The Akron Law Review is seeking proposals for the symposium issue of the Akron Law Review titled “What Authority Demands and What Conscience Knows: Lawyering in Morally Complex Realities,” co-hosted by the Akron Law Review and the Miller
Becker Center for Professional Responsibility at the University of Akron School of Law.
The symposium and its issue will explore the question: Is there space for good lawyers in morally complex projects? Our keynote speaker, Professor Eric Muller, whose book Lawyer, Jailer, Ally Foe examines the World War II internment camps for Japanese Americans and the lawyers who planned and administered them, highlights how progressive federal agency lawyers, many of whom had reason to be troubled by the projects they were supporting, also believed they took those positions for good reasons. The injustice of the system they served was severe, yet their dilemma is not unique; lawyers have long been engaged in projects that implicate them in morally fraught systems, from that historical context to modern regulatory, corporate, and governmental practice.
In this spirit, the symposium invites exploration of the broader ethical and professional tensions that arise when legal work is embedded in morally complex systems and asks whether there remains space for “good lawyers” within such projects.
If you are interested in presenting and publishing, please submit a one-page proposal or unpublished paper by Monday, July 13, 2026, to Rachel Simonton at rxs3@uakron.edu. Selected contributions will be published in Vol. 60 of the Akron Law Review, expected in Spring 2027. Acceptances will be sent by Wednesday, July 22, 2026. All manuscripts will undergo editorial review by the Akron Law Review, with drafts due for editing by November 30, 2026.
My very best,
Rachel X. Simonton
Symposium Managing Editor, Akron Law Review
rxs3@uakron.edu