Symposium: Bob Dylan and the Law foreword.

AuthorLevine, Samuel J.

Introduction I. Dylan's Jurisprudence II. Dylan and Judges III. Dylan in American Law and Culture IV. Dylan and the Practice of Law Conclusion INTRODUCTION

On April 4-5, 2011, Fordham Law School hosted a Symposium on Bob Dylan and the Law, co-sponsored by the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, Touro Law Center, and the Fordham Urban Law Journal. Given its subject matter, the Dylan Symposium differed from typical law school conferences, both in the attention it received outside the legal academy and in the format of the Symposium proceedings. By the time the Symposium opened on the evening of April 4, (1) news of the Symposium had reached national and international audiences, through print, broadcast, and Internet media outlets. (2) Attendees included not only scholars, but also members of the public and the press, resulting in further media coverage in newspapers and news shows, throughout the United States and beyond) As for the proceedings, in addition to live covers of Bob Dylan's songs, many of the presentations were accompanied by recordings of Dylan's music?

At the same time, likewise owing to the subject matter, the Dylan Symposium was a powerful academic experience for the participants, who took Bob Dylan and his work seriously. Speaking from a wide range of perspectives and experiences, presenters uncovered in Dylan's life and lyrics valuable insights into American law and society. (5) Reflecting the diverse interests of the speakers, the Symposium explored a variety of legal themes, ideas, images, and facts, reinforcing impressions of Dylan as a prophet--at least as a prophet of the law--whose words and warnings, written over the course of half a century, remain relevant for contemporary listeners and readers. (6) The articles in this Symposium Issue of the Fordham Urban Law Journal provide a glimpse into the unique atmosphere of the Dylan Symposium, illustrating both the common themes explored in the Symposium presentations and the range of perspectives that were presented. (7)

  1. DYLAN'S JURISPRUDENCE

    On the morning of the second day of the Symposium, April 5, Professor Michael Perlin, undoubtedly the leading theorist on the "jurisprudence of Bob Dylan," (8) opened the paper presentations with a seemingly exhaustive survey (9) of the "multiple iterations" of law reflected in Dylan's work. (10) Building on decades of his own personal and scholarly connection to Dylan's music, (11) Perlin undertakes the ambitious goal of "creat[ing] a topography of Bob-as-jurisprudential scholar" in a number of "discrete areas of law (and law-and-society)." (12) Setting the stage for the presentations that would follow through the course of the day, Perlin addressed such topics as: civil rights; inequality of the criminal justice system; institutions; governmental and judicial corruption; political and economic inequality and emancipation; poverty; the environment; inequality in the civil justice system; and the role of lawyers and the legal process. (13)

    Speaking for many at the Symposium, Perlin concedes that "it has been fun" to invoke Dylan in his scholarship, (14) but at the same time, "it has been much more than that." (15) For Perlin, referencing Dylan is "a reflection of a near-total consonance between Bob's jurisprudential and political values and the values I seek to assert in my writings." (16) Although few, if any, of the other speakers share the same degree of personal and professional attachment to Dylan and his music, they clearly share a similar seriousness of purpose and vision in applying Dylan's work to an examination of law and society. Expanding on many of the topics introduced by Perlin, the speakers relied on Dylan to express both hope and disappointment in the American legal system and its relation to American society.

    Professor Renee Knake revisited the landmark United States Supreme Court case, NAACP v. Button, (17) through the lens of Dylan's songs, arriving at the thesis that "[t]he law needs music." (18) Demonstrating the relevance of music to legal and social change--in particular, the relevance of Dylan's music to civil rights--Knake delineates three ways Dylan's music illuminates the law:

    many of Dylan's songs capture the struggle inherent in efforts to achieve equality ... his music preserves the history of Button for modern culture in a way that the legal opinion does not and, perhaps, even delivers a form of justice in the aftermath of the law's failure ... [and] Button and Dylan remind us about the importance of exercising our First Amendment rights, whether the speech is in the form of litigation or song. (19) Notably, while acknowledging the significance of the legal victory in Button, Knake emphasizes the continuing frustration experienced by the NAACP in attempting to achieve its long-term vision of racial equality. (20) In this context, Dylan inspires us "to step forward, to refuse to remain complicit in law's failings, to open a conversation, to remember the legacy of the past but at the same time to recognize the work that remains to be accomplished." (21)

    Looking at a range of historical eras captured in Dylan's writings, Professor Laurie Serafino identified a similar ambivalence in Dylan's broader view of American legal and social progress. (22) According to Serafino, Dylan's reflections on "patterns in history affirm to him that real, substantive change cannot be maintained ... because he knows that society will end up back at the beginning, albeit, perhaps with some improvement." (23) Nevertheless, Serafino cites Dylan's "admiration for some of the leaders whom he believes improved America." (24) Moreover, notwithstanding Dylan's apparent disappointment with the limited success of both the Post-Reconstruction era and the Civil Rights era, Serafino finds a measure of optimism in Dylan's declaration that "if all of us folks that thinks alike, if we gave all we could give[, w]e could make this great land of ours a greater place to live." (25) Still, analyzing contemporary Supreme Court decisions through the spectrum of Dylan's approach to American history, Serafino closes on yet another note of ambivalence, stating: "I am hopeful that those decisions will bring about America's Third Resurrection rather than simply extend its death." (26)

  2. DYLAN AND JUDGES

    Voicing similar concerns about the limits of legal progress, Professor Richard Underwood took these themes one step further, offering blunt descriptions of "when the law doesn't work." (27) Focusing on Dylan's early career, Underwood observes...

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