Historical Faculty

When he joined the Duke Law faculty in 1958, Arthur Larson was well-known for his accomplishments in public life, as well as for his treatise, The Law of Workmen’s Compensation  (1952), the standard work in the field.  In 1956 his book A Republican Looks at his Party led to appointments in the Eisenhower Administration.  At various times he served as Under Secretary of Labor, executive assistant to the President, and director of the United States Information Agency.  In 1958, Larson became Director of Duke Law’s new World Rule of Law Center, which focused on international law and foreign affairs, continuing his government work on a part-time basis  Larson remained the Center’s director until his retirement.  After 1970 much of his attention was dedicated to human rights and worker compensation. He died in 1993.

Larson completed his A.B. degree at Augustana College in 1931, then won a Rhodes Scholarship and studied law at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1932 to 1935.  He returned to the U.S. and practiced law until 1939, when he began his career as a teacher as an assistant professor of law at the University of Tennessee.  During WWII he worked with the Office of Price Administration and the Foreign Economic Administration.  After the war he returned to teaching law at Cornell and was a Fulbright Fellow at the London School of Economics in 1952 before becoming Dean of the University of Pittsburgh Law School in 1953.  

Sources:

Duke University, School of Law, Bulletin of Duke University School of Law [serial]

Robin E. Kobayashi, Arthur Larson and the Rule of Law [perma.cc/KLC4-RRS6], Workers Compensation Law, LexisNexis Legal Newsroom (last viewed April 10, 2015)

Wex S. Malone, A Tribute to Arthur Larson [perma.cc/6A3U-6B98], 1980 DLJ 385-415