Faculty Details
Lawrence Friedman
Professor of Law
Professional Background
rofessor Lawrence Friedman, author of a constitutional law casebook and co-author of the leading state constitutional law casebook, is a recognized expert in privacy law, national security, and related issues that test the boundaries of federal and state constitutional law to the digital age. Professor Friedman was recently selected by Oxford University Press to edit OUP’s series on the American state constitutions. He also frequently serves as a constitutional law expert for WHDH-TV Boston.
Before joining the New England Law faculty in 2004, Professor Friedman was a visiting assistant professor of law at Boston College Law School and a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. Before teaching, he was an associate with Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, focusing on environmental, land use, Internet, and government enforcement litigation. He served as a law clerk with the New Hampshire Superior Court and then as law clerk to the Honorable John T. Broderick, Jr., of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Professor Friedman teaches, writes, and speaks about the new challenges facing constitutional systems grappling with privacy and public expression interests in an age of terrorism, international crimes, and online hate speech. He believes that the generation of lawyers emerging from law school must be equipped to understand these issues, and so he not only regularly hires students to aid him in his research projects but has developed several advanced courses on national security and internet privacy. He also serves as the faculty advisor to the New England Law Review, the school’s student-run legal journal.
Outside of New England Law, Professor Friedman has been a member of the Boston Bar Journal Board of Editors since 2020, and is a frequent contributor to many legal and non-legal publications, including The Hill, CommonWealth Magazine, and Law360. He is a charter member of the U.S. State Constitutions Network, a joint project of the Quill Project, at Oxford University, and ConSource, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit devoted to constitutional history. He has also served on the Boston Bar Association’s Task Force on the Future of the Profession and is a former member of the Boston Bar Council.
In addition, Professor Friedman has been a member of the board of directors of the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps, a nonprofit organization that provides a diverse range of services aimed at helping children and adolescents to become contributing members of society, and was chair of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, which has ongoing projects related to educating homeless children, keeping kids in school, and reducing the incidence of juvenile delinquency.
Courses
Areas of Expertise
Publications
Presidential Emergencies, Tariffs, and the Supreme Court’s Next Move, JURISTnews (2025)
DiZoglio misfires in attack on attorney general, CommonWealth Beacon (2025)
Trump’s War on “Narco-Terrorists” Upends the Rule of Law, New England Law Review (2025)
‘Divisive concepts’ case correctly decided, New Hampshire Bulletin (2024)
In Trump’s immunity case, SCOTUS might abandon minimalism when it’s needed most, The Hill (2024)
The promise of state constitutional protection of individual rights, The Hill (2023)
The Law of American State Constitutions , Oxford University Press (2023)
Clarifying the Due Process Relatedness Requirement: Doucet v. FCA US LLC, 67 Boston Bar Journal (2023)
Wrestling with statutes: The NH Supreme Court and the termination of parental rights, New Hampshire Bulletin (2023)
30 years after Claremont, the NH Constitution’s education clause is still being litigated, The New Hampshire Bulletin (2023)
Lawmakers were right to delay funding for state-owned drones – commentary, New Hampshire Bulletin (2022)
Students with opposing abortion care views rally on Harvard campus, Boston 25 News (2022)
Opinion: Abbott’s misguided effort to weaponize the leaked draft on abortion, Austin American-Statesman (2022)
Trump Organization Verdict Illustrates Importance of Corporate Criminal Liability, Newsweek (2022)
Viewpoint: The constitutionality of state efforts to punish Russia, Boston Business Journal (2022)
Commentary: Interpreting the state constitution, New Hampshire Bulletin (2022)
Constitutionalizing environmental protection: The American experience, Chile Today (2022)
Congress Gets to Check the President – That’s What the Framers Had in Mind, New England Law Review Forum (2021)
Lawmakers openly discuss ousting Trump, possible impeachment, 7 News Boston (2021)
