The Columbia Law Verdict — An Interview with Professor Susan Sturm

In her interview at The Columbia Law Verdict, a student-run newsletter devoted to building community and elevating student voices at CLS, Professor Susan Sturm sat down with Elijah Pitt (CLS ‘27) to discuss her career and the ideas in her new book, What Might Be. Read an excerpt below:

We cannot achieve social change without engaging with the idea that at the very least, law is standing in the way. Lawyers, even lawyers for social change, can be standing in the way by occupying space, as if we have all the answers without involving people directly impacted by mass incarceration, by racism, by immigration injustice. If they are not actually involved, not only in telling their story, but in shaping what we do, then we, as lawyers, are actually perpetuating the power dynamics that have produced the current inequality. We have to be involved at the very least, to get law off the backs of people when it is functioning that way, and to use the instruments of law, which are among the tools that can stand as a bulwark against injustice, against totalitarianism. At the same time you have to always be conscious, as lawyers, how we are carrying, in our very way of practicing, some of the ways of subjugating people or maintaining the status quo that we’re trying to change. We have to maintain that kind of self-critical, humble stance, as we are also embracing law as a tool among many to advance social justice, racial justice, and the other values that are so important to a genuine democracy.

The interview transcript was edited by Gloria Yi (CLS ‘25) for clarity and length. To continue reading, visit: https://www.columbiaverdict.org/2/5/sturm/