Princeton University’s Program in Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) explores the role of law in politics, society, the economy, and culture in the United States, in countries around the world, and across national borders. Through its programming, teaching, and research initiatives, LAPA combines the multidisciplinary expertise of Princeton’s faculty with the knowledge and perspectives provided by leading academic and practical experts on American, international, and comparative law, creating an exciting new forum to address the complex problems of the new century.

LAPA’s new logo and the launching of its website, lapa.princeton.edu, represent a renewed commitment to serve the interests of the full Princeton community through expanded programming and events. “We have reorganized our program and staff to manage the increased involvement of students and faculty and identify future roles for LAPA in promoting the exploration of legal issues at Princeton,” explains LAPA Director Kim Lane Scheppele. “By seeking to engage students in multidisciplinary and intellectually stimulating examinations of major policy challenges in today’s world, we also are identifying public service opportunities where they can use their education to make a difference.”

LAPA Fellows
Each year, LAPA hosts a select group of Fellows drawn from the academy, legal practice, government, and policymaking institutions. In addition to pursuing unique research projects, they share their experience and expertise with students and faculty in both formal and informal settings. The 2007-2008 LAPA Fellows are:

• Robert B. Ahdieh ’94, Microsoft/LAPA Fellow in information technology, intellectual property, and economic organization. A WWS graduate, Bobby is a professor of law and director of the Center on Federalism and Intersystemic Governance at Emory Law School. His scholarly interests focus on questions of regulatory design. His senior thesis was published as a book, Russia’s Constitutional Revolution (Penn State Press, 1997). Before joining the Emory faculty, he served as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice.
• Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Charles Klein Professor of Law and Government and director of the Institute for International Law and Public Policy at Temple University Beasley School of Law. He currently is examining the fragmentation of the international legal system and the use of constitutional discourse across different areas of international law. Jeff also has served as the only American member of the blue-ribbon Warwick Commission on the Future of the Trade System, and was a visiting fellow at Cambridge University and a consultant for the World Bank.
• Marci A. Hamilton, Martin and Kathleen Crane LAPA Fellow. She is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, and the author of God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect its Children (Cambridge University Press, 2008), as well as a columnist for www.findlaw.com. A former Supreme Court clerk, Marci served as lead counsel in the Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. • Carol A. Heimer, professor of sociology at Northwestern University and senior research fellow at the American Bar Foundation. Carol has received awards for her scholarship in sociology of both law and medicine. She currently is writing a book based upon her NSF-funded ethnographic work and interviews in HIV/AIDS clinics in the U.S., Uganda, South Africa, and Thailand.
• Peter Lindseth, professor of law at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Having earned both a J.D. and Ph.D. in European history, Peter combines these interests to focus his research on the relationship between public law and the nation-state in Western Europe and North America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
• Aidan O’Neill, the inaugural University Center for Human Values (UCHV)/LAPA Fellow. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Aidan is a Queen’s Counsel (QC). He has argued cases in the courts of Scotland, England, and Wales, as well as in the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. He is the author of several legal texts and academic articles concerning human rights, constitutional law, and E.U. law. He currently is examining the interaction between law, politics, and religion.

Student Activities: Promoting Learning and Service Opportunities
The LAPA Student Forum, led by Philip Levitz ’08 and Pauline Yeung ’08, this fall launched the Undergraduate Associates Program, which accepted 61students. A kick-off dinner with the LAPA fellows generated considerable enthusiasm, with many students volunteering to plan additional student activities. Already scheduled are a symposium on Chinese law, and a conversation with Walter Murphy, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus.

The Arthur Liman Fellowships in Public Interest Law again will be awarded to four undergraduates and two graduate students for summer work with nonprofit organizations assisting individuals or interest groups that lack sufficient resources to retain attorneys or engage in sustained legal advocacy. In the program’s first two years at Princeton, 12 fellows worked in nine different states and one foreign country on projects including tenants’ rights, prison reform, human rights, and global justice. (See related article on page 24.)

