PUBLICATIONS
In this section we feature the latest socio-legal publications, including books, journals and reports, blogs, newsletters and other online resources.
If you would like your publication added to this page, please contact Marie Selwood.
SOCIO-LEGAL BOOKS
The Road to Equal Partnership: Reforming the Financial Consequences of Divorce
Sharon Thompson
The law on the financial consequences of divorce needs to be reformed. This accessible yet authoritative text moves beyond the complexity of current case law to propose concrete legislative solutions centred on equal partnership principles. With the…
Performing Law: Actors, Affects, Spaces
edited by Peter Goodrich, Anna Jayne Kimmel & Bernadette Meyler
The words 'all rise' announce the appearance of the judge in the thespian space of the courtroom and trigger the beginning of that play we call a trial. The symbolically staged enactment of conflict in the form…
Wages for Housework: India's Experiment with Unconditional Cash Transfers to Women
Prabha Kotiswaran
Now available open access from Oxford University Press, the print version and other e-versions of the book will be published in August 2026. The book cover features Mrinalini Godara beautifully adapted a badge from the Wages for…
Judging Drugs: Key Issues in Law and Society
edited by Simon Flacks and Kate Seear
Every day, judges determine vital questions about 'addiction', 'drugs', and the rights of those who use them. Despite the law's crucial role in handling drug 'problems', and in shaping drug practices, effects and outcomes, drug scholars have…
LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness and Intersectionality: The Paradox of Progress
Carin Tunåker
This book examines why Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) young people continue to face homelessness and intersectional disadvantages, even as legal and social attitudes appear to improve. Drawing on seventeen years of ethnographic research and…
JOURNALS AND REPORTS
Sentencing Council: Annual Report and Consultation on Future Strategic Objectives
The Sentencing Council has published its Annual Report for 2025/2026, and a public consultation on its Strategic Objectives for the next three years.
The consultation closes on 30 October 2026.
NLQ Reflections on Writing: New Contribution from Peter Goodrich
AcSS Annual Review 2025, with 'Introduction' by Will Hutton and Rita Gardner
The Annual Review highlights the Academy's achievements, summarises the Academy’s work and activities in 2025 and sets out how these contributed to the 2024–2029 strategic objectives.
New Report: Exploring the Potential of Administrative Benefits Data to Evaluate the Impact of Legal Services
This report for the Legal Education Foundation by Policy in Practice by author and principal investigator Juliet-Nil Uraz explores what happens to people after they have received legal help.
See Executive Summary for details – where you can also download the full report.
See…
NILQ: Call for Articles and Commentaries & Notes for the First Two Volumes Published with CUP
In the journal’s 90th anniversary year, the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly will be
published by Cambridge University Press. From January 2027, all content will be gathered in the same place for the first time and freely available. Editorial control remains in Belfast. The Editorial…
Nuffield Foundation Annual Report 2025
The latest annual report sets out the Foundation's impact in responding to the significant social, economic and technological changes shaping the UK. The report also includes the contributions of the Foundation's three centres – the Ada Lovelace Institute, the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and…
Amicus Curiae 7.3 now published, including a Special Section on 'Justice on Display: Law, Image and Popular Culture', edited by Paolo Vargiu
This issue was edited by Professor Pablo Cortés, University of Leicester, who is one of Amicus Curiae’s team of three Co-editors.
The issue opens with an article by Michael Murphy which is the second…
New Bar Council Report: Reviewing the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility
This new report from the Bar Council recommends the current minimum age of criminal responsibility threshold should change from age 10 to 14.
Article: 'A Critical Analysis of the Judicial Approach to Intersectional Natural Hair Discrimination in the UK' by Francesca Lee
Published in Industrial Law Journal, this article acknowledges hair discrimination as a form of intersectional discrimination, that is, ‘intersectional natural hair discrimination’, and critically examines the current judicial position, as exemplified in G v St Gregory’s Catholic Science College, through a detailed intersectional critique.
