Writer, legal scholar, mediator, Fulbright professor overseas, humanities scholar, China watcher and admirer. Author of sedition.substack.com, harboring strong writing with a seditious slant.
About
A brief introduction
Hi there! I’m Judith Koffler—academic gypsy, professor, mediator, and lifelong fan of mixing law with literature (because why choose?). I’ve taught and mentored students everywhere from U.S. classrooms to Chinese universities and Botswanan legal workshops. Yes, I did the Harvard thing, and Boston University too—but don’t worry, I still forget where I put my keys.
Over the years, I’ve had the joy of wearing many hats: Fulbright Scholar, prison law instructor, pro bono advisor, and occasional piano plunker. I’m especially curious about how law shapes our stories—and how stories can reshape our view of the law. I write, teach, and speak to spark meaningful conversations in and out of the courtroom.
When I’m not working, you’ll likely find me hiking a trail, planning my next travel adventure, or convincing myself I still remember how to play Chopin.
“Judith Koffler, dauntless adventurer and fellow law teacher, opened up China to my Harvard Law students when she taught at Wuhan University.”
“I’m gratified that thoughtful experts like Judith come to similar conclusions from different perspectives. Very much looking forward to reading your new book — it resonates with my thinking.”
“Judith is an unforgettable teacher to a generation of law students. She writes with humanity, wit, and grace. Those qualities shine through her new book about teaching in China and enliven the heart of the reader. Readers will find a warm and glowing portrait of young Chinese students, now at the top of their profession, in the professoriate, and in the government. We may see a new China in the near future.”
“Judith, I love your writing about your experience in Wuhan.”
“Judy’s writing is beautiful and I can’t wait to read the whole book...”
Curriculum Vitae
Bar Admissions
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and West Virginia (Member, Pima County Bar Association)
Academic Grants and Distinctions
H.L. Mencken Award
Essay "Seditious Libel,” in Richard Curry, ed., "Freedom at Risk"
Professor of Law (Tenured)
Pace University
Fulbright Professor of Law
Wuhan University
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law
Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law
West Virginia University
Visiting Professor of Law
Chapman University
Visiting Professor of Law
University of Texas, Austin
Visiting Professor of Law
University of Southern California
University Fellowship
Harvard, Cornell, and University of Texas
NEH Fellowship
UC, Irvine; UC Santa Cruz; Florence, Italy; and Northwestern University
Articles Editor
Boston University Law Review
American Association of University Women Fellowship
Phi Betta Kappa
Publications & Manuscripts
- “What to do with a law degree: 10,000 things you may have overlooked,” sedition.substack.com (Sept. 2024)
- “Franz Kafka as Asteroid,” sedition.substack.com (Sept. 2024)
- “Hungry for China,” sedition.substack.com (Sept. 2024)
- “Where Are They Now? Wuhan Law Students 25 years Later,” June 29, 2023
- Confucian Trials (book manuscript about teaching American law in Wuhan, China, in progress.
- “As Law Firms Go Global, Demand for LL.M. Degrees Mushrooms,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, Sept. 15, 2006, p. 6.
- “Teaching Law in China,” Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal, Aug. 2004, pp. 12-13.
- “All Quiet in Western Kabul,” r.k.v.r.y. quarterly literary journal, Summer, 2004.
- Editorial, “Build Bridges,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Apr. 19, 2001, p. B7 (on Hainan Island incident).
- China Correspondent’s Report, (2000)
- Review Essay, “Three Looking Glasses for Law and Literature,” 10 Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature 69-88 (1998).
- “Mediation: A Simple Reform for Resolving Health Care Disputes,” West Virginia Lawyer (October, 1992).
- “A Scene of Professional Deceit,” Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 95 (1992).
- Book Review, L. Kallen, Corporate Welfare: The Mega Bankruptcies of the 80’s and 90’s, 21
Bankruptcy Court Decisions, p. A7 (March 14, 1991). - “The Feminine Presence in Billy Budd,” 10 Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature 1 (1990).
- Book Review, “Forged Alliance: Law and Literature,” 89 Columbia Law Review 1374 (1989).
- Book Review, “Posner in Paradise,” 10 Cardozo Law Review 2099 (1989).
- “Seditious Libel – An Ominous Revival,” in Richard O. Curry, ed., Freedom at Risk 140 (1988).
- Co-Author, Vol. III. New York Practice Guide – Business and Commercial (1987).
- Book Review, “Reflections on Detente: Law and Literature,” 62 Texas Law Review 1157 (1984).
- “The New Seditious Libel,” 69 Cornell Law Review 816 (1984) (with B. Gershman).
