Robert (Bob) Seidman completed his B.A. at Harvard and his J.D. at Columbia University, and he practiced law in the 1950s. Ann completed her BA at Smith, her MA in Columbia, and her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, all in economics.

In 1962, Ann and Bob began teaching in the University of Ghana during the last years of President Nkrumah's government, Bob in law, Ann in economics. While in Ghana, Ann and Bob wrote their first books: Bob, A Sourcebook of the Criminal Law of Africa (Sweet and Maxwell, 1966); Ann (with Reginald Green), Unity or Poverty: The Economics of Pan Africanism (Penguin, 1968).That began some 12 years of teaching and conducting research in African universities: Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa. They have also taught legislative drafting in Lesotho, Botswana, and Mozambique. Ann and Bob have since consulted on legislation with individuals from numerous African nations.

In 1966 they returned to the University of Wisconsin (1966-72): Bob teaching in the Law School, Ann in the Land Tenure Center. There they taught their first joint course on Law and Development. After two years in Zambia, they went to Boston (1976 until today): Bob to Boston University; Ann to Massachusetts, Clark, Brown, Brandeis and Boston Universities (interspersed with research: a year at Wellesley Center for Research on Women and two years at Oxfam-America). At Boston University School of Law (BUSL), Ann serves as Adjunct Professor of International Development and Bob as Professor of Law and Political Science, Emeritus. They serve as co-directors of BUSL's Program on Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change.

 

After working as Fulbright Professors in Peking University in China, in 1988-9, they served as consultants for a five-year UNDP-China project to draft 22 priority laws listed in China's 1989 National Plan to implement its reforms and Open Policy.  In that project, some 50 Chinese participated in what would become the four-month ICLAD Residence Program at Boston University, Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change. Ann and Bob began serving as consultants to countries in Asia and the transitional countries, as well as Africa.   

Between them, they have authored, co-authored and edited some 30 books and more than a hundred articles on various aspects of law and development. They recently published Africa's Challenge: Using Law for Good Governance and Development (Africa World Press, 2006).  This book includes chapters written by African authors, including Teodosio Uate from Mozambique, currently Chief Legal Officer for the Southern African Development Community; Raymond Atuguba, a Professor of Law at the University of Ghana, and Director of the Ghanaian Legal Resources Center; Neva Makgetla, currently a member of South Africa's Presidential Commission on industrial strategy; and Lucian Ng'andwe, who—working with former Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda's staff members at the Boston University African Presidential Archives and Research Center—drafted a bill accompanied by a research report to establish a Zambian Commission for National Integrated Development.  Each of these chapter authors is engaged in practical projects which require drafting effectively implemented legislation.

Other recent books include the two Manuals co-authored with Nalin Abeysekere (recently retired as the Legal Draftsman, Sri Lanka): Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change: A Manual for Drafters (Kluwer, 2000, now available through ICLAD), and Assessing Legislation:  A Manual for Legislators (available for downloading, free of charge).