Inaugural New Legal Realism Conference: New Legal Realist Methods
In June 2004, a group of legal and social science scholars gathered in Madison, Wisconsin, to generate models and ideas for a new legal realist research agenda. The conference was supported by a major grant from the American Bar Foundation, along with additional support from the Institute for Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
The conference program states: “We seek to develop a tripartite approach that includes sophisticated consideration of legal issues, empirical research, and policy – much as did the old legal realists, but with the benefit of several generations of new thinking in all of these areas.”
The opening panels of the conference focused on history and theory, with the goal of laying the groundwork for conceptualizing a new paradigm. These panels looked back to past efforts at bridging between social science and law in order to learn from mistakes and successes. They then turned to look forward toward new opportunities to bring law and social science together. On the second day, panelists presented empirical research that could serve as a model for NLR efforts. Finally, the third day panels considered how to integrate social science research into law teaching, and how to create future interdisciplinary opportunities.
Participants included Laura Beny (University of Michigan), Elizabeth Heger Boyle (University of Minnesota), John Conley (University of North Carolina), Howard Erlanger (University of Wisconsin), Martha Albertson Fineman (Emory University), Marc Galanter (University of Wisconsin), Bryant Garth (ABF), Mitu Gulati (Duke University), Joel Handler (UCLA), Cheryl Kaiser (University of Washington), Alexandra Kalev (University of Arizona), Jane Larson (University of Wisconsin), Orly Lobel (UCSD), Guadalupe Luna (Northern Illinois University), Stewart Macaulay (University of Wisconsin), Brenda Major (UCSB), Arthur McEvoy (University of Wisconsin), Sally Merry (NYU), Elizabeth Mertz (ABF & Wisconsin), Thomas Mitchell (University of Wisconsin), Robert Nelson (ABF and Northwestern), Laura Beth Nielsen (ABF and Northwestern), Victoria Nourse (University of Wisconsin), Devah Pager (Princeton), Bruce Price (University of Denver), David Trubek (University of Wisconsin), Louise Trubek (University of Wisconsin), Lucie White (Harvard University), and David Wilkins (Harvard University).
Download the conference program.