- “The Bankruptcy Clause and Exemption Laws: A Reexamination of the Doctrine of
Geographic Uniformity,” 58 New York University Law Review 22 (1983). - “Terror and Mutilation in the Golden Age,” 5 Human Rights Quarterly 116 (1983).
- “Fleurs du Mal: Literary Stultification in the Law,” 5 American Legal Studies Association Forum 23 (1981).
- Book Review, “Constitutional Catarrh,” 1 Pace Law Review 403 (1981).
- “Some Contributions of Edward I to the Capitalist Transformation of England,” 3 Research in Law and Sociology 107 (1980).
- “Capital in Hell: Dante’s Lesson on Usury,” 32 Rutgers Law Review 608 (1979).
- Book Review: Law and the Rise of Capitalism, 59 Boston University Law Review 423 (1979).
- Book Review, “Reflections on Law, Capitalism and Legal History,” 3 American Legal Studies Association Forum 67 (No. 3, Dec. 1978).
- “The Assimilation of Law and Literature: An Approach to Metanoia,” 3 American Legal Studies Association Forum 5 (No. 1, May 1978).
- “Dionysus in Bankruptcy Land,” 7 Rutgers-Camden Law Review 665 (1976).
Presentations
- “Guantanamo, Torture, and Constitutional Decay,” Cape Town University, South Africa (April, 2010)
- “Guantanamo and Academic Obligation,” University of Botswana (June, 2010).
- “Chinese Women’s Writing and the ‘Empire of Force,’” Hull University, England, May, 2008.
- “Of Penal Colonies, Kafka and Guantanamo,” Swansea University (UK) Conference on Law and Literature, July, 2007.
- “Mediation and International Commercial Arbitration in China,” Boston Bar Assoc. (2004).
- “The Theory of Human Nature and the American Constitution,” Lecture to first-year students, Harvard Law School (2003).
- “Contemporary Law Study in China,” International Law Society, Boston University (2002).
- “Notes on the Fulbright Program – Teaching Law in China,” St. Louis Ethical Society (2001).
- “Themes of Justice and the Law in Charles Dickens,” English Department, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (2000).
- “Ideas of Human Nature and the American Constitution,” Keynote Presentation, China Fulbright Conference, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China (1999).
- “Law and Literature in the Legal Academy,” and “Metaphors of Limited Power,” lectures at Xiamen University, Xiamen, China (1999).
- “Bankruptcy and the Limits of Contract Law” and “Impeachment and the U.S. Constitution,” lectures at Dongbei University of Economics and Finance, Dalian, China (1999).
- “Crisis in the Legal Academy – Turning to Humanities,” Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (1998).
- “Dickens, Dirt and Decency,” Law and Humanities International Conference, University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall (1996).
Commentator, Law and Literature Conference, University of Georgia School of Law (1995). - “Mediation Practice for Law Graduates,” West Virginia University Law School (1993).
- “Health Care and Mediation,” Law and Medicine Committee, West Virginia State Bar (1992).
- “Toxic Bankruptcies,” Continuing Legal Education, Charleston, West Virginia (1990).
- “Fraudulent Conveyance Law and the Leveraged Buy-Out,” Continuing Legal Education, Austin, Texas (1989).
- “The First Amendment under Political Repression,” Organization of American Historians, Washington, D.C. (1989).
- “A Rhetoric of Violence, Symposium on Plato’s Gorgias,” University of Iowa Law School (1989).
- “Injustice as Disease: Dickens and Plato,” Annual Dickens Conference, University of California, Santa Cruz (1988).
- “Plato on Correct Language,” International Association for Philosophy and Literature, Notre Dame University (1988).
- “The ‘Feminine in Man’ and Billy Budd,” Law and Humanities Institute, Washington & Lee University (1987).
- “Raskolnikov and the Criminal Mentality,” University of Oklahoma Law School (1985).
- “Dostoevsky for Lawyers,” Law and Society Association, Denver (1983).
“Elizabethan Punishments for Poverty,” Conference on Law and Terror, Brandeis University (1982). - “The Usury Problem in Elizabethan England,” Critical Legal Studies Conference, Harvard University (1982).
- “Shylock as Native Son,” American Legal Studies Association, Cincinnati (1982).
- “Flowers of Evil – Judicial Metaphors and Hardness of Heart,” American Legal Studies Association, Harvard University (1980).”Dante, Lucre and Law,”
- Conference on Critical Legal Studies, San Francisco (1979).
- “Plato on Power: Naming as Legislating,” Modern Language Association, New York (1979).
- “Edward I and Early Capital Formation,” American Legal History Society, Philadelphia, (1978).