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I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of English at USC. Currently, I am completing my dissertation, “Popular Jurisprudence in Early Modern English Literature,” an investigation of the differences between popular and professional jurisprudence c. 1500-1630. Whereas common lawyers defined legal wisdom as reading and practice, the lay intelligentsia—John Foxe, Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, and James I, and others—theorized the ability of every “good” person to intuit “jurisprudentia” through moral, aesthetic, or ethical feeling.

My research of manuscript and printed sources, primarily those held by the Huntington Library and British Library, has been supported by the USC English Department, USC Graduate School, USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, USC Center for Law, History, and Culture, and U of Toronto's Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies.

Please contact me if you have questions about my research, English PhD studies at USC, or any related topics!