Professor Tamanaha is the Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo
Professor of Law. He is the author of five books: Law as a
Means to an End: Threat to the Rule of Law (Cambridge
2006); On the Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory
(Cambridge 2004); A General Jurisprudence of Law and
Society (Oxford 2001); Realistic Socio-Legal Theory:
Pragmatism and a Social Theory of Law (Oxford 1997); and
Understanding Law in Micronesia: An Interpretive Approach to
Transplanted Law (Brill 1993). He has also
published articles in a variety of leading journals, including
the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, American Journal
of International Law, American Journal of Comparative
Law, American Journal of Jurisprudence, Law and
Society Review, and the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil
Liberties Law Review. In the 2007-08 academic year,
Professor Tamanaha will be a member of the Institute for
Advanced Study at Princeton, working on a book about a
realistic understanding of judging.
Professor Tamanaha's scholarship has achieved wide
recognition. He is the recipient of the inaugural Dennis
Leslie Mahoney Prize (2006) for an outstanding
contemporary work in sociological jurisprudence, awarded to
his General Jurisprudence book, which also
won the 2002 Herbert Jacob Book Prize. The
book was praised in the Law and Society
Review as "bold, ambitious, radical and
challenging...this is an important work." A review in the
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies concluded that
the "book offers important conceptual, philosophical, and
sociological insights into law...a very impressive feat."
His second book, Realistic Socio-Legal
Theory, was the subject of a symposium issue of the
Rutgers Law Review, it received a Special Recognition
Award (1998) from the Law and Society Association, and it
was identified in Lloyd's Introduction to Jurisprudence as
one of the "most significant [jurisprudence] books" to
appear in the 1990's; a review in the Oxford Journal of Legal
Studies observed that it is "by any criterion an excellent
book." On the Rule of Law, his fourth
book, was labeled "a valuable work" in the Law and
Politics Review; a review in the Journal of Law and
Society remarked that "One constantly feels that one is in the
hands of a conscientious, fair-minded, and seriously thoughtful
guide." Professor Tamanaha's most recent book, Law as a
Means to an End, received an Honorable Mention Award from the
Association of American Publishers for
the best professional/scholarly book published on
law in 2006. It was identified in the Law and
Politics Review as "a must read....[A]n outstanding treatment
of an important scholarly question with profound normative
implications for American society."
Professor Tamanaha has been invited to deliver the 2007 Julius
Stone Address at the University of Sydney. He delivered the
inaugural Montesquieu Lecture (2004) at the University of Tilburg,
a series of published lectures by "internationally renowned
scholars...to present their views on the development of legal
theory." Professor Tamanaha also delivered the Keynote Address at
the Conference on Law and Social Theory (2001) at Wolfson College,
Oxford University, and presented Public Lectures at the University
of Tilburg (2001) and University College London (2002). He has
given presentations on his work to a number of law faculties,
including Leiden, Amsterdam, Stanford, Northwestern,
Cardozo, Hofstra, Pennsylvania, Emory, Indiana (Bloomington),
Rutgers (Newark), Temple, and Miami. He is also a regular
contributor to Balkinization, a blog dedicated to commentary on
legal and political issues.
Prior to joining the St. John's law faculty, Professor Tamanaha
taught law for four years at the University of Amsterdam, and
worked as a Research Associate at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for
Law and Administration in Non-Western Countries. He has also been a
Visiting Professor at Anton de Kom University of Suriname, and a
Lecturer in the Graduate Program at Harvard Law School and at the
College of Micronesia.
Professor Tamanaha graduated magna cum laude from
Boston University School of Law, where he was a member of the Law
Review. He served as a law clerk to Judge Walter E. Hoffman of the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
He practiced law as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the
District of Hawaii, and later as an Assistant Attorney General for
Yap State of the Federated States of Micronesia, and as Legal
Counsel at the Micronesian Constitutional Convention (1990). He
then earned a Doctorate in Juridical Science, with a concentration
in legal philosophy, from Harvard Law School.
Professor Tamanaha served as Interim Dean of the School of Law
in 1998-99, and was selected by the students to be Professor of the
Year in 2001. He teaches Torts, Jurisprudence, Comparative Law, and
Professional Responsibility.