Lawrence Joseph (born 1948 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American poet, writer, essayist, critic, lawyer, and professor of law.
Lawyerland was optioned for a film by John Malkovich, Lianne Helfon and Russell Smith's Mr. Mudd Productions.
His book The Game Changed : Essays and Other Prose, appeared in 2011 in the University of Michigan Press’s Poets on Poetry series.
Joseph served as law clerk to Justice G. Mennen Williams of the Michigan Supreme Court.
He has served as Consultant on Tort and Compensation Law for the Michigan State Senate's Commission on Courts, and as Consultant for the Governor of Michigan's Commission on Workers' Compensation, Occupational Disease and Employment and has received a grant from the Employment Standards Division of the United States Department of Labor.
He has been a member of the board of directors of Poets House, Poetry Society of America, and The Writer's Voice, and served on the International PEN Events Committee.
In 1989, he lectured on law and on poetry in Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt through the cultural affairs offices of the United States embassies in each country.