SJC was right on Baker’s emergency orders, COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE (2021)
Teaching National Security Law, Then and Now: How Guiding Students Through U.S. National Security Law Changed After 9/11, INKSTICK MEDIA (2021)
Panelist: State Constitutions and Governance in the U.S., Utah Valley University Center for Constitutional Studies (2021)
Moderator: Is the New Hampshire Constitution Unique?, New Hampshire Supreme Court Society (2021)
Article II should not be a blank check for the president, The Hill (2021)
Your State Capital Is Threatened by Climate Change? Maybe It’s Time to Move It., Governing (2021)
An Answer to BigLaw’s Diversity Challenge, Jurist (2021)
Executive privilege does not protect Trump’s Jan. 6 records, The Hill (2021)
Will Roger Stone be pardoned?, The Hill (2020)
Enforcing the Constitutional Limits on the Pardon Power, Jurist (2020)
Challenge to Baker emergency powers likely to fail, CommonWealth Magazine (2020)
Justice Roberts plays the long game, The Hill (2020)
A sheer abuse of pardon power, The Hill (2020)
Supreme Court rightly allows the states to combat the coronavirus, The Hill (2020)
What if the Supreme Court has to become involved in the election?, The Hill (2020)
Rick Ungar Show Bonus Highlight 09-02-20, (2020)
Wary Law Schools Give Remote Learning The Old College Try, Law 360 (2020)
Trump taps Barrett for Supreme Court, WHDH Channel 7 (2020)
Democrats aim to save Supreme Court with national reform ideas, The Hill (2020)
Voters should weigh trade-offs of Question 1 , CommonWealth Magazine (2020)
Courts should not doubt Congress, The Hill (2020)
SJC got Baker emergency orders case right, (2020)
National security and privacy in the United States through a litigation lens, Routledge Handbook of Democracy and Security (2020)
Testing the limits of pardon power, The Hill (2019)
Why the Second Amendment is a problem for the Supreme Court, The Hill (2019)
Mitch McConnell has shown the nation his version of power grab, The Hill (2019)
Congress is right to strike down national emergency declaration, The Hill (2019)
A path to litigating Sandy Hook, The Day (2019)
‘Varsity Blues’ Judge Tough, Fair, And A Good Draw For Feds, Law360 (2019)
The House as Prosecutor: Speaker Pelosi on Impeachment After the Mueller Report, The National Law Journal (2019) (with Victor M. Hansen)
Why Massachusetts was right to reject judicial term limits – again, CommonWealth Magazine (2019)
Here are the federal responses to restrictions on freedom of choice, The Hill (2019)
Viewpoint: Protecting privacy in the age of enhanced surveillance, Boston Business Journal (2019)
Supreme Court justices should not be called conservatives or liberals, The Hill (2019)
Modern Constitutional Law: Cases, Problems and Practice (2nd Edition), (2019)
How Britain and America are breaking constitutional rules, The Hill (2019)
Adam Schiff did not commit treason, The Hill (2019)
In indigent defense case, precedent for strong SJC action, CommonWealth Magazine (2019) (with David Siegel)
The Constitution doesn’t require a vote to start the impeachment process, The Hill (2019)
This is why the House articles of impeachment are constitutional, The Hill (2019)
SJC faces tricky constitutional challenge in indigent defense case, (2019)
Congress needs to take a look at constitutional use of military force, The Hill (2018) (with Victor M. Hansen)
The Supreme Court and its big Second Amendment problem, The Hill (2018)
Viewpoint: The unconstitutional millionaire’s tax proposal, Boston Business Journal (2018)
In weighing religion versus equality, the Supreme Court takes the cake, The Hill (2018)
Aftermath of 9/11 attacks shows American justice system at work, The Hill (2018) (with Victor M. Hansen)
What Judge Kavanaugh’s conservatism could mean for constitutional law, The Washington Times (2018)
Remnants of Information Privacy in the Modern Surveillance State, 52 New England Law Review 16 (2018)
The Varieties of Constitutional Change, 51 New England Law Review 6 (2018)
Governor Charlie Baker mulls reviving death penalty, (2018)
Little buzz on ballot question with wide impact, (2018)
Constitutional resistance to executive power, Oxford University Press Blog (2017)
John Roberts has tough job of keeping faith in Supreme Court, The Hill (2017)
The Millionaires Tax Initiative in Massachusetts, Bloomberg BNA (2017) (with Eric A. Lustig)
Introduction to Modern Constitutional Law: Cases, Problems and Practice 2017 Teacher’s Manual, New England Law | Boston Research Paper No. 18-04 (2017)
The New Hampshire State Constitution, (2015)
State Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials, LexisNexis (2015) with Robert F. Williams
