Awakening the Core Principles of Nonviolence
Tamara F. Lawson ’92 is the Toni Rembe Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle. Lawson was the founding dean of the Benjamin L. Crump Center for Social Justice and holds several leadership appointments in the legal community including with the Association of American Law Schools Deans, Law School Admissions Council, Society of American Law Teachers, National Bar Association, and NBA’s Law Professors’ Division.
Prior to joining the legal academy, Lawson served as a deputy district attorney at the Clark County District Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas, Nevada. Among other prosecutorial duties, she worked on the Special Victims Unit for Domestic Violence and successfully argued multiple cases before the Nevada Supreme Court, including death penalty appeals.
A renowned teacher and scholar, her publications are extensive, and her research has appeared in prestigious law journals. Her article, “A Fresh Cut in an Old Wound – A Critical Analysis of the Trayvon Martin Killing: The Public Outcry, the Prosecutors’ Discretion, and The Stand Your Ground Law,” garnered Lawson media appearances as a legal expert, and she was selected as the Reporter for the American Bar Association’s National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws. Her timely research on excessive force cases is published in “Powerless Against Police Brutality: A Felon’s Story” and in “Awakening the American Jury: Did the Killing of George Floyd Alter Juror Deliberations Forever?”
A graduate of Claremont McKenna College where she majored in government, Lawson earned a J.D. from The University of San Francisco School of Law and an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Dean Lawson will deliver the 2023 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture.
(Adapted from https://www.law.uw.edu/directory/faculty/lawson-tamara-f)