In Memoriam: A Roundtable Tribute to the Scholarship of Lauren B. Edelman

Abstract

Lauren Edelman’s research has been instrumental in shaping scholarly understanding around the intersection of organisations and the law. Her work demonstrated that in contemporary society, large organisations and businesses have the resources to create new legal procedures and structures that influence the way those organisations comply with the law. While Marc Galanter argued that the “haves” come out ahead in the courts, Edelman’s research demonstrated that these legal constructions enabled organisations to become “private legal orders in their own right”. Edelman argued that organisations could construct meanings of compliance that may satisfy outsiders, while failing to solve the underlying problem, thus creating a perception of symbolic, rather than substantive compliance. Additionally, these modes of legal compliance may influence the way judges and other officials understand the efficacy of the law, thus reflecting the “endogeneity of the law”. Her research has had important ramifications for understanding the (in)effectiveness of anti-discrimination law, among other areas of regulation. This roundtable is designed to generate discussion that revisits her research and its relevance for solving contemporary legal problems within organisations. Panellists: • Colin Provost (moderator), University College London • Judith van Erp, University of Utrecht • Yuval Feldman, Bar Ilan University • Aleksandra Jordanoska, King’s College London

Title	Details
N/A	View Paper Details
N/A	View Paper Details
N/A	View Paper Details