Tiersma, Peter M.

Peter M. Tiersma

Distinguished Retired Faculty

Peter M. Tiersma, Distinguished Retired Faculty

Links

• CV

Education

• BA, with distinction, Stanford University, Phi Beta Kappa
• JD, University of California Berkeley, Order of the Coif
• PhD, University of California San Diego 

Background

Selected Scholarship

Books

• The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law (co-edited with Lawrence Solan; Oxford University Press, 2012).
• Parchment, Paper, Pixels: Law and the Technologies of Communication (University of Chicago Press, 2010).
• Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2005) (with Lawrence Solan)
• Legal Language (University of Chicago Press, 1999)

Articles

• “A History of Languages of the Law,” in Oxford Handbook of Language and Law (2012)..
• “Language Policy in the United States,”in Oxford Handbook of Language and Law (2012).
• “Asking Jurors To Do the Impossible,”  5 Tenn. J. Law & Policy 105 (2009).
• “What is Language and Law? And Does Anyone Care?,” in Law and Language: Theory and Society (Frances Olsen, Alexander Lorz, & Dieter Stein eds., 2008).
• "The Textualization of Precedent," 82 Notre Dame Law Review 1189 (2007).
• “Communicating with Juries: How to Draft More Understandable Jury Instructions,” (National Center for State Courts 2006).
• "Some Myths About Legal Language," 2 Law, Culture and Humanities 29 (2006).
• "The Language Of Legal Texts," in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2nd Ed., Keith Brown (ed.), 2006).
• "Language Wars Truce Accepted (with Conditions)," 8 Green Bag 2d 281 (2005).
• "Categorical Lists in the Law," in Vagueness in Normative Texts (Vijay K. Bhatia, Jan Engberg, Maurizio Gotti, and Dorothee Heller eds., 2005).
• "Did Clinton Lie? Defining 'Sexual Relations'," 79 Chicago Kent Law Review 927 (2004).
• "Cops and Robbers: Selective Literalism in American Criminal Law," 38 Law and Society Review 229 (2004) (with Lawrence Solan)
• "Hearing Voices: Speaker Identification in American Courts," 54 Hastings Law Journal 373 (2003) (coauthored with Lawrence Solan).
• "A Message in a Bottle: Text, Autonomy and Statutory Interpretation," 76 Tulane Law Review 431 (2001)

Representative Academic Presentations

• Presentation: “The Role of Language in American Trials.”  Chinese University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China (June, 2011).
• Presentation.  “The Rule of Text: Is it Possible to Govern Using only Written Text?  New York University, symposium of Journal of Law and Liberty (February, 2011).
• Presentation.  “Meaning and the Technologies of Communication”.  Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen (June, 2010).
• Keynote address:  “Law and the Technologies of Communication.” Seconda Universitá degli Studi di Napoli (June 2010).
• Presentation, “What is Language and Law? And Does Anyone Care?” Conference on Language and Law, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Dusseldorf, Germany (co-sponsored by UCLA Law School) (May 2006).
• Presentation, “A Brief History of Jury Instructions.” American Judicature Society, mid-year meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana (March 2005).
• Presentation, “The Pragmatics of Police/Suspect Encounters.” Linguistic Society of America annual meeting, Oakland, California (January 2005).

Public Service

• President, International Association of Forensic Linguists (2005-2007)
• Member, California Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions (2005-)
• Member, Committee of Social and Political Concerns, Linguistic Society of America (2006-2009)
• Member, Panel of Academic Consultants, Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004)
• Member, California Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions (2003-)
• Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Speech, Language, and Law (2004-)