Michelle Wilde Anderson, a professor of law at Stanford, will virtually deliver the College of Law’s annual Lane Lecture at noon Nov. 11. The talk is free and open to the public.
Anderson will discuss “The Fight to Save the Town: Rebuilding Postindustrial America.” During the lecture she will share stories about different communities and governments facing a series of issues, including how it affects the impoverished in broken local public services.
Anderson is a scholar of state and local government law. Her work combines legal analysis, empirical research and humanistic reporting to understand concentrated poverty and municipal fiscal distress. Her recent publications explore restructuring (such as bankruptcy, disincorporation, and receiverships) in cities and counties facing chronic poverty related to deindustrialization. These issues affect not only Rust Belt capitals such as Detroit, but also post-industrial cities in California, rural counties in the West and South and small towns across the country. She is currently writing a book about what we need most from local governments in America’s high-poverty, post-industrial areas.
