Acknowledgments xiand above all for their exercise of maturity, reason, and care in managing the ups
and downs of institutional life. For colleagueship above and beyond the call of duty,
I thank Carol Heimer and Bob Nelson, each of whom in different ways has pro-
vided highly valued support over many years now, as well as John Comaroff, Shari
Diamond, Chris Tomlins, Mary Rose, William Felstiner, Susan Shapiro, Laura Beth
Nielsen, Karyl Kinsey, Tracey Meares, Bonnie Honig, Annelise Riles, Steve Daniels,
Bette Sikes, and Roz Caldwell, from each of whose expertise I have drawn in spe-
cific ways. And Joanne Martin, of course—an indomitable force at the heart of the
ABF for years—provided her own eagle eye on our numbers as well as unflagging
enthusiasm for the project. In the final stages of preparing the manuscript, I was
very fortunate to have the assistance of Molly Heiler and Stephanie Lambert.
During the conclusion of the project, I had the good fortune to be invited to
join the legendary law-and-society community at the University of Wisconsin Law
School in Madison, for generations a leader among law schools in its insistence on
the study and teaching of “law in action.” I have learned a great deal from the per-
spectives and scholarship of my new colleagues, and from their insistence on un-
compromising standards for bringing together legal and social scientific work. In
particular, I thank Howie Erlanger and Stewart Macaulay for sharing their insights
on law teaching and sociolegal studies as well as for their stalwart friendship and
support, Jane Larson for the ongoing education I receive from our discussions, Art
McEvoy for his encouragement and colleagueship, and a growing list of valued
Madison compatriots for all that I am learning from them about sociolegal inquiry.
Our dean, Ken Davis, and associate deans Alta Charo and Peter Carstensen have
been generous in their patience and support as I’ve negotiated the completion of
this project across institutions (and states!).
During several years of the project, I held in addition to my ABF appointment
a position at the Northwestern University School of Law, where I had also been a
law student. Much of the initial impetus for this study came from some of my
observations as a student at Northwestern and from the insights of my fellow stu-
dents there. In particular, I want to remember my classmate Cathy Novak, whose
experiences during our first year challenged me to ask more about the process of
legal education. My good friends Joe Margulies and Jonathan Turley learned with
and taught me about the problems and possibilities of the law school environment,
as did many other friends, including my Articles Office “family”: Rick Sander, Krista
Edwards, Sue Tuite Kirkpatrick, and Mark Challenger. As my third-year research
supervisor, David VanZandt encouraged my initial interest in this project. While
a professor at Northwestern, I also benefited from the intellectual insights and
support of the short-lived but productive “Friday Faculty” group, including my
friend and coauthor Cynthia Bowman, Jane Larson, Bob Burns, Clint Francis,
Stephen Gardbaum, Ray Solomon, and Len Rubinowitz (known to generations of
Northwestern law students and junior faculty, including me, as an exceptionally
supportive colleague and friend). I warmly thank Michael Perry and Kathy Abrams,
fellow NU departees, for sharing their perspectives in discussions pertinent to this
work, and a number of other colleagues on whom I leaned for insights and advice,
including Vic Rosenblum, Marshall Shapo, Theresa Cropper, Laura Lin, Charlotte
Crane, Helene Shapo, Dick Speidel, Judy Rosenbaum, and Ron Allen.