Lawrence M. Friedman : An Oral History
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Lawrence Friedman, the Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at the Stanford Law School, shares memories from his career in legal history. Friedman describes his path from law school at the University of Chicago to the practice of law at a small firm to a career in academia. He speaks about how his love for legal history developed and working with Willard Hurst at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and he describes several of his research projects and their connection to the field of law and society. Friedman also reflects on how law is taught in the United States, some of the changes in law school curricula he has observed, the Stanford Program in International Legal Studies (SPILS), and more.
- Summary
- Growing up on the West Side of Chicago during the 1930s • Being the first in his family to attend college • Attending University of Chicago • Falling in love with languages and grammar, including Ancient Near Eastern languages • Decision to attend law school at University of Chicago • Criticism of legal education in the late 1940s • Studying under Max Rheinstein • Writing master’s dissertation on Elizabethan judge, Sir James Dyer • Being stationed with the army in Europe during the Korean War • Traveling in Europe with future wife, Leah • Working at law firm in Chicago on trusts and estates • Interest in legal history and path to academia • Teaching at St. Louis University School of Law • Move to University of Wisconsin, Madison • Leadership of Willard Hurst at UW Madison and the law and society field • Writing Contract Law in America and studying the Wisconsin Supreme Court • Friedman’s early publications • Writing a general history of American law • Coming to Stanford in 1968 • Impressions of Stanford Law School in the 1960s • Stanford colleagues John Merryman and John Kaplan • SLADE program in law and development in Latin American countries • Study on infanticide in England and, later, the US • Love of teaching and working with teaching assistants • Collaborating with students • Working with primary records • Field of law and economics • Hiring practices at law schools • Reflections on law school curricula and changes in legal education • Change from semesters to quarters at Stanford Law School • Emphasis on the LSAT and bar exam in today’s legal education • Visiting professorships at Princeton and Chicago • Teaching undergraduate students versus law students • Changes in law school curricula regarding legal history • Changes in the field of legal history • Master’s in Law degree • Creation of Stanford Program in International Legal Studies (SPILS) as a research-based master’s program in law • Other graduate legal degrees • Administration at Stanford Law School • Creation of Stanford’s International Junior Faculty Forum • Development of the similar Graduate Student Forum • Involvement with the Law and Society Association • Research Committee on the Sociology of Law meetings in Spain’s Basque country • American Society of Legal History • Contradiction between American legal history and general legal history • Views on retirement and the battle against mandatory retirement • Honors, prizes, and honorary degrees • Discussion of selected publications • Impact: How Law Affects Behavior, his sociology of law book on what factors make laws effective • Discussion of the deterrence curve • Using Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California as a case study in classes • The Human Rights Culture--publication difficulties and thesis • Recent research into the effects of technological change on law, including the impact of cameras • Concept of “crimes of mobility” • Guarding Life’s Dark Secrets book on reputation and blackmail • Research using samples of old case records, including coroner’s inquest files • Genre writing and his mystery series The Frank May Chronicles • Missing out on a Pulitzer prize • Research on infanticide in Victorian England • Approach to teaching
Description
| Type of resource | moving image, text, sound recording-nonmusical, still image |
|---|---|
| Extent | 6 video files; 6 audio files; 1 text file; 1 photograph |
| Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
| Date created | December 12, 2017 - 2017-12-14 |
| Language | English |
| Digital origin | born digital |
Creators/Contributors
| Interviewee | Friedman, Lawrence M. (Lawrence Meir), 1930- | |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Friedman, Lawrence M. (Lawrence Meir), 1930- | |
| Interviewer | Brest, Iris | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Friedman, Lawrence M. (Lawrence Meir), 1930- |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University. School of Law |
| Subject | Stanford Program in International Legal Studies |
| Subject | Hurst, James Willard, 1910-1997 |
| Genre | Interview |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical Profile |
An internationally renowned, prize-winning legal historian, Lawrence M. Friedman has been the leading expositor of the history of American law to a global audience of lawyers and lay people alike--and a leading figure in the law and society movement. He is particularly well known for treating legal history as a branch of general social history. From his award- winning History of American Law, first published in 1973, to his American Law in the 20th Century, published in 2003, his canonical works have become classic textbooks in legal and undergraduate education.
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| Transcript |
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| Finding Aid | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/zb939hj6587 |
| Location | SC0932 |
| Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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