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Elected Member

Professor
Anthony
Paul
Farley

Location
Albany, NY, USA
Affiliation
Albany Law School
Education
University of Virginia
Harvard Law School

Anthony Paul Farley is the James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Albany Law School.

Professor Farley specializes in Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure and Legal Theory. He was a tenured member of the Boston College Law School faculty, where he taught for 16 years prior to joining the Albany Law School faculty.  Prior to entering academia, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.  Prior to his time as a federal prosecutor, Prof. Farley practiced law as a Corporate/Securities Associate with Shearman & Sterling in New York City.

In 2006-2007 Mr. Farley was honored as the 11th holder of the Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights at CUNY School of Law. In 2005, the Boston College Black Law Students Association honored him as the first recipient of The Anthony P. Farley Excellence in Teaching Award, an annual teaching award bearing his name. In 2003, he was the recipient of a residential fellowship with the Humanities Research Institute of the University of California.

His work in legal theory and constitutional law has appeared in chapter form in After the Storm: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina (Troutt ed., The New Press: 2006); Cultural Analysis, Cultural Studies & the Law (Sarat & Simon eds., Duke University Press: 2003); Crossroads, Directions & a New Critical Race Theory (Valdes et. al. eds., Temple University Press: 2002); Black Men on Race, Gender & Sexuality (Carbado ed., NYU Press: 1999); and Urgent Times: Policing and Rights in Inner-City Communities (Meares & Kahan eds., Beacon: 1999). His work has also appeared in numerous academic journals, including the Yale Journal of Law & Humanities, the NYU Review of Law & Social Change, the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, the Columbia Journal of Race and Law, the Cardozo Law Review, Law & Literature, and the Michigan Journal of Race & Law.

Member News

Traynor on Liberty, Law, and Democracy

In his essay "Liberty, Law, and Democracy: Are There Grounds for Realistic Optimism?" Michael Traynor, former President of The American Law Institute, reflects on the challenges facing American democracy amid political polarization and institutional strain. He examines threats to the balance between liberty and law, citing dysfunction across the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, while drawing on historical context and recent scholarship to frame these concerns.

Despite his sober assessment, Traynor maintains a guarded optimism rooted in America’s resilience, civic traditions, and individual potential to effect change. He highlights positive actions within the legal community, nonprofit organizations, and among engaged citizens, while outlining five practical steps Americans can take to strengthen democracy: improving civic education, demanding accountability, fostering open debate, participating in elections and local governance, and resisting simplistic solutions.

Traynor concludes that democracy is “stubborn work,” incremental, imperfect, and ongoing, but expresses confidence that Americans have the resolve to preserve it.

Read the full article The New Nationalist

Michael Traynor is senior counsel at Cobalt LLP in Berkeley California. He served as ALI President from 2000 to 2008, and as Chair of the Council from 2008 to 2011. He is also a recipient of ALI's Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Traynor is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.   He received the John P. Frank Outstanding Lawyer Award from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is an honorary life trustee of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and of Earthjustice and a past President (1973) of the Bar Association of San Francisco.