xii Acknowledgments
To the inspiring groups of students in my Law and Language, Law and An-
thropology, Legal Process, and Legal Profession classes at Wisconsin and North-
western, my gratitude for their invigorating discussions and research on topics
pertinent to this study. I have also gained fresh perspectives from the graduate stu-
dents with whom I’ve worked, with particular thanks to Jonathan Yovel, Jason
Freitag, Susan Gooding, Mark Goodale, Elizabeth Hoffman, Maud Schaafsma, and
Scott Parrott.
Outside of my home institutions, I have drawn on a wealth of knowledge and
support from a network of colleagues from whom I have been so fortunate to learn:
Martha Fineman, scholar and mentor extraordinaire, to whom I owe a special debt
of gratitude; David Wilkins and Joyce Sterling, my “legal profession” buddies;
Martha Minow, who provided invaluable practical aid and encouragement at the
outset of the project; and the gifted group of legal anthropologists, law-and-
society scholars, and anthropological linguists from whom I continue to learn: Carol
Greenhouse, Greg Matoesian, Sally Merry, Susan Hirsch, Charles Briggs, Marianne
Constable, Susan Philips, Don Brenneis, Bambi Schieffelin, John Conley, Mindie
Lazarus-Black, Ross Cheit, Lisa Frohmann, and many others. I owe a great deal of
my trajectory as an anthropologist of language to my early teachers at Bryn Mawr
and Duke—Judith Shapiro, Nancy Dorian, Jane Goodale, Frederica de Laguna,
Virginia Domínguez, William O’Barr, Jim Boon, and Larry Rosen—as well as to
the wonderful group of scholars who were part of the Center for Psychosocial Stud-
ies network during the time I was there. And I wish to acknowledge a special debt
to Michael Silverstein, on whose pathbreaking work in linguistic anthropology I
have drawn heavily.
I pause to express particular appreciation for the example set by my colleague
Jane Larson, whose dignity and whose insistence on values that I respect, particu-
larly regarding law and legal education, have pushed me and others to stand up for
what we believe, at whatever cost. I also am grateful to Ian Macneil and Marshall
Shapo, conscientious and sturdy voices in defense of academic freedom at a time
when many of us thought that this freedom was very much imperiled.
At key turning points toward law in my career, I was fortunate to have the en-
couragement and support of two generous senior mentors. I thank Judge Richard
Cudahy, who has stood strongly for a vision of justice in law while also insisting on
meticulous and rigorous legal thought, for a clerkship experience that was the high-
est form of legal education. I also thank Barney Weissbourd, with whom I coau-
thored two of my earliest articles on language and law; if it weren’t for our friendly
but spirited battles over the proper interpretation of H. L. A. Hart’s work, I might
never have decided to go to law school.
Finally, I want to express my thanks to other friends and to family who have
helped to make this work possible. To my mother, Barbara Mertz, a heartfelt thank
you for all your help and support over the years, and for flying in to sleep on our
couch during my law school exams so that I could study in peace knowing that
Jenny had top-of-the-line attention. I am deeply grateful as well for the rich net-
work of friends whose many kindnesses have greatly enriched my life and that of
my family, often providing the missing pieces we needed to keep schedules and
lives running smoothly: Eva, Karen, Joe, Jim, Kathy, Carol, Jeanne, Dave, Laurie,