Disrupting the Death Care Paradigm: Challenges to the Regulation of the Funeral Industry and the American Way of Death

Wake Forest University School of Law is hosting a symposium today: “Disrupting the Death
Care Paradigm: Challenges to the Regulation of the Funeral Industry and the American Way of Death.”

There have been a number of academic conferences addressing death and deathcare, but this symposium is unique because it is focused on the very active legal, political, and grassroots challenges to the funeral industry and the dominant paradigm of death care in this country.

There are two main fronts of challenge to the existing paradigm – first, from those primarily concerned with the occupational licensing regime that shapes the funeral industry and the choices available to the public (i.e. court challenges to the casket laws and the ready to embalm laws); and second, from those primarily concerned with promoting new methods of memorialization and disposition.

PART I: CHALLENGES TO THE REGULATION OF THE FUNERAL INDUSTRY

Regulated to Death: Re-Imagining the Funeral Services Market – Tanya D. Marsh, Professor of Law, Wake Forest University School of Law

Taking the Pulse of Funeral Markets: The Effects of Government Regulations and Private Agents on Funeral Markets – David Harrington, Himmelright Professorship in Economics, Kenyon College

Economic Liberty: Constitutional Challenges to Funeral Director Licensing Laws – Jeff Rowes, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice

There is a Funeral Rule for a Reason: Why it Matters and Why it Needs Modernizing – Josh Slocum, Executive Director, Funeral Consumers Alliance

Panel Discussion: Challenges to Regulation of the Funeral Industry – David Harrington, Tanya Marsh, Jeff Rowes & Josh Slocum

PART II: CHALLENGES TO THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH

Jessica Mitford was Wrong – Tanya D.