"The Role of Law and Lawyers in Time of Crises" with Law Professor Brian Tamanaha

Join IPH and Legal Studies for a lecture by Brian Tamanaha, John S. Lehman University Professor of Law. We ask that new Legal Studies Minors attend a short welcome session before the lecture (at 4:00 p.m.) with Professor Frank Lovett.

"The Role of Law and Lawyers in Times of Crises"

An unrelenting series of crises have befallen the world and American society in recent years: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Covid-19 pandemic, global warming, doubts about US elections and violent entry into the halls of Congress to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power, protests for racial justice, renewed battles over abortion, the so-called culture wars, and more. When faced with the individual and aggregate magnitude of these challenges it is easy to experience a sense of despair for society, and helplessness as individuals. But giving into despair is not an answer. This lecture describes the critical role law serves in these various crises (often unseen on the surface), explains how law has become a background infrastructure for society, and shows that law cannot fulfill this role without lawyers personally committed to upholding the rule of law.

Professor Brian Z. Tamanaha is a renowned jurisprudence and law and society scholar, and the author of ten books andover seventy-five articles and book chapters. His latest book is Legal Pluralism Explained: History, Theory, Consequences (Oxford 2021). His previous book, A Realistic Theory of Law
(Cambridge 2017), received the 2019 IVR Book Prize from the International Association of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy for best legal philosophy book published in 2016-18, as well as an Honorable Mention for the 2018 Prose Awards in Law by the Association of University Presses.
In 2013, a National Jurist poll of 300 law deans and professors voted Professor Tamanaha #1Most Influential Legal Educator, owing to hiscritical examination of the legal academy, Failing Law Schools (Chicago 2012). Professor Tamanaha has twice been selected Professor of the Year by student vote.

Before becoming a law professor, he clerked for the Hon. Walter E. Hoffman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, was an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Hawaii, was an Assistant Attorney General for Yap Statein Micronesia, and was Legal Counsel at the 1990 Micronesian Constitutional Convention. After these varied practice experiences, he earned a Doctorate of Juridical Science with a focus on legal theory at Harvard Law School.

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