Trina Jones
Professor of Law
Professor Trina Jones is a native of Rock Hill, South Carolina. She received her undergraduate degree in government from Cornell University and her J.D., with honors, from the University of
Michigan Law School. While at Michigan, Professor Jones served as an articles editor on the Michigan Law Review. Upon graduating from law school, she worked as a general litigator at Wilmer,
Cutler, and Pickering in Washington , D.C. In 1995, Professor Jones joined the faculty of Duke Law School. Since that time, she has taught Civil Procedure, Employment Discrimination, and a seminar
on Race and the Law. She also directs the law school's Charting Courses Program and the Jean E. and Christine P. Mills Conversation Series on Race. Professor Jones recent writings have focused on
colorism, diversity, and the conservative influence on anti-discrimination doctrine. In Shades of Brown: The Law of Skin Color, Professor Jones drew upon historical and sociological
materials to explain the historical and contemporary significance of colorism, which is the prejudicial treatment of same-race individuals on the basis of skin color, in the United States.
Importantly, Shades of Brown is one of the first articles in the legal context to probe the connection between color and race, to examine the legal basis for color claims, and to explain
why it is critical to anti-discrimination efforts that courts recognize color claims independently of race claims. In her most recent articles, The Diversity Rationale: A Problematic
Solution and Brown II: A Case of Missed Opportunity, Professor Jones examines the potential limitations of the diversity rationale as a means of ensuring access for historically
oppressed groups and analyzes the effects of various changes in anti-discrimination law over the last decade. Professor Jones recently co-edited a book of essays entitled Law and Class in America: Trends Since the Cold War (NYU Press) with her colleague, Paul Carrington. The book
looks at the effects on poor people of legal reforms in a variety of substantive areas. Professor Jones current projects include examination of race and genetic testing, a book of essays exploring
contemporary legal issues of concern to African Americans, and continued investigation of colorism from a comparative perspective.