Barbara A. Babcock
Encyclopedia
Barbara Allen Babcock is the Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita at Stanford Law School
. She is an expert in criminal and civil procedure and has been a member of the Stanford Law School faculty since 1972.
in 1963.
Upon her graduation from law school in 1963, Babcock clerked for Judge Henry Edgerton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and worked for the noted criminal defense attorney, Edward Bennett Williams
. She served as a staff attorney and then as the first director of the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia from 1968 until 1972. On leave from Stanford in the Carter Administration, Babcock served as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.
Professor Babcock is a distinguished teacher, being the only four-time winner of the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford Law School. She has also received the Society of American Law Teachers Award for Distinguished Teaching and Service. Babcock has won many other honors and awards, including the prestigious Margaret Brent award from the American Bar Association which recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to success for other women lawyers. She also holds honorary degrees from the University of Puget Sound School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law.
Stanford Law School
Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
. She is an expert in criminal and civil procedure and has been a member of the Stanford Law School faculty since 1972.
Early Life and Education
Babcock received her undergraduate degree in 1960 from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was Phi Beta Kappa, a Woodrow Wilson scholar, and valedictorian of the College for Women. At Yale Law School, Babcock earned the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize for best oral argument in the first year and worked on the Yale Law Journal. She graduated Order of the CoifOrder of the Coif
The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. A student at an American law school who earns a Juris Doctor degree and graduates in the top 10 percent of his or her class is eligible for membership if the student's law school has a chapter of the...
in 1963.
Academic and Professional Career
Barbara Babcock was the first woman appointed in 1972 to the regular faculty, the first woman to hold an endowed chair, and the first emerita at Stanford Law School. Babcock is also known nationwide for her research into the history of women in the legal profession and, in particular, for her work on the life of California’s pioneering female lawyer and founder of the public defender, Clara Shortridge Foltz. Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz (Stanford University Press 2011). The book received positive reviews from Dahlia Lithwick who claimed the book was a "riveting," "unforgettable tale" that "will prove hard to put down" and Mary Jane Mossman who wrote that the book was "an outstanding accomplishment." Babcock is currently promoting the book on a book tour across the United States.Upon her graduation from law school in 1963, Babcock clerked for Judge Henry Edgerton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and worked for the noted criminal defense attorney, Edward Bennett Williams
Edward Bennett Williams
Edward Bennett Williams was a Washington, D.C. trial attorney who founded the law firm of Williams & Connolly and owned several professional sports teams...
. She served as a staff attorney and then as the first director of the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia from 1968 until 1972. On leave from Stanford in the Carter Administration, Babcock served as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.
Professor Babcock is a distinguished teacher, being the only four-time winner of the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford Law School. She has also received the Society of American Law Teachers Award for Distinguished Teaching and Service. Babcock has won many other honors and awards, including the prestigious Margaret Brent award from the American Bar Association which recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to success for other women lawyers. She also holds honorary degrees from the University of Puget Sound School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law.
Clara Foltz
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, Stanford University Press (2011).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Alma Mater: Clara Foltz and Hastings College of the Law, 21 Hastings Women's Law Journal 99 (2010).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Inventing the Public Defender, 43 American Criminal Law Review 1267 (2006). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Women Defenders in the West, 1 University of Nevada Law Journal 1 (2001). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, 150th Anniversary of the Supreme Court, 22 Official Cal. Reports 4th 1275 -79 (2000). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Feminist Lawyers, 50 Stanford Law Review 1689 (1998).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Clara Shortridge Foltz: 'First Woman, 28 Valparaiso University Law Review 1231-85 (1994) (Reprint, with new introduction, from 30 Arizona Law Review 673). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Western Women Lawyers, 45 Stanford Law Review 2179 (1993). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Clara Shortridge Foltz: Constitution-maker, 66 Indiana Law Journal 849-940 (1991). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Reconstructing the Person: The Case of Clara Shortridge Foltz, 12 Biography 1 (1989). Full Text
Works About Criminal Procedure and Jury Trials
- Barbara Allen Babcock, The Duty to Defend, 114 Yale Law Journal 1489 (2005). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Preserving the Jury’s Privacy, New York Times, (July 24, 2002).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, In Defense of the Criminal Jury, versions in Postmortem: the O.J. Simpson Case (Jeffrey Abramson, ed. 1996); The Legal System (Opposing Viewpoints) (Tamara Roleff, ed. 1996); “Protect the Jury System; The Judge Was The Problem, L.A. Times (Oct. 8, 1995).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, A Place in the Palladium: Women's Rights and Jury Service, 61 University of Cincinnati Law Review 1139-80 (1993).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Jury Service and Community Representation Verdict, The Brookings Institution (1993).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Taking the Stand, 35 William and Mary Law Review 1 (1993). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Defending the Government, 23 John Marshall Law Review 2 (1990). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Defending the Guilty, 32 Cleveland State Law Review 175 (1983).
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Fair Play: Evidence Favorable to An Accused and Effective Assistance of Counsel, 34 Stanford Law Review 1133 (1982). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Gary Gilmore's Lawyers, 32 Stanford Law Review 865 (1980). Full Text
- Barbara Allen Babcock, Voir Dire: Preserving Its Wonderful Power, 27 Stanford Law Review 545 (1975). Full Text
Casebooks
- Babcock and Massaro, Civil Procedure: Cases and Problems, Aspen Law and Business, 2001): Previous Editions: Babcock and Massaro, Little Brown & Co. (1997): Carrington and Babcock (1976, 1979, 1983).
- Babcock et al., Sex Discrimination and the Law: History, Practice and Theory, Little, Brown & Co. (1976, First Ed. 1996, Second Ed.).
External links
- An online resource of biographies of women lawyers in the United States, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
- An online compilation of materials relating to Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
- An online compilation of bibliographic notes from Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
- An online index from Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
- An online compilation of press for Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
- A one-hour interview of Barbara Babcock by Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell in March 2007. Babcock discusses, among other topics, her efforts at President Carter's request to help identify women for federal judgeships. The interview was rebroadcast in the summer of 2010.
- Remarks given by Barbara Babcock celebrating Women's History Month at luncheon sponsored by Bingham McCutchen, March 31, 2010.
- A lecture delivered by Barbara Babcock on the life of Clara Foltz, Boston University School of Law, November 1, 2007.
- A profile of Barbara Babcock in Stanford Magazine highlighting her professional achievements, by Diane Rogers.
- Barbara Babcock discussed her new book Woman Lawyer: The Trial of Clara Foltz