Center for Law and Social Justice
Friday, November 10, 2006
11:40 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Room 101, Courtyard Building
First Annual Distinguished Guest Scholar in Social Justice Lecture
Professor Lauren B. Edelman

On Friday, November 10, Professor Lauren B. Edelman will give the first Distinguished Guest Scholar in Social Justice Lecture at a luncheon hosted by the Center for Law and Social Justice. Professor Edelman is a renowned sociologist who is the Agnes Roddy Robb Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). At Boalt, she is also director of the Center for the Study of Law and Society. Professor Edelman is the former president of the Law & 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 Wisconisn.

Professor Edelman will give a talk titled: Why Lawyers Should Care About Social Science Research: The Case of Employment Discrimination Law. In it, she will focus on a major study she is working on that looks at judicial decisions to see 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.

In honor of Professor Edelman's visit, a hot buffet lunch will be served. Please RSVP to Bruno Etchepare: betchepare@tjsl.edu . Other questions may be directed to Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp, Director of the Center for Law and Social Justice.