In this book, academic leaders in their respective fields of law address the Coronavirus crisis. Each chapter is designed as a thinkpiece, based on the contributor’s understandings and appreciations of their field. They reflect on the implications of the Coronavirus, express their anxieties about the development of policy and practice, and about the overweening, apparently neutral version of law and the economy which has taken root. Contributors draw on diverse resources, from survey evidence to economic rationalities. They are engaging with the current, reflecting on the past, and thinking ab ... More

In this book, academic leaders in their respective fields of law address the Coronavirus crisis. Each chapter is designed as a thinkpiece, based on the contributor’s understandings and appreciations of their field. They reflect on the implications of the Coronavirus, express their anxieties about the development of policy and practice, and about the overweening, apparently neutral version of law and the economy which has taken root. Contributors draw on diverse resources, from survey evidence to economic rationalities. They are engaging with the current, reflecting on the past, and thinking about how the future response can be positive and productive. These chapters combine to offer challenges for action, and cause for optimism. The road ahead is likely to be exceptionally difficult. Capturing these difficulties is challenging, as this is also an exceptionally fast moving subject. The brave assertions by a journalist, in the opening paragraph of this introductory chapter, that the impact of Coronavirus is not experienced equally may well be replaced by another moment that both distracts, and focuses attention. What follows next, after Coronavirus, need not be as costly as what preceded it, and there are clear steps that may be taken in order to ensure that the legal system offers justice; that corporations and tax structures are based on values of true social responsibility; and, that the systems of health, care, housing, justice, and education are able to serve all who need it.