Lawrence Joseph

Lawrence Joseph, grandson of Lebanese and Syrian Catholic immigrants, is a poet and professor of law holding a BA and JD from the University of Michigan, and a second BA and MA from Cambridge University. His early poetry often references the discrimination and violence he witnessed as a child, including the 1967 Detroit riots. Joseph’s work, informed by his practice as a lawyer, engages themes of power and truth with an unsentimental clarity. Joseph is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently Codes, Precepts, Biases, and Taboos: Poems 1973–1993 (2005). He has taught creative writing and law at Princeton University and St. John’s University.