AALS Torts Section Announces Panel on Richard Epstein

 Announcement and Call for Papers

AALS Torts Group Section Meeting

January 8, 2010, 8:30 – 10:15 a.m.

Panel: Richard Epstein’s Legacy in Torts.

            Richard Epstein is among the most prominent and influential torts scholars of our times.  Unmatched in breadth, his scholarly corpus displays a remarkable command of doctrinal, historical, institutional and philosophical analysis. A fiercely independent thinker, Professor Epstein has challenged conventional wisdom on core topics including:  the centrality of fault to modern accident law; the reluctance of courts to allow potential personal injury victims to contract around tort law; the desirability of flexible liability standards over clear rules, the soundness of New York Times v. Sullivan, and the lack of meaningful constitutional limits on tort reform legislation.

            The Executive Committee of the Torts and Compensation System is delighted to have assembled for the 2010 AALS Annual Meeting a panel of world-renowned tort scholars consisting of Jules Coleman (Yale), Jill Horwitz (Michigan), Joshua Getzler (Oxford), and Benjamin Zipursky (Fordham). The panelist will critically examine various dimensions of Professor Epstein’s work, and its potential significance for future tort law and scholarship.  After Professor Epstein has an opportunity to respond, a question-and-answer session will follow. 

Call for Papers

            Papers written by panelists at this year’s AALS Torts Section meeting will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Tort Law (“JTL”).   JTL is also at this time inviting scholars to submit papers for publication on this topic.  Ordinary JTL submissions procedures and publication standards will apply.  Deadline for submissions of papers is January 4, 2010, 5 p.m. Eastern Time (U.S.). 

– SBS