The growth of law and litigation since the 1960s is often decried for being costly and inefficient. But what about the benefits? Hasn't expanded liability also produced greater fairness and accountability and more responsible decisions? In his new book, Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law (Norton, 2009), Philip K. Howard argues that America's "hyper-legalism" has undermined the freedom of people with responsibility to do their jobs, with cascading effects--that "modern law is a main cause of the decline of our social order." Mr. Howard--a practicing lawyer, founder of the legal reform group Common Good, and author of the bestselling The Death of Common Sense--offers many arresting examples, focusing on schools, health care, and recreation, and proposes specific steps to end "the tyranny of the angry individual" and rebuild law "to protect freedom in our daily choices."

At this AEI forum, Mr. Howard will present his book's essential arguments and proposals, followed by commentary by Professor Jeffrey Rosen of George Washington University Law School and The New Republic, former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, and Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.