Health law faculty fellow Lauren MacIvor Thompson (Ph.D. ’16) was named a 2021 Hurst Fellow. The prestigious J. Willard Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History is a biennial event sponsored by the American Society for Legal History. Generally held for two weeks at the Institute for Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin, this year the institute was held virtually.
Twelve early career scholars in the intersection of law and history are selected to present their work and receive mentorship from renowned legal historians. "The Hurst Fellowship is quite an honor for Lauren, and it yields opportunities that any historian would be happy to have," said Paul Lombardo, Regents’ Professor and Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law, who is also a legal historian.
“The Hurst was an invaluable experience for me as our experienced moderators, Lauren Benton, Barton M. Biggs Professor of History and Professor of Law at Yale University, and Sally Gordon, Arlin M. Adams Professor of Constitutional Law and Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, guided us through the rich and complex field of legal history, talking us through key readings and helping us meet senior scholars,” said Thompson.
Thompson’s expertise is in early-twentieth-century women’s rights and public health. She is currently working on a book manuscript examining the reproductive health movement. At the institute, she focused on a chapter on birth control and obscenity lawsuits from the 1930s.