Barbara A. Babcock

Barbara Babcock
Born Barbara A. Babcock
1938 (age 7677)
Residence Stanford, California
Nationality American
Education University of Pennsylvania
Yale Law School
Occupation Law professor emerita
Author
Spouse(s) Thomas C. Grey
Website
Women’s Legal History Biography Project

Barbara Allen Babcock (born 1938)[1] is the Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita at Stanford Law School. She is an expert in criminal and civil procedure and has been a member of the Stanford Law School faculty since 1972.[2]

Early Life and Education

Babcock received her undergraduate degree in 1960 from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was Phi Beta Kappa, a Woodrow Wilson scholar, and valedictorian of the College for Women. At Yale Law School, Babcock earned the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize for best oral argument in the first year and worked on the Yale Law Journal. She graduated Order of the Coif in 1963.

Academic and Professional Career

Barbara Babcock was the first woman appointed in 1972 to the regular faculty, the first woman to hold an endowed chair, and the first emerita at Stanford Law School. Babcock is also known nationwide for her research into the history of women in the legal profession and, in particular, for her work on the life of California’s pioneering female lawyer and founder of the public defender, Clara Shortridge Foltz. Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz (Stanford University Press 2011).[3] The book received positive reviews from Dahlia Lithwick who claimed the book was a "riveting," "unforgettable tale" that "will prove hard to put down"[4] and Mary Jane Mossman who wrote that the book was "an outstanding accomplishment."[5] Babcock is currently promoting the book on a book tour across the United States.[6]

Upon her graduation from law school in 1963, Babcock clerked for Judge Henry Edgerton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and worked for the noted criminal defense attorney, Edward Bennett Williams. She served as a staff attorney and then as the first director of the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia from 1968 until 1972. On leave from Stanford in the Carter Administration, Babcock served as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.

Professor Babcock is a distinguished teacher, being the only four-time winner of the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford Law School.[7] She has also received the Society of American Law Teachers Award for Distinguished Teaching and Service. Babcock has won many other honors and awards, including the prestigious Margaret Brent award from the American Bar Association which recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women lawyers who have excelled in their field and have paved the way to success for other women lawyers. She also holds honorary degrees from the University of Puget Sound School of Law and the University of San Diego School of Law.

Key Works

Clara Foltz

Works About Criminal Procedure and Jury Trials

Casebooks

References

External links

An online resource of biographies of women lawyers in the United States, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
An online compilation of materials relating to Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
An online compilation of bibliographic notes from Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
An online index from Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
An online compilation of press for Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz, hosted by the Robert Crown Library at Stanford Law School.
A one-hour interview of Barbara Babcock by Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell in March 2007. Babcock discusses, among other topics, her efforts at President Carter's request to help identify women for federal judgeships. The interview was rebroadcast in the summer of 2010.
Remarks given by Barbara Babcock celebrating Women's History Month at luncheon sponsored by Bingham McCutchen, March 31, 2010.
A lecture delivered by Barbara Babcock on the life of Clara Foltz, Boston University School of Law, November 1, 2007.
A profile of Barbara Babcock in Stanford Magazine highlighting her professional achievements, by Diane Rogers.
Barbara Babcock discussed her new book Woman Lawyer: The Trial of Clara Foltz