NEWS RELEASE
October 26, 2006
First Annual Distinguished Guest Scholar in Social Justice
Lauren B. Edelman Speaks about Social Science Research
and Employment Discrimination Law
SAN DIEGO – Professor Lauren B. Edelman will give the inaugural Distinguished Guest Scholar in Social Justice Lecture at Thomas Jefferson School of Law on Friday, November 10, 2006 from 11:40 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. in the Courtyard Building, Room 101, 2120 San Diego Avenue. The event is hosted by Thomas Jefferson’s Center for Law and Social Justice.
Professor Edelman’s talk is entitled: Why Lawyers Should Care About Social Science Research: The Case of Employment Discrimination Law. She will focus on a major study she's conducting that looks at judicial decisions to determine when and under what conditions judges defer to employer practices as evidence of non-discrimination. Her thesis is that courts must be careful of undue deference to preexisting employment practices because to defer runs the risk of allowing the terms of legal regulation to be determined by the parties who are subject to regulation in the first place.
A renowned sociologist who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, Professor Edelman also earned a law degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall, where she is now the Agnes Roddy Robb Professor of Law. She also serves as director of UC Berkeley's Center for the Study of Law and Society.
Professor Edelman is the former president of the Law and Society Association, a former Guggenheim fellow, and was twice a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Before joining the Boalt Hall faculty, she was associate professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Her official Boat Hall faculty profile is available on-line at: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/facultyProfile.php?facID=34
For further information, please contact Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp, director of the Center for Law and Social Justice: susanb@tjsl.edu