Elizabeth Mertz
Research Professor
- 750 N. Lake Shore Drive
- 4th Floor
- Chicago, IL 60611
Joint appointment
John and Rylla Bosshard Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin
Education
Ph.D., Anthropology, Duke University; J.D., Northwestern University School of Law
Bio
Elizabeth Mertz is a legal anthropologist who studies legal language in the United States,
with a special focus on law school education. Her research also examines
the problems involved in…
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Research focus
Language and law, legal education, interdisciplinary translation, family law. Research focuses on the intersection of law and language, combining anthropological and legal perspectives. Empirical research at the ABF has centered on legal education. The first study, which was also funded by the Spencer Foundation, provided the most extensive observational data available to date on first-year law school teaching. The current project, funded by the ABF and the Law School Admission Council, examines the post-tenure experiences of law professors. Other research has addressed the process by which law translates the social world around it in a number of additional settings.
Projects
- Senior Status in the Legal Academy
- Latest finding: Jul 30, 2009, with Katherine Barnes
, Wamucii Njogu
- This is the first national study examining the post-tenure experiences of law professors in the United States. Tenured law professors shape many aspects of the institutional settings within law…
- The New Legal Realism
- Latest finding: Jul 30, 2009, with University of Wisconsin Institute for Legal Studies, Emory University School of Law
- Lawyers and law professors frequently draw on social science, and there are many social scientists who devote their careers to studying legal institutions and processes. Yet despite their apparent…
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Publications
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“Editor’s Introduction"
- PoLar: Political and Anthropological Review
-
“Editor’s Introduction”
- PoLar: Political and Anthropological Review
-
The Role of Social Science in Law
- Ashgate
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Presentations
- The Myth of Transparent Translation: Legal Epistemology and Social Science
- Oct 2009
- "Social Science and the First Apprenticeship" -- Presentation at YES WE CArNegie: Change in Legal Education Since the Carnegie Report"
- Jul 2009
- "Translating Social Science in Legal Arenas: The Myth of Transparency" -- New Directions in Law & Society Scholarship: Engaging with Empiricism
- Feb 2009
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Professional Service & Recognition
- Co-Winner, Herbert Jacob Book Prize, Law & Society Association: The Language of Law School: Learning to "Think Like a Lawyer," Oxford University Press
- Member, Editorial Board, Law & Society Review
- Member, Carnegie Legal Education Reform Project Working Group
- Member, Association of American Law Schools Committee on Research
- Editor, PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review
- Member, Ad Hoc Committee on the Annual Meeting, Law & Society Association
- Member, Editorial Board, Language and Law Book Series, Oxford University Press
Links
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