Leading legal scholar Richard Epstein to present Pope Lecture
To discuss 'The Magic of Simple Rules'
March 6, 2007 – Leading legal scholar Richard A. Epstein will present the 2007 John W. Pope Lecture on March 19, 7:00 p.m. at the North Carolina State University. This public lecture will be held at the Nelson Auditorium in Nelson Hall on the NC State main campus; there is no charge to attend. This lecture program is presented by NC State's College of Humanities and Social Science and College of Management.
The topic of Epstein’s public lecture, ‘The Magic of Simple Rules’ is based on his book, Simple Rules for a Complex World, which reflects a dominant theme in Epstein's legal research career.
In his introduction to his book, Epstein writes that he hopes "to act as an intellectual middle man between two cultures, and to lay bare some of the foundational difficulties in the modern law for readers without any specialized legal training and experience. ... The book is also written with a strong single message. There is too much law and too many lawyers." Epstein has continued to update his research on the topic.
This book is part of a trilogy which includes Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism and Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good.
In addition to the public lecture, Epstein will hold discussion sessions with undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty as part of his visit to NC State.
Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He also is director of the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago.
The Olin Program is a multidisciplinary center that explores the relationship between economics and law, said Steve Margolis, professor of economics at NC State’s College of Management. “In both the common law and in economics, stewardship over resources is an essential theme. The strong connection between the two disciplines is reflected in the growing influence of law and economics in many law schools.
At NC State, a similar bridge between public policy and economics has been created with funding from the Pope Foundation. That funding supports education and research in economics and public policy in the College of Management’s Department of Economics and the College of Humanities and Social Science’s School of Public and International Affairs. The John W. Pope Lecture Series is part of that activity, along with support of the NC State student organization, the Society for Politics, Economics and Law (SPEL), and other activities.
More about the speaker
Richard A. Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1972. He has also been the Peter and Kirstin Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution since 2000. He is among the most prolific and most frequently cited legal scholars. He has also written extensively for non-academic audiences and is a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page. His most recent book is Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation, published in 2006.
Prior to joining the University of Chicago Law School faculty, he taught law at the University of Southern California from 1968 to 1972, and served as interim dean from February to June 2001. He received an LL.D., h.c. from the University of Ghent, 2003.
Epstein has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985 and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Medical School, also since 1983. He served as editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991-2001,
Epstein received his A.B. in 1964 from Columbia College; his B.A. in 1966 from Oxford University and his LL.B. in 1968 from Yale University.