The Figure of the Lawyer in Orford's International Law and the Politics of History

18 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2022

See all articles by Megan Donaldson

Megan Donaldson

University College London - Faculty of Laws

Date Written: September 10, 2022

Abstract

This response to Orford's International Law and the Politics of History takes seriously the book's premise of a binary encounter between 'lawyer' and 'historian', and probes how the book makes sense of the interaction between the two: the objects of their inquiry and the terms on which they encounter each other. Working from this encounter throws up questions about the work being done by and within the figure of the lawyer. I focus on the rearticulation of what it is to work and write as a lawyer, which, to me, lies at the heart of the book. I argue that this rearticulation has far-reaching and generative potential as demand for lawyers to reflect on their practice. However, it cannot stabilize a scholarly identity in any interdisciplinary encounter—or in the politics of, in, and beyond law.

Keywords: history of international law, sociology of international law, diplomacy, method, contextualism

Suggested Citation

Donaldson, Megan, The Figure of the Lawyer in Orford's International Law and the Politics of History (September 10, 2022). Temple International & Comparative Law Journal, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2022, Faculty of Laws University College London Law Research Paper No. 17/2022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4250197

Megan Donaldson (Contact Author)

University College London - Faculty of Laws ( email )

Bentham House
4-8 Endsleigh Gardens
London, WC1E OEG
United Kingdom

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