CFP - LAWYERS and the LEGAL SYSTEM in POPULAR CULTURE (SWPACA Conference, Feb

H-Announce CFP - LAWYERS AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN POPULAR CULTURE (SWPACA Conference, Feb. 2022)

Announcement published by K. Dale Guffey on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 Type: Call for Papers Date: October 31, 2021 Location: New Mexico, United States Subject Fields: Popular Culture Studies, Law and Legal History, Teaching and Learning, Film and Film History

LAWYERS AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN POPULAR CULTURE

The United States prides itself on being a country based on the rule of law, and often the courtroom is seen as the “great leveler” of socio-economic classes in America. Thus, Lady Justice is often depicted as being blindfolded while carrying both scales and a sword.

In popular culture, lawyers run the spectrum, shown sometimes as high priests who adhere to the most rigid standards of truth seeking and ethical behavior (Atticus Finch, Jack McCoy) and sometimes shown as all-too-willing to be on the wrong side of the law (Tom Hagen, Saul Goodman).

Suggested topics include, but are certainly not limited to:

1. Actual people in the legal profession who have been fictionalized, such as Daniel Webster, Clarence Darrow (as Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind), or Erin Brockovich

1. Defending unpopular clients, such as the war criminals in Judgment at Nuremberg

1. Fictional women in the legal profession, such as Amanda Bonner in Adam’s Rib, the title character in Ally McBeal, Patty Hewes in Damages, or Annalise Keating in How to Get Away with Murder

1. Films centering on the law, such as 12 Angry Men, Devil’s Advocate, or Philadelphia

Citation: K. Dale Guffey. CFP - LAWYERS AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN POPULAR CULTURE (SWPACA Conference, Feb. 2022). H- Announce. 07-14-2021. https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/7929736/cfp-lawyers-and-legal-system-popular-culture-swpaca-conference Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Announce

1. Legal ethics as depicted - rightly or wrongly - in popular culture

1. Particular fictional lawyers, such as Shakespeare’s Portia or Perry Mason

1. The law as depicted in animated shows through characters such as Lionel Hutz (The Simpsons) or Harvey Birdman

1. The legal profession as a force of evil, such as Wolfram & Hart on Angel

1. The stereotype of the “simple country lawyer” such as Ben Matlock or Hyper-Chicken (Futurama). This topic could also easily include real-life figures such as Cicero, Abraham Lincoln, Sam Ervin, or Gerry Spence

1. The tension between reality television with paid participants and wildly popular courtroom shows involving small claims litigants

1. Using popular culture examples of the law and lawyers in the classroom to teach particular concepts.

All proposals must be submitted through the conference’s database at http://register.southwestpca.org/southwestpca

For details on using the submission database and on the application process in general, please see the Proposal Submission FAQs and Tips page at http://southwestpca.org/conference/faqs-and-tips/

Individual proposals for 15-minute papers must include an abstract of approximately 200-500 words. Including a brief bio in the body of the proposal form is encouraged, but not required.

For information on how to submit a proposal for a roundtable or a multi-paper panel, please view the above FAQs and Tips page.

The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2021.

SWPACA offers monetary awards for the best graduate student papers in a variety of categories. Submissions of accepted, full papers are due January 1, 2022. SWPACA also

Registration and travel information for the conference will be available at http://southwestpca.org/conference/conference-registration-information/

In addition, please check out the organization’s peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culturend aPedagogy, at http://journaldialogue.org/

Contact Info:

K. Dale Guffey Associate Prof. of Business Law, Limestone University

Contact Email: [email protected] URL: http://southwestpca.org/conference/call-for-papers/