News Release

British Barrister to Tackle American Judicial System

Sugarman, of England's University of Lancaster, will examine the negative and positive American influences on Britain's long-standing legal institutions and practices on Thursday, April 9, at 4 p.m. on the Homewood campus of The Johns Hopkins University. Sugarman's lecture, titled "L.A. Law Encounters the Common Law Mind," will be held in the Garrett Room of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library.

American trends are viewed internationally, Sugarman said. The Supreme Court of the European Union, for example, was "very much influenced" by American standards, he said. "This creates a field day for lawyers and American-style lawyering, which is used to playing the game," he said. His lecture will explore the ways in which American influences are changing the culture of the law in England.

Sugarman's talk is this year's John Hinkley Memorial Lecture, which was established in 1951 to honor the senior partner of the Baltimore law firm of Hinkley and Singley. Hinkley, who graduated from Hopkins in 1884, had a special interest in English legal and constitutional history. He was one of the commissioners on Uniform State Laws, a founder of the American Law Institute and for many years served as secretary of the American Bar Association. He died in 1940.

Admission to the lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Political Science department at (410) 516-7540.