CSLS Speaker Series: “Agents of Commerce: Transactional Lawyering in the 19th Century United States”

Featuring Justin Simard, Associate Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law

Abstract: Agents of Commerce is a history of transactional lawyering in the nineteenth century United States. The project draws on previously unused archival sources, including lawyers’ papers and account books. These sources show that lawyers played an important role out of court, in the routine working of the nineteenth century American economy. Clients hired attorneys to draft documents, secure notes, and undertake other straightforward, even mundane legal tasks. They also hired lawyers to undertake tasks further removed from their legal expertise like tracking down debtors, negotiating settlements, managing commercial accounts, and providing business advice. Because lawyers engaged in commerce on behalf of their clients with little input from those affected by their actions, their transactional work influenced the economy in unappreciated ways. When lawyers served as debt collectors, they leveraged creditors’ power to reach outcomes disadvantageous to debtors. When assisting their clients in dividing and selling land, lawyers cemented the dispossession of Native American land, encouraging western settlement, and expanding eastern markets. When encouraging commerce between North and South, lawyers played an essential role in supporting a national economy dependent on slavery. This routine work altered the course of economic development in the United States, building a legal economy that continues to depend on (and be shaped by) the relationships between lawyers and their commercial clients.

Reception: Lunch 12:15-12:45p.m. in the Kadish Library 
Program: 12:45-2:00p.m. in the Philip Selznick Seminar Room

Register here for the livestream via Zoom.  

If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in this event, please contact csls@law.berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.