Overview

James Toomey—an expert in bioethics, private law, law and philosophy, health law, and elder law—joined the faculty in 2024.

Toomey’s research applies philosophical and empirical methods to questions at the intersection of bioethics and private law theory, from whether genes can be owned to when the law ought to intervene in the decision-making of those with dementia. His work has been published in leading law reviews, including the Virginia Law Review, the Notre Dame Law Review, the Washington University Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal, and more, as well as leading peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Medical Ethics, the Biology & Philosophy, and American Journal of Bioethics – Empirical Bioethics. He is also a co-editor of a recently released volume, Reinach and the Foundations of Private Law, with Cambridge University Press, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics.

Before joining the Iowa faculty, Toomey was Assistant Professor of Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains, New York. Before that, he taught legal writing at Harvard Law School as a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law.

To learn more, visit his personal website. 

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Research areas

• Bioethics
• Private Law
• Law and Philosophy
• Health Law
• Elder Law

Teaching areas

• Property
• Trusts and Estates
• Elder Law

Awards and honors

• AALS Aging and the Law Section Emerging Scholar Award (2026)
• Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University Goettel Prize for Faculty Scholarship (2023)