Realist and Empirical Legal Methods Roundtable: Translating Society for Law and Policy: Can We Get There from Here?

Chair:
Elizabeth Mertz (American Bar Foundation/ University of Wisconsin)

Participants:
Ross E. Cheit (Brown University), Anya Bernstein (University of Chicago Law School), Jason Yackee (University of Wisconsin, Madison

Time: Thursday, May 30, 2:30pm-4:30pm
Place: Boston Sheraton Hotel, Room 13

Abstract:
As more and more law professors come to their teaching positions with advanced social science degrees from a broad range of fields, a growing group of scholars is facing the challenges of translating between the worlds of social science and law. There is often a temptation to attempt to simply impose one approach on the other. For example, law professors may seek “social science answers” to legally framed questions. Or social scientists may push to have legal scholars accept the more nuanced and contextually sensitive approaches typical of their fields. Another “solution” is for social scientists to simply convert to pragmatic policy-oriented approaches without seeking to incorporate the cautions and methodological strictures that would obtain were they to remain rooted in their “home disciplines.” The panelists in this Roundtable address the question of whether and how we can translate society for law and policy from the vantage of what has been called a “new legal realism” for this generation.