“The Public Life of the Private Law: The Logic and Experience of Mass Litigation”
A Conference in Honor of Richard A. Nagareda
Vanderbilt Law School announces a conference in honor of the late Richard Nagareda, the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair in Law and founding Director of the Cecil D. Branstetter Litigation and Dispute Resolution Program. “The Public Life of Private Law: The Logic and Experience of Mass Litigation” Conference will be held on September 27 and 28, 2013, at Vanderbilt and is jointly sponsored by the Branstetter Program, the Journal of Tort Law, and the University of Texas Center on Lawyers, Civil Justice, and the Media. Conference organizers are Tracey George (Vanderbilt), John Goldberg (Harvard), Sam Issacharoff (NYU), and Charlie Silver (Texas). We invite junior scholars to submit paper proposals for the conference by February 15.
In the spirit of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Richard Nagareda devoted himself to studying the life of the law–the law as it actually plays out in lawyer-client relationships, the maneuvering of adversary litigation, the efforts by judges to manage an unruly litigation process, and the construction of elaborate settlement agreements that now dominate the modern landscape of civil litigation. Yet despite his relentless focus on the “realities” of civil litigation, Richard never fell prey to skepticism about law. Indeed, he insisted that lawyerly efforts to fashion new claims and new forms of dispute resolution are and should be shaped by substantive law, the rules of professional responsibility, and ultimately principles of administrative law. The hallmark of his work is its commitment to taking seriously both the logic and the experience of mass tort law and complex litigation.
This conference pays homage to Richard’s scholarship by inviting a new generation of scholars to address topics and concerns related to his work. Each panel will be organized around a junior scholar’s paper with senior scholars commenting on papers. Senior scholars will include Lynn Baker, Bob Bone, Beth Burch, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tracey George, Myriam Gilles, John Goldberg, Sam Issacharoff, Bill Rubenstein, Suzanna Sherry, Charlie Silver, and Patrick Woolley. All papers and comments will be published in the Journal of Tort Law.
If you are a junior scholar interested in participating, please submit a five-page paper proposal to Branstetter.Program@vanderbilt.edu no later than February 15. If your proposal is accepted, we will inform you by March 15. All travel expenses will be covered for invited junior scholars. If you have any questions, please email Branstetter Director Tracey George (tracey.george@vanderbilt.edu).
