Honorable Jey Rajaraman of the Superior Court of New Jersey, former chief counsel for the Family Representation Project at Legal Services of New Jersey, said Marty “gave us [as family defense attorneys] permission: permission to be angry, permission to be bold, permission to fight in ways that matched the stakes…. [He] taught us that before the State exercises the most extraordinary power, the power to permanently separate families, someone must stand up and insist on fairness.”
The Honorable Bridget McCormack, former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, summarized that she learned from Marty that “strong parental rights strengthen families, and children’s wellbeing requires that.” McCormack was a research assistant under Marty before she entered legal practice, and when she was Dean of the Michigan Law School she hired Vivek Sankaran to lead their child advocacy law clinic. Sankaran also has coauthored with Guggenheim and considers Marty one of his top mentors. Fittingly, then, McCormack listed a number of cases from her years on the Michigan Supreme Court and from those argued by Vivek Sankaran that have radically improved Michigan law for parental rights. “Watching Vivek argue [those cases],” she said, “was watching Marty’s influence rippling through Michigan law, case by case, family by family.”
Speaking of one particular case, which Vivek argued and the opinion for which she herself wrote, McCormack shared, “In Re Sanders happened because Marty trained me, and he trained Vivek, and Vivek in turn trained his students. Together, they changed the law to better protect families throughout our state.”
Richard Wexler, Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, likewise highlighted Marty’s role as a “root cause” for many in the family protection movement. Said Richard, “In family defense and family advocacy, Marty Guggenheim is our Edward R. Murrow. Marty Guggenheim is the father of us all.” (Through twelve seasons hosting or producing our EPPiC Broadcast podcast, with guests from all across the family defense movement, I have found this to be remarkably and incontrovertibly true.)
Finally, Marty’s longtime colleague and his successor as director of the Family Law Clinic, Christine Gottlieb, spoke, declaring, “His scholarship galvanized the largely ignored field of family regulation…. [I]n child welfare and family regulation, it’s not an overstatement to say Marty shook the existing ground so hard that the columns have started to teeter, and some are falling.” Those of you who have suffered injustice at the hands of the family court system will appreciate the weight of that statement.
She also highlighted Marty’s role in arguing the Santosky v. Kramer case before the U.S. Supreme Court, saying he convinced the Court to embrace “the idea that, quote, ‘the child and his parents share a vital interest in preventing erroneous termination of their natural relationship.’ This is the simple yet critical idea that the vast majority of time, and until shown otherwise, parents’ and children’s legal interests are aligned, not at odds.”
In short, as Gottlieb pointed out, Marty Guggenheim has transformed family defense, and I am honored to have him on our Board of Advisors Committee on Child Welfare.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to mention a new publication coming out in April, The State of Parental Rights in America 2026, featuring articles from members of our Board of Advisors, including Marty Guggenheim. I look forward to sharing that with you as soon as it is available.
Thank you for standing with us, and following Marty’s legacy, in protecting children by empowering parents.