Law@Princeton explores the role of law in constituting politics, society, the economy and culture. Each year, Princeton welcomes a select group of residential fellows and occasional visitors drawn from the academy, legal practice, government and policymaking institutions. They join a collection of professors on Princeton's permanent faculty who draw upon diverse methodologies to investigate legal phenomena. By combining the multidisciplinary expertise of Princeton's faculty with knowledge and perspectives provided by leading academic and practical experts on the law, Law@Princeton has created an exciting new forum for teaching and research about the legal technologies and institutions needed to address the complex problems of the 21st century.
Law@Princeton Programs
The Program in Law and Public Policy (P*LAW) follows in the tradition of Princeton’s great law and public affairs programs past, engaging leading legal scholars and practitioners in the work of solving the complex policy problems of the 21st century. Part of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, P*LAW hosts distinguished law faculty fellows, supports interdisciplinary research on questions of law and public policy, and sponsors workshops and events aimed at advancing public understanding of law’s role in shaping policy decision-making in the United States and around the world.
The Program in Law and Normative Thinking (PLANT) provides a home at Princeton for interdisciplinary research focused on law, with an emphasis on the normative implications of legal rules, the actions of legal institutions and the development of constitutionalism and the rule of law in the US and around the world. The PLANT program extends UCHV’s engagement on campus to legal subjects in which normative inquiry is implicated in understanding both how law works and how law can do better. The PLANT program hosts visiting fellows and also organizes speakers, events and workshops to promote discussion of and research about law at Princeton.
PLANT’s centerpiece is the PLANT Seminar (formerly known as the Law-Engaged Graduate Student [LEGS] seminar), which started nearly 20 years ago as part of the former Program in Law and Public Affairs. The PLANT seminar brings together law-related faculty across campus with PhD students from multiple disciplines, many with JDs or their international equivalents and all with a research interest in law. It provides a place for graduate students to get feedback on the legal side of their work and to make connections with other scholars across campus who share their interests in law. Over the last 20 years, the PLANT seminar has successfully launched many new Princeton PhDs onto the job markets not only in their respective disciplines but also crucially in the law school world. PLANT is directed by Kim Lane Scheppele, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values.
Founded in 2023, Criminal Justice @ SPIA is a new initiative bringing together faculty members studying criminal justice from a broad range of disciplinary perspectives. The initiative aims to support ongoing faculty research and projects, as well as incubate new activities and collaborations.
EVENTS
Visiting Fellows Program in Law
We invite highly promising scholars trained in the legal analysis of ethical and policy issues to spend a nine-month or four-and-a-half-month fellowship in residence at Princeton, engaged in research, discussion, teaching and scholarly collaboration.
The website Law@Princeton is the successor website to the archived website for the Program in Law and Public Affairs (LAPA).