Lawrence M. Solan (May 7, 1952 – March 2, 2024) was an American academic who was the Don Forchelli Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law, Language and Cognition at

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a Private university, private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and adjunct faculty. ...

."EXPERT REPORT OF LAWRENCE M. SOLAN,"
FTC.gov, November 29, 2004."Lawrence M. Solan, Lawyer,"
''Marquis Who's Who''.

Biography

Background

Lawrence M. Solan was born in New York City to Harold and Shirley Solan. He grew up in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. The town is know for their pancake throwing contest held ...

. Solan obtained a B.A. ''summa cum laude'' from

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

in 1974, a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

, in 1978, and a J.D. from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1982. Solan died on March 2, 2024, at the age of 71.

Legal career

Solan was a law clerk for Justice Stewart G. Pollock of the

Supreme Court of New Jersey The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...

from 1982–83. He was later an associate and then a partner in the New York City law firm of Orans, Elsen and Lupert, from 1983–96, focusing on complex civil litigation. He joined the faculty of

in 1996, where Solan was the Don Forchelli Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law, Language and Cognition. Much of his academic legal career was devoted to studying and writing about the way in which

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

analysis can inform the legal system, and he taught courses on the subject at Brooklyn Law School,

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

, and in the Psychology Department and Linguistics Program at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. In 2009, he was named Honorary Professor at the

Wuhan Institute of Technology The Wuhan Institute of Technology (WIT; ) is a provincial public university in Wuhan, Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy amo ...

. Among Solan's books are ''The Language of Judges'' (2010), ''The Language of Statutes: Laws and Their Interpretation'' (2010), and (with Peter Tiersma) ''Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice''. Solan was President of the International Association of Forensic Linguistics. He also served on the board of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health, and the editorial board of the '' International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solan, Lawrence 1952 births 2024 deaths Harvard Law School alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts alumni Linguists from the United States Brandeis University alumni Brooklyn Law School faculty Educators from New York City Linguistics writers People from Teaneck, New Jersey