The School of Law is pleased to welcome back Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward J. Larson as the Hugh and Hazel Darling Professor of Law. Larson, who specializes in law, science, and technology, and health care law, teaches first-year property law at the law school and history at Seaver College.
Pepperdine Law
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- A Supreme Honor
- A Memoir: A Moment. An Experience. An Oath.
- Resolved to be Excellent
- The Highest Lawyer of the Land
- Nothing Short of Incredible
- Creating a Legacy
- Welcome, Edward J. Larson!
- Trial Teams Earn Acclaim Nationwide
- A Look Back at Year One
- Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics
- Graduating with Honors
- Remembering the Good Ol' Days
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Welcome, Edward J. Larson!
story > Jovie Baclayon
In Spring 2005, he was Pepperdine's D and L Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law but returned to the University of Georgia (UGA) where he's been on the faculty since 1987. At Georgia, he enjoyed dual appointments as UGA's Russell Professor of History and Talmadge Professor of Law.
"I'm delighted and honored to be back," Larson comments. "Pepperdine is a great place to teach and write. The faculty cares deeply about teaching and the administration is committed to building a fi rst-tier law school. It is an exciting time for Pepperdine and its students.
"A frequent guest speaker at universities; conferences; and on PBS, NPR, the History Channel, C-SPAN, and the BBC; Larson has authored or coauthored more than 100 published articles and 12 books with a focus on science, medicine, and law from an historical perspective. He won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History for Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, and he is working on a book about politics, religion, and science in the 1800 presidential election. He will publish an edited volume of the writing of Clarence Darrow later this year.
Larson with Supreme Court justice
Stephen Breyer, his good friend
and former law professor
at Harvard.
The award-winning scholar has taught in China, South America, and Europe, including the Netherlands as the Fulbright Program's 2001 John Adams Chair in American Studies. He also received the George Sarton Lecture Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2000; the Albert Christ-Janer Creative Research Award in 2001, one of UGA's highest honors for scholarship; and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from The Ohio State University in 2004. Larson was also a participant in the National Science Foundation's prestigious Antarctic Artists and Writers Program in 2003-04.
"In my career, I have been privileged to study the intersection of law, science, medicine, and culture," Larson notes. "As science and medicine continue to transform our lives, build our economy, and challenge our values, history gives us a perspective to understand the prospects before us."
He received his bachelor's degree from Williams College, master's degree and doctorate in the history of science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his J.D. from Harvard. Before joining UGA, he practiced as an attorney with Davis, Wright & Tremaine in Seattle, and as associate counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor.