• Contact Info
Publications in VIVO

Cantrell, Deborah J.

Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Professor Cantrell's research focuses on law and social change. She investigates the roles of relationships, relationality, and emotions in fomenting and disrupting social change. Professor Cantrell also researches in the area of law and religion, particularly considering Buddhist thought and practices. She investigates how Buddhist thought and practices might support positive social change. She also investigates how Buddhist practices have been secularized in the U.S. and within the legal profession, and assesses the consequences of that secularization. In addition to her scholarly work, she leads the Community Collaboration Law Lab. The Law Lab is a free legal clinic at the Law School that harnesses the law to support community-driven problemsolving.

keywords

  • Law and social change, law and religion, Buddhism and law, law and contemplative practices, law and emotion, legal ethics, formation of legal professional identity

Publications

selected publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • LAWS 5205 - Legislation and Regulation
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
    Introduces lawmaking in the modern administrative state. Examines the way Congress and administrative agencies adopt binding rules of law (statutes and regulations, respectively) and the way that implementing institutions, courts and administrative agencies, interpret and apply these laws. Considers the structure of the modern administrative state, the incentives that influence the behavior of the various actors, and the legal rules that help to structure the relationships among Congress, the agencies and the courts.
  • LAWS 6103 - Legal Ethics Professionalism
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018
    Examines the legal profession as an institution, its history and traditions and the ethics of the bar with particular emphasis on the professional responsibilities of the lawyer. Discusses the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
  • LAWS 6209 - Community Collaboration Law Lab
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
    Provide legal and policy advice, guidance and representation related to sustainable development with a focus on fostering social enterprise, healthy communities and poverty reduction. May be repeated up to 8 total credit hours.
  • LAWS 7019 - Advanced Clinical Practicum
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020
    Enables a clinical student an optional 1-3 credits to complete advanced legal work in the Clinical Education Program. Course must follow enrollment in an existing clinical offering already successfully completed. Permission of the appropriate clinical faculty member required. For each credit taken, a clinical student must complete a minimum of 50 hours of legal work, all of which shall be graded pass/graded. A clinical student may complete 1-3 credits of work over the course of no more than two semesters. A clinical student may earn no more than 3 credits total over the student�s law school career.

Background

Other Profiles