Rights in Front of Our Eyes: Positive American Rights and the American Constitutional Tradition, 44 Rutgers Law Journal (2014)
Law and the Modern Condition: Literary and Historical Perspectives, (2013) (editor and contributor)
Review of Sanford Levinson, “Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance”, 62 Journal of Legal Education 359 (2013)
Common Law Decisionmaking, Constitutional Shadows, and the Value of Consistency: the Jurisprudence of William F. Batchelder, 12 New Hampshire Law Review 1 (2013)
Punishing Companies Serves a Crucial Purpose, NYTimes.com (2013) (original publication November 10, 2013)
The Value of the Military Commissions Act as Nonjudicial Precedent in the Context of Litigation over National Security Policymaking, 53 South Texas Law Review 1 (2012) (with Victor M. Hansen)
Not Everyone Works for BigLaw: A Response to Neil J. Dilloff, 71 Maryland Law Review Endnotes 41 (2012) (with Louis Schulze)
State Courts and Public Justice: New Challenges, New Choices, 100 Kentucky Law Journal 857 (2012) (with John T. Broderick)
Secrecy, Transparency, and National Security, 38 William Mitchell Law Review 19 (2012) (with Victor M. Hansen)
Who Are We Fighting? Conceptions of the Enemy in the War on Terror, 37 Ohio Northern University Law Review 11 (2011)
The Massachusetts State Constitution, Oxford University Press (2011) with Lynnea Thody
The Once and Future Constitutional Law: On The Law of American State Constitutions, 73 Albany Law Review 1671 (2011) (reviewing Robert F. Williams, The Law of American State Constitutions)
Path Dependence and the External Constraints on Independent State Constitutionalism, 115 Penn State Law Review 783 (2011)
Law, Force and Resistance to Disorder in Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, 33 Thomas Jefferson Law Review 61 (2010)
Emphasizing Privacy of the Home and Limiting Third Party Consent Under the State Constitution: Commonwealth v. Porter P., 93 Massachusetts Law Review 357 (2010) (with David M. Siegel)
Not the Usual Suspects: Suspect Classification Determinations and Same-Sex Marriage Prohibitions, 50 Washburn Law Journal 61 (2010)
The Case for Congress: Separation of Powers and the War on Terror (with Professor Victor Hansen), (2009) with Professor Victor Hansen
Liberty and Privacy Interests Through the Political Question Lens, 19 Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review 189 (2009)
Response: The Fourth Amendment in the Digital Age, 79 Mississippi Law Journal MISSing Sources: Limited Edition 59 (2009)
Justice Martha B. Sosman and the Jurisprudence of Rights and Remedies, 42 New England Law Review 397 (2008)
The Case Against Secret Evidence, 12 Roger Willliams University Law Review 772 (2007) (with Victor M. Hansen)
Reactive and Incompletely Theorized State Constitutional Decision-making, 77 Mississippi Law Journal 265 (2007)
Reconsidering Rational Basis: Equal Protection Review Under the Wisconsin Constitution, 38 Rutgers Law Journal 1071 (2007)
Ordinary and Enhanced Rational Basis Review in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: A Preliminary Investigation, 69 Albany Law Review 415 (2006)
Reckoning with Dissonance: Thoughts on State Constitutional Law and Constitutional Discourse, 40 New England Law Review 437 (2006)
The Army and the Constitution: Time for Congress to Step In, Jurist Forum (2006) (with Victor M. Hansen)
Congress Should Champion the Advice of Military Lawyers, Jurist Forum (2006) (with Victor M. Hansen)
Domestic Electronic Surveillance and the Constitution, 24 John Marshall Journal of Computer and Information Law 177 (2006)
Public Opinion and Strict Scrutiny Equal Protection Review: Higher Education Affirmative Action and the Future of the Equal Protection Framework, 24 Boston College Third World Law Journal 267 (2004)
The (Relative) Passivity of Goodridge V. Department of Public Health, 14 Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 25 (2004)
Baker V. State and the Promise of the New Judicial Federalism, 43 Boston College Law Review 33 (2001) (with Charles Hillel Baron)
The Constitutional Value of Dialogue and the New Judicial Federalism, 28 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly 93 (2000)
In Defense of Corporate Criminal Liability, 23 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 833 (2000)
Questions of Intent: Environmental Crimes and “Public Welfare” Offenses, 10 Villanova Environmental Law Journal 1 (1999) (with H. Hamilton Hackney III)
On Human Rights, the United States and the People’s Republic of China at Century’s End, 4 Journal of International Legal Studies 241 (1998)
Scholarly Work
SSRN Profile: http://www.ssrn.com/rss/authors/1999/1101/192433.rss