Yale’s Kysar called for teaching the Lanier complaint in law schools.

Evidence

Douglas Kysar, a professor of torts at Yale Law School, reached out to my attorneys and to me personally. In an email, he wrote: “The complaint in Lanier v. President and Fellows of Harvard College should be taught in every law school in America. In just two introductory pages, the wrenching facts of Harvard’s past treatment of Renty and Delia, and present misconduct toward Ms. Lanier, are conveyed in a way that connects those facts and Harvard as an institution to the country’s larger history of slavery, oppression, and racism. After reading those two pages, any judge presiding over the case will already be looking for a way to grant relief to Ms. Lanier. The remainder of the complaint goes on to tell in gripping detail the story of Harvard’s past abuse and present indifference toward Ms. Lanier’s family. It is bone-rattling and leaves the reader with an undeniable awareness that America’s legacy of racial exploitation continues to reverberate in the actions and choices of centers of power like Harvard today. To tell these stories and to call for accountability so powerfully within the confines of a twenty-four-page legal complaint is a remarkable achievement of writing and advocacy.” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1145

Categorization

• XREF: Kysar’s praise highlights a craft observation — narrative advocacy inside legal form — that echoes other readings on how rhetorical structure carries legal argument.
• SHARE: Would send this to anyone working in legal writing or complaints-drafting about narrative technique inside formal documents.