Exploring the legal in socio-legal studies
21 September 2012, London School of Economics
Following on from the SLSA's one-day conference on 'Exploring the "socio-" in socio-legal studies', this event focuses on 'the legal' in socio-legal studies.
The rationale for 'Exploring the socio-' was based on locating the social within socio-legal studies. We can, of course, take different views on that location and identity. However, in doing so, we should not lose sight of the terrain of 'the legal' on which there have been significant developments in recent years. Those developments owe a debt to the work of certain STS (science and technology studies) scholars, such as Annelise Riles and Bruno Latour. In her work, Riles draws attention to the significance of metaphor in doctrinal law as an under-developed site for the study of socio-legality, which has tended to be an outsider to legal technicality. This outsider–insider approach to legal technicality is potentially productive and recent work suggests that this (ambitious) project is one in which socio-legal scholars should engage. Furthermore, the question of legality engages with thinking about the identity or non-identity of the 'legal' in legal consciousness studies, as well as issues around the scale, space or place of law.
Confirmed speakers are:
- Professor Annalise Riles, Cornell
- Professor Chris Tomlins, California Irvine/American Bar Association
- Professor Linda Mulcahy, London School of Economics
- Professor Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, Westminster
Call for papers
Papers are invited which address the conference theme and which may address the following questions:
- What do we mean by law and legality in socio-legal studies?
- To what extent are the distinctions between 'law in the books' and 'law in action', 'insiders' and 'outsiders', maintainable as binary oppositions?
- To what extent can a focus on legal technicality enrich socio-legal studies?
- What types of methods are appropriate for such study?
- To what extent can socio-legal understandings about legal technicality seep into pedagogical practice?
Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 30 April 2012.
Participants will be informed if their abstract has been accepted for the conference by 15 May 2012.
Participants will be asked to provide a full written paper of 8000 words in Harvard style by 7 September 2012. It is intended that selected papers from the conference will form part of an edited collection to be published in the Palgrave Macmillan socio-legal series in 2013.
You can also download the call for papers here.
Registration and booking
Registration and booking are now open. Full details are on the reverse of the call for papers.
Conference rates are as follows:
- SLSA members £75
- Non-members £95
- Postgraduates £20
If you have any queries about this event, please contact the conference organiser This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.