Prof. Madeline Kochen's research and teaching interests include property, theories of justice and obligation, Talmudic law, and constitutional law. Prof. Kochen earned her BA, magna cum laude, and her JD from Yeshiva University (Cardozo Law School). She holds an AM in Near Eastern languages and civilizations and a PhD in religion and political philosophy from Harvard University.

After law school, Prof. Kochen worked in New York as a criminal appeals attorney with the Legal Aid Society and as staff attorney and legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union. She also founded and directed the NYCLU Women's Rights/Reproductive Rights Project. Before attending Harvard, Prof. Kochen taught at Stanford Law School, where she was director of Public Interest Law and assistant dean of students. While working on her dissertation, Prof. Kochen was a fellow at Harvard's Center for Ethics and the Professions, taught Talmud and Jewish law to faculty and students at Harvard Law School, and spent three years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.