See the full symposium schedule
Overview
The erosion of the underpinnings of democratic institutions and ideals is an inescapable worldwide trend. The front pages of U.S. newspapers and law-related websites have been inundated with stories about how lawyers and law firms are coping with efforts by the new administration to bring the legal profession to heel. Sadly, the U.S. has joined a host of other countries where lawyers have long been subject to prosecution and persecution by governmental leaders. Some of these countries are full-fledged authoritarian systems, such as Russia, China and Iran. Other countries are arguably moving away from democracy towards authoritarianism. These are often referred to as backsliding democracies. Within this category would be the U.S., Brazil, Israel and others. Yet other countries, such as Poland, are moving away from authoritarianism towards democracy.
The symposium, which is cosponsored by the project on Lawyers and Democratic Decline, brings together leading scholars who are studying this critical question of the roles being played by lawyers and judges in the U.S. and other countries that have struggled with preserving democracy. The goal is to map experiences and unpack the reasons behind lawyers’ behavior and attitudes.
The symposium brings together leading scholars who are studying this critical question of the roles being played by lawyers and judges in the U.S. and other countries that have struggled with preserving democracy. The goal is to map experiences and unpack the reasons behind lawyers’ behavior and attitudes.
The symposium will include panels on:
- The responses of key players in the criminal justice system in Brazil (Maria Fatima Santos, UW-Madison), Russia (Renata Mustafina, Columbia University), and the US (Whitney Taylor, San Francisco State University)
- The responses of activist lawyers in Brazil (Oscar Vihena Viera, FGV), Hungary (Eszter Kirs, Corvinus University), Russia (Kathryn Hendley, UW-Madison), and the U.S. (Ann Southworth, UC-Irvine), as well as environmental lawyers in the US and Brazil (Vitor Martins Dias, Butler University).
- Robert Nelson (American Bar Foundation) will provide concluding remarks.
Note: Registration is not mandatory