David J. Langum, Sr. was raised in Northern Illinois, yet his education, employment, and publishing history has taken him across the entire breath of the country.
Langum earned his A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1962 and his J.D. from Stanford School of Law in 1962. Subsequently, he obtained an M.A. from San Jose State University (1976), LL.M. (1981) and S.J.D. (1986) degrees (in American legal history) from the University of Michigan. Although Langum had taught at a night school, Lincoln University Law School, in the 1970s while he was practicing law in San Jose, it was not until 1978 that he began teaching at an ABA-approved school, Detroit College of Law. In 1983, he was lured back to the West by a deanship and professorship at Nevada School of Law, Reno. It turned out that the president of this upstart school had made serious misrepresentations as to its solvency. Langum was fortunate to escape the Nevada school only a couple of years before it actually did fold. He came to Cumberland School of Law as a Professor of Law, which position he held until his retirement in 2005. Then he was reappointed as Research Professor of Law, a position he retains today.
At Cumberland, Langum pursued a research program in American Legal History, with a slight concentration on the American West. To date he has published nine books, almost all with university presses: Law and the West(ed.)(Sunflower University Press, 1985); Law and Community Mexican-California Frontier: Anglo-American Expatriates and the Clash of Legal Traditions, 1821-1846 (Oklahoma, 1987)(reprinted as second edition within additional articles, Los Californianos, 2006); Thomas O. Larkin: A Life of Patriotism and Profit in Old California (with Harlan Hague)(Oklahoma, 1990); Crossing over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act (Chicago, 1994); From Maverick to Mainstream: Cumberland School of Law, 1847-1997 (with Howard P. Walthall)(Georgia, 1997); William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America (New York University, 1999); Antonio de Mattos and the Protestant Portuguese Community in Antebellum Illinois (Morgan County Mattos: A Pioneiro Protestante (Igreja Evangelica Presbiteriana de Portugal, 2009); Quite Contrary: The Litigious Life of Mary Bennett Love (Texas Tech, 2014); The Joy of Scholarship: Teaching Law and Writing History (n.p., 2020).
There is also another completed book, currently under review for publication by a university press.
The nine published books have garnered six separate book prizes: the Bancroft (Caroline) History Prize, from the Denver Public Library History Department; Holliday (J.S.) Award, from the California Historical Society; the prestigious Hurst (James Willard) Prize, from the Law and Society; Illinois State Historical Society Award of Superior Achievement; Lightfoot, Franklin & White Faculty Scholarship Award, from the Cumberland School of Law; and the Willa Literary Award, from the Women Writing the West. In addition to these books, Langum authored dozens of scholarly articles, of which two won awards in their own right.
Langum’s major teaching was in Evidence and Real Property. In addition, he taught electives at various times in Equity, American Legal History, and Real Estate Transactions. His pro bono publico work has included dozens of small talks and relatively unimportant directorships. But there were also four major items. In the 1970s, while still in practice, Langum served as plaintiff and counsel for a lawsuit that permanently saved a San Francisco historical landmark, The House of the Flag, from demolition, even obtaining a restraining order after a demolition permit was actually issued. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Langum served on various committees of the State of Alabama’s Alabama Law Institute to advise and draft proposed legislation in the field of real property. From 2001 through 2005 he served as the President of the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library. In addition, he served as the President of the Alabama branch of the American Civil Rights Union, 2000-2002. He also served on its Board of Directors during the years 1999-2008.
