Duncan Kennedy (born 1942) was the Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

until 2015. Now emeritus, he is best known as one of the founders of the

critical legal studies Critical legal studies (CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.Alan Hunt, "The Theory of Critical Legal Studies," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1986): 1-45, esp. 1, 5. Se DOI, 10.1 ...

movement in legal thought.

Education and early career

Kennedy received an A.B. from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

in 1964 and then worked for two years in the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

operation that controlled the

National Student Association The United States National Student Association (NSA) was a confederation of college and university student governments that was in operation from 1947 to 1978. Founding and early years The NSA was founded at a conference at the University of Wis ...

. In 1966 he rejected his "cold war liberalism." He quit the CIA and in 1970 earned an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...

. After completing a clerkship with

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Justice

Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to, among other areas ...

, Kennedy joined the Harvard Law School faculty, becoming a full professor in 1976. In March 2010 he received an Honoris Causa (honorary degree) Ph.D. title from the University of the Andes in

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. In June 2011, he also received an Honnoris Causa Ph.D title from the

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Qué ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Kennedy has been a member of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

since 1967. According to his own testimony, he has never forgotten to pay his dues.Duncan Kennedy, Harvard Law School Lecture, "Globalization of Legal Ideas and Ideology," April 14, 2011.

Academic work and influence

In 1977, together with Karl Klare, Mark Kelman,

Roberto Unger Roberto Mangabeira Unger (; born 24 March 1947) is a Brazilian philosopher and politician. His work is in the tradition of classical social theory and pragmatism, and is developed across many fields including legal theory, philosophy and religion ...

, and other scholars, Kennedy established the critical legal studies movement. Outside legal academia, he is mostly known for his monograph '' Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy'

famous for its trenchant critique of American legal education.

Bibliography

* "Form and Substance in Private Law Adjudication," 89 ''

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...

'' 1685 (1976) * "Freedom and Constraint in Adjudication: A Critical Phenomenology," 36 ''Journal of Legal Education'' 518 (1986) * ''Sexy Dressing, etc.'' (Harvard University Press, 1993) * ''A Critique of Adjudication in de siècle' (

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 1997) * "A Semiotics of Critique," 22 ''Cardozo Law Review'' 1147 (2001) * "Thoughts on Coherence, Social Values and National Tradition in Private Law," in Hesselink, ed., ''The Politics of a European Civil Code'' (

Kluwer Law International Wolters Kluwer N.V. () is a Dutch information services company. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands (Global) and Philadelphia, United States (corporate). Wolters Kluwer in its current form was founded in 1987 with a m ...

, Amsterdam, 2006)

Notes

External links

Duncan Kennedy's Personal WebsiteDuncan Kennedy's Harvard Law School Home PageDuncan_Kennedy_debates_Noah_Feldman
_in_March_2008_at_Harvard_Law_School,_as_part_of_a_series_on_"Confronting_Empire".html" ;"title="Noah Feldman">Duncan Kennedy debates Noah Feldman
in March 2008 at Harvard Law School, as part of a series on "Confronting Empire"">Noah Feldman">Duncan Kennedy debates Noah Feldman
in March 2008 at Harvard Law School, as part of a series on "Confronting Empire"*, lecture on law and economics {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Duncan 1942 births Living people Critical legal studies Harvard Law School faculty People from Washington, D.C. Philosophers of law Harvard College alumni Yale Law School alumni Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States

Education and early career

Academic work and influence

Bibliography

See also

Notes

External links