Rebecca R. French, associate professor of law at CU-Boulder, will give the 25th annual Austin W. Scott Jr. lecture titled "Law, Time and Identity" on March 8 at 4 p.m. in the Fleming Law Building.
French will focus on how anthropological analysis, historical comparisons and legal system examples can provide new ways of examining time, identity and law. She will discuss how Einstein聮s theory of relativity, George Gamow聮s popularization of the expanding universe and our cultural "heroes" contribute to our new perspectives.
Before joining CU-Boulder聮s faculty in 1992, French held research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Harvard Law School and the East-West Center in Honolulu. She also practiced law with the Seattle-King County Public Defender聮s office from 1974-76, followed by three years as an attorney in private practice.
French is the author of "The Golden Yoke: The Legal Cosmology of Buddhist Tibet," which set fieldwork standards in legal anthropology and religious studies. She was recently awarded a yearlong Faculty Fellowship from CU聮s Council on Research and Creative Work to research the transformation of Tibetan law.
French teaches anthropology of law, law and religion, comparative law, estates and trusts, law and the social sciences and modern legal theory. She is a board member of the Association of Political and Legal Anthropologists and recently was chair of the International Affairs Committee of Law and Society.
The Austin W. Scott Jr. Lecture Series was established in 1973 by Dean Don W. Sears in memory of Professor Scott who had been a faculty member of the University of Colorado School of Law for 20 years. Each year, the dean of the law school selects a member of the faculty who has been involved in a significant scholarly project to lecture on his or her research. The past three faculty members who have received this honor were Mark J. Lowenstein, J. Dennis Hynes and Barbara A. Bintliff.
The lecture is free and open to the public and one continuing legal education credit is offered.