Annual Lecture Series Explores Foundations of American Legal Thought

The Foundations of American Legal Thought lecture series returns to Yale Law School for the spring 2026 term. 

The Program in the Foundations of American Legal Thought offers a course each spring at the Law School with a corresponding lecture series featuring speakers who examine canonical authors and movements in American legal theory past and present.

“Like every year, it is a joy to convene the students in the class — and all members of the interested Yale community — to hear about the making of legal thought today,” said Samuel Moyn, Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. “That our biggest teaching room is always full attests to a desire to orient ourselves to how we got here, even as scholars and students at Yale take our traditions in exciting new directions.”

The series kicks off on Jan. 21 with Professor Scott Shapiro ’90 delivering a lecture on “Formalism Versus Realism.” 

The schedule continues with “From Legal Realism to Legal Process” with Professor William N. Eskridge Jr. ’78 on Jan. 28; “Law and Economics” with Professor Christine Jolls on Feb. 4; “Politics without Politicians” with Yale Political Science Professor Hélène Landemore on Feb. 11; “The Past, Present, and Future of the Global Legal Order” with Professor Oona Hathaway ’97 on Feb. 18; “Race and Class” with Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy ’82 and Illinois State University History Professor Touré Reed on Feb. 24; “The Theory of the Firm” with Professor John Morley ’06 on March 4; “The Limits of Criminal Law” with New York University Law Professor Emma Kaufman ’15 on March 11; “Rape Law and Other Catastrophes of State Sex Exceptionalism” with Yale Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Joseph Fischel on March 25; “The Past, Present, and Future of Originalisms” with Professor Keith Whittington on April 1; “Abundance Liberalism” with economist Heather Boushey and journalist Derek Thompson on April 8; and “Dobbs and Democracy” with Professor Reva Siegel ’86 on April 15.

All lectures are free and open to the Yale community and will be held on Wednesdays from 12 to 1 p.m. in Room 127 of the Sterling Law Building. Please visit the Yale Law School events calendar for more information.