Michael Tigar Human Rights and Global Justice Cohort

Michael E. Tigar has had a legendary career. While many know him as a high-profile defense attorney, that label does not begin to encapsulate his lifework. He is a relentless fighter of injustice – not only as a human rights lawyer, but as a teacher, scholar, journalist, playwright, and comrade. In 2025the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice launched an initiative to honor Michael’s legacy by empowering the next generation of human rights lawyers, something that you know is near and dear to him, announcing the official launch of the Michael Tigar Human Rights and Global Justice Cohort. 

The Michael Tigar Papers

In September 2018, the Rapoport Center celebrated the launch of Michael Tigar’s digital archive, sponsored by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, which features hundreds of documents that offer a glimpse into his multifaceted life as an activist, lawyer, and academic. This website offers a glimpse of Tigar’s career and life. It is organized around a digital collection of papers he donated to the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice and the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. It also includes excerpts from an oral history that the Rapoport Center conducted with him.

EVENTS

Virtual Book Launch: Michael Tigar’s Sensing Injustice: A Lawyer’s Life in the Battle for Change

Sensing Injustice is a vibrant literary and legal feat. In it, Tigar weaves powerful legal analysis and wry observation through the story of his remarkable life. The result is a compelling narrative that blends law, history, and progressive politics. This is essential reading for lawyers, for law students, for anyone who aspires to bend the law toward change.” The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice celebrated the launch of Michael Tigar’s memoir, Sensing Injustice: A Lawyer’s Life in the Battle for Change alongside the below speakers:

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies, California State University

Patrick Higginbotham, Senior United States Circuit Judge, United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Jennifer Laurin, Wright C. Morrow Professor of Law, University of Texas at Austin

Roger Reeves, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, University of Texas at Austin

Moderator: Karen Engle, Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law & Founder and Co-director, Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, University of Texas at Austin