Doyle-Winter Lecture: Edward Larson

Historian and legal scholar Edward J. Larson delivered the Michael A. Doyle ’62 and Bunny Winter Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law Lecture on Nov. 10, 2025. Titled “The Meaning of 1776,” the lecture draws from ideas in Larson’s latest book, “Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters,” which provides historical and political context for the year leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Larson is the Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law and University Professor of History at Pepperdine University. At Yale Law School, he was the inaugural Doyle-Winter Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law in fall 2021 and holds the same professorship for the fall 2025 term.