About Us

Now in its third year, the Law and Society RIW offers scholars who engage with law an opportunity to discuss and test their work among themselves and with leading professors in the field. The idea for a legal studies RIW arose out of conversations at accepted students days, as it became clear that a space for this kind of work did not then exist. While other RIWs are temporally or spatially distinct, this RIW focuses on the connection between law and society and allows interested individuals to bridge those boundaries.

We locate law in neither a single field nor a single geography, and therefore welcome students from across schools, programs, and geographic focuses in an effort to facilitate a multi-dimensional understanding of law and its relationship to societies. Previous topics have included the relationship between law and culture, politics, and economics. We look forward to a year filled with new and exciting scholarship.

Given the current pandemic, we have decided to hold all events for Fall 2020 virtually through Zoom. Links can be found on our calendar, embeded on the Upcoming Events page. While we hope to resume in person events as soon as these gatherings are again responsible, we have decided to prioritize the wisdom of experts, with the belief that health and safety unequivocally come first. We will make decisions about the winter and spring as new information becomes available.

Meet the Coordinators

Kat Brausch is a legal historian of the American Left. Her research explores political trials, radical lawyering, and incarceration during the twentieth century, particularly in the Midwest. She is a fourth year PhD candidate in the history department and received her JD from the University of Michigan Law School in 2018.

Allie Goodman is an urban historian studying the history of incarceration and the history of children and families in modern America. She has worked with University of Michigan's Documenting Criminalization and Confinement Project and is a 2019-2020 cohort member of the Race, Law, and History Fellowship. Most recently, Allie held a Rackham Public Engagement Internship, working with the Ecology Center on its 50th Anniversary celebration.

Zach Kopin is a legal historian of early America. His work examines the ways in which people of color influenced the development of American legal institutions before the 20th century. A 2015 MLaw Race, Law, and History Fellow, 2016 Mellon Public Humanities Fellow, and a 2020 Eisenberg Institute Graduate Fellow, Zach is deeply concerned with improving how legal scholarship can better inform popular legal debates.