Left Politics and Left Legal Theory - Strange Bedfellows? , SOAS, University of London

This keynote entitled "Left Politics and Left Legal Theory - Strange Bedfellows?" was part of the The Past and Future of the Legal Left: Celebrating Duncan Kennedy's Scholarship conference which tool place at SOAS, University of London on 22 May 2014. Speaker: Duncan Kennedy, Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence, Harvard Law School Moderator: Professor Matthew Craven, Dean, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, SOAS Discussant: Professor Costas Douzinas, School of Law, Birkbeck This conference honored Professor Duncan Kennedy, one of the most influential legal theorists and left critics of our time. After teaching for more than four decades at Harvard Law School, Professor Kennedy announced his intention to retire. Kennedy's brilliant contributions have challenged our thinking on law and its role in society. He never shied away from controversy and engaged in a variety of academic and political debates. Admirably, he was able to commit simultaneously to both an intellectual critique and left-wing politics, without the political stifling critique or the latter undermining the political. In addition, Professor Kennedy was not content with offering critique and deconstruction, as some of his writings included highly specific and programmatic proposals. You can find out more about this conference at http://bit.ly/1orIqzx you can find out more about studying law at SOAS at http://www.soas.ac.uk/law