On March 20, members of the New York Law School (NYLS) community gathered for a captivating book talk by NYLS adjunct professor Hon. Diane Kiesel. Professor Kiesel brought to life the sensational story behind her new book, When Charlie Met Joan: The Tragedy of the Chaplin Trials and the Failings of American Law.
Professor Kiesel transported the audience back to 1940s Hollywood, when the world-famous actor Charlie Chaplin found himself in a years-long legal battle involving a young aspiring actress named Joan Barry. “At its core, this is a juicy story of Old Hollywood,” said Professor Kiesel. “But it’s more. It’s about the power of celebrity, how law trails science, the weaponization of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, and the way women have always been exploited in Hollywood.”
Outlining the events detailed in her book, Professor Kiesel described how, in 1944, Chaplin was indicted for violating the Mann Act—a law prohibiting the transport of a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.” The charge stemmed from his brief yet tumultuous affair with Barry, who accused him of inviting her from New York to California to continue their extramarital relationship. The FBI, already suspicious of Chaplin due to his political outspokenness, aggressively pursued the case. While he was ultimately acquitted of the Mann Act charges, Chaplin later lost a paternity suit brought about by Barry, and was legally obligated to pay child support for a child that wasn’t biologically his.
Contextualizing the case in terms of gender and the law, Professor Kiesel shed light on the misconduct of the judge who presided over the case, the outdated paternity laws that led to a miscarriage of justice, and how Barry’s story mirrored the broader exploitation and marginalization of women in Hollywood.
The event concluded with a lively Q&A, during which Kiesel shared that her interest in the topic began while researching custody and domestic violence cases. What started as a legal footnote grew into a full investigation, spanning court transcripts, FBI files, and personal accounts. “When I discovered Chaplin paid child support for 21 years for a child that wasn’t biologically his,” she said, “I knew something had gone terribly wrong. And I had to find out how.”
View photos from Professor Kiesel’s book talk.
Following a career as a political journalist, Professor Kiesel served as a law clerk to two federal judges in Baltimore, worked as an associate at the Wall Street firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and spent a decade as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where she eventually rose to Deputy Chief of the Child Abuse Unit. In 1999, she was appointed to the bench of the New York City Criminal Court, and later went on to serve nearly 25 years as Acting Supreme Court Justice in both Bronx County and New York County before retiring in 2023. Professor Kiesel is also the author of Domestic Violence: Law, Policy and Practice (two editions) and She Can Bring Us Home: Dr. Dorothy Boulding Ferebee, Civil Rights Pioneer. She has taught legal writing and domestic violence law at NYLS since 1992. Learn more about Professor Kiesel’s work.