In the spirit of LAPA Director Scheppele’s observation that “law is too important to be left only to lawyers,” LAPA this November initiated a lunch series for M.P.P. and M.P.A. candidates on “Law in Public Service: Not Just for Lawyers.” Deborah Pearlstein, research scholar at WWS and former Supreme Court clerk and director of U.S. Law and National Security at Human Rights First, and Robert Ashbaugh, former Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Justice departments, were among the inaugural speakers. Although lawyers, both are in a position to explore the role of law in policy development and advocacy, as well as the nobility of public service. LAPA also is making plans to welcome the participants in the new WWS M.P.P. Program for Lawyers beginning next fall.

LAPA continues to sponsor the biweekly Law-Engaged Graduate Students (LEGS) seminars where Ph.D. candidates present their law-related research for discussion among a multidisciplinary gathering of graduate students and faculty.

Events: Fostering Public Debate and Scholarly Deliberations
LAPA’s Fall 2007 calendar began with the third annual faculty retreat, where Princeton faculty presented their recent scholarship and engaged their colleagues and selected graduate students in lively discourse. This year, the truly multidisciplinary LAPA-associated faculty presenters and commentators included Keith Whittington, Dirk Hartog, Margot Canaday, Kim Lane Scheppele, Leora Batnitzky, Gideon Rosen, Emilie Hafner-Burton, David Leheny, Robert Keohane, Steve Macedo, and Harold James.

LAPA also hosted two panel discussions honoring the publication of books by Princeton faculty associates. In October, Paul Starr presented his book Freedom’s Power: The True Force of Liberalism (Basic Books, 2007), and provoked a thoughtful exchange between “liberal-leaning” E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, and Jennifer Hochschild, Harvard University, with the more conservative James Ceaser, University of Virginia, and Peter Berkowitz, Hoover Institute, in a panel presented with the James Madison Program. The publication of Provost Christopher Eisgruber’s book, The Next Justice: Repairing the Supreme Court Appointments Process (Princeton University Press, 2007) brought together panelists Jan Crawford Greenburg, ABC News; Michael Dorf, Columbia Law School; Ron Klain, executive vice president and general counsel, Revolution, Inc.; and David Yalof, University of Connecticut.

Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard Law School delivered the annual Walter F. Murphy Lecture in America Constitutionalism on November 19. Her talk, entitled “Importing Legal Ideas,” was co-sponsored by LAPA and the James Madison Program. In December, LAPA will host the annual “Constitutional Law Schmooze,” where invited constitutional scholars from around the country gather to examine an issue of constitutional law. This year’s topic is “Executive Power.”

With the arrival of 2008, LAPA will host or co-sponsor a variety of exciting conferences on topical issues. In February, a daylong public conference will bring together scholars from around the country to engage in one of the first retrospectives of “The Contributions of William H. Rehnquist to American Constitutional Jurisprudence.” The following week, a major conference on “The Limits of Constitutional Democracy” will span three days and examine a variety of controversial issues from many philosophical and political orientations. During reunions, LAPA again will host a one-day seminar featuring stimulating panel discussions of noted scholars. This year’s theme is “Law and Religion.” LAPA also will continue convening the biweekly “LAPA Seminars,” where its fellows and distinguished scholars present research papers.

The New LAPA “Infrastructure”
To develop and staff its expanding agenda, LAPA has put into place a new office organization and personnel. Office Coordinator Jennifer Bolton joins LAPA after five years of working for Princeton Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee and, before that, at the Pew Foundation. Events Manager Judi Rivkin brings to LAPA her skills honed as events administrator for the James Madison Program, as well as related work with the Seattle Symphony and N.Y. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Leslie Gerwin fills the position of assistant director, bridging the academic and staff roles based upon her long career as a professor at both law and public health schools, and as a public policy consultant and a non-profit executive.

You can view LAPA’s new look and its many activities by visiting their website lapa.princeton.edu.