Socio-Legal Studies Association
Welcome to the SLSA — where law meets the social sciences and humanities.
This website contains information about the SLSA and our aims and objectives. You can find out how to join and about the many benefits of membership. There are details on all our activities including our successful socio-legal prizes, our research grants scheme, our new seminar competition and our popular annual and postgraduate conferences. You will also discover a wealth of material relating to socio-legal studies – much of it in classified form in our extensive research area.
SLSA news and important dates
Please see our News section for details of recent announcements about: research, publications, vacancies, events and much more. If you would like an item added to our news area, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SLSA book and article prizes: shortlists announced
The shortlist for the SLSA book and article prizes has been announced. Please visit the prizes page for details.
SLSA Annual Conference, Leicester De Montfort Law School, 3–5 April 2012
Please visit the conference website for details.
SLSA one-day conferences
The SLSA has four one-day conferences planned for 2012.
- Doing, Funding and Teaching Socio-Legal Scholarship: a trio of one-day conferences open to members and non-members. All three events will be held at the Nuffield Foundation, London. The first event 'Doing socio-legal research: empirical challenges and solutions' takes place on 13 March 2012. The full programme is now available and booking is open.
- Exploring the Legal in Socio-Legal Studies: call for papers
This event will take place at the London School of Economics on 21 September 2012. The call for papers is now open. Call closes: 30 April 2012. Registration and booking are now open.
Law and Society Association International Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, 5–8 June 2011
The SLSA is co-sponsoring this international conference. Please visit the Law and Society Associtaion's website for further details. The liaison person for this event is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
'Impact' and the REF
This event (jointly organised by the SLSA, SLS and CHULS) was held at the British Academy on 16 September 2011. For a copy of the powerpoint slides presented by the chair of the Law Sub-Panel, Professor Gillian Douglas, click here.
SLSA Prize for Contributions to the Socio-Legal Community
In December 2011, Mavis Maclean was awarded the first annual prize for Contributions to the Socio-Legal Community.
Aims of the SLSA
'To advance education and learning and in particular to advance research, teaching and the dissemination of knowledge in the field of socio-legal studies.'
The SLSA achieves these aims in a number of different ways:
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meetings, conferences, seminars
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research grants
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prizes
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publications
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liaison with policy makers and research funders
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supporting students
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and many other activities
Details of the SLSA's aims and objectives can be found in our Constitution: download it in Word or pdf format.