Janet Mary Riley (September 20, 1915 – July 5, 2008) was an American civil rights activist and first female law professor in New Orleans.

Riley dedicated her career to social justice reform, where her proposed "equal management" in reference to community property law was adopted by the Louisiana legislature in 1978 and formally incorporated into the Civil Code in 1980.

[6] Riley served on the legal team that defended four people, three of them African-American, who were arrested for sitting at a "whites only" lunch counter at McCrory's in 1960.

Riley wrote the brief for the case, Lombard vs. Louisiana, and it was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court, setting a precedent for striking down segregation laws and practices.

[8] At the time, the Louisiana Civil Code "Head and Master" rule gave the husband sole control over community property.

She served on the Commission on Human Rights of the Catholic Committee of the South, led by Jesuit sociologist, author, social reformer, and Loyola colleague Joseph H. Fichter, S.J.

[5] She was also a member of the Community Relations Council, a biracial group focused on the integration of public spaces such as playgrounds and restaurants in New Orleans.