UCCJEA and Relocation: Jurisdictional Problems

Linda D. Elrod is the Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Washburn University School of Law Children and Family Law Center. She served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Dublin Institute of Technology in 2011.

Professor Elrod is past chair of the American Bar Association Family Law Section; has served on the ABA Family Law Section Council since 1988; served as co-chair of the ABA Child Custody and Adoption Pro Bono Advisory Board; and has been Editor of the Family Law Quarterly since 1992. She is currently the reporter to draft a Family Law Arbitration Act for the Uniform Law Commission. Professor Elrod was the Reporter for the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act (UCAPA) now enacted in twelve states and sits on the Joint Editorial Board on Family Law for the Uniform Law Commission. She is on the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on Private International Law. Professor Elrod was an official observer for the International Society of Family Law to the 21st Diplomatic Session of the Hague Convention on Private International Law which drafted the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.

Professor Elrod is the author of a national family law treatise, Child Custody Practice and Procedure; a state family law treatise, Kansas Family Law and Practice; and co-author of a family law textbook, Family Law: Cases Comments and Questions, that has been used in 35 law schools. In 2000 she coordinated an international, interdisciplinary think tank on "High Conflict Custody Cases Reforming the System for Children." Professor Elrod has written dozens of articles and is a frequent CLE speaker.

Ashley Tomlinson earned her J.D. from Tulane University in New Orleans. During law school, Ashley focused primarily on family and international law. She was a member of the Tulane Domestic Violence Law Clinic, representing survivors of domestic violence in divorce and protective order cases. Ashley also clerked for the Honorable Lisa Millard in the 310th Family District Court of Harris County. She served as the Senior Articles Editor of the Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, one of the leading scholarly journals in international law. Ashley graduated magna cum laude from Hollins University in Virginia where she studied Political Science and French. She also has a unique legislative background, with previous experience in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Texas Senate, and as a lobbyist.

Ashley is on the team of attorneys at Laura Dale & Associates, P.C. that prosecutes and defends international child abduction cases under the Hague Convention.