NILQ Reflections on Teaching: new contribution from Professor Anthony Bradney
In the fifth contribution to the series, in his article 'On teaching: some (very) personal reflections', Professor Anthony Bradney, Keele University, reflects on the structure and functioning of legal education, drawing on his 49 years of academic experience. He raises fundamental questions about financing…
feminists@law: Call for Papers on 'Feminism, Debt and Assets'
Submissions for a themed issue of feminists@law on 'Feminism, Debt and Assets'.
See announcement for details. Call closes: 30 November 2026.
Runnymede Trust: Homes, Not Harm – new report on the UK housing system
Homes, Not harm evidences the staggering housing crisis behind everyday life in London, and across the UK. Through in-depth interviews across the capital, the report details a two-tier housing system, where those with access to capital become home owners and gain security, versus those…
NILQ Reflections on Teaching: new contribution from the Connecting Legal Education CoP by Arwen Joyce, Verona Ní Drisceoil, Lydia Bleasdale and Michael Doherty
In the fourth article in the series, 'Teaching as a connected community practice: Connecting Legal Education and the value of learning from each other', Dr Arwen Joyce (University of Leicester), Dr Verona Ní Drisceoil (University of Sussex), Professor Lydia Bleasdale (University of Leeds) and…
BLOGS, NEWSLETTERS AND OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES
AcSS eBulletin: July 2026
The latest eBulletin from the Academy of Social Sciences includes news, policy and research, an update on the Campaign for Social Science and more.
New on the JLS Blog: Meet the Book Author – Sharon Thompson
Sharon Thompson, Cardiff University discusses her new book The Road to Equal Partnership: Reforming the Financial Consequences of Divorce in the JLS Meet the Book Author series.
NILQ Blog: Gig Work Beyond Uber: Online Tutoring, Educational Inequality and Social Mobility by Zi Yang
Zi Yang's blog summarises his article in the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly that sheds light on an under-regulated and under-studied sector at the intersection of the gig economy and the United Kingdom education system.
Latest from Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies: Private Law and Ideology in the 20th Century Poland
In this week's Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies, Krzysztof Lukaszek (University of Oxford, CSLS) reviews the edited collection, Ideology and Private Law: Polish Experiences in the Long 20th Century (Brill Nijhoff 2025). Read the full article here, which is published as part of the blog's A Good Read section.
Interdisciplinary Research Network: Courts on Trial (IN-COURT)
Founded in March 2023, IN-COURT offers a space for cooperation and exchange for researchers in the field of socio-legal studies. Researchers in the field of courtroom research study, among other things, the effects of law on society and its negotiation in court with an interdisciplinary approach. Conversely, the researchers are also interested in the effects of social norms and cultural perceptions on the law and the forms of its enforcement. See website for details of the blog, podcast and other activities.
Nuffield Foundation Monthly Newsletter: June 2026
Read the latest updates from the Nuffield Foundation:
Public Law Project: Monthly Update June 2026
Catch-up with the latest from the PLP, the charity that promotes access to justice, upholding the rule of law and ensuring fair systems.
Judicial Appointments Commission: Judging Your Future June 2026
The latest issue of Judging Your Future has details of the appointment of seven new Justices of Appeal all current legal vacancies in the judicial system.
Support Through Court: Summer Newsletter
Read the latest updates from Support Through Court, the charity that supports clients before, during and after court appearances.
Launch of New Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies Blog Section: Methodological Toolkits
The editorial team at Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies has announced the launch of a new section called ‘Methodological Toolkits’. The aim of the series is to support socio-legal scholars who want to adopt a particular methodology or teachers who are looking for material to use in seminars. Over the course of this series, the team will be publishing two methodology toolkits a year. These will each provide links to the blogs and podcasts published on a particular topic, together with some of the recommended readings provided by those who take part in the podcast series. The latter tend to be ‘go to’ pieces in the field recommended by experts who have engaged with a particular methodology. The editorial team will also add some of their own recommendations for readings. Combined, these resources form an accessible methodological toolkit that draws on a burgeoning body of work around socio-legal methodologies.
Toolkit 1: Critical Race, Positionality and Counter-Colonial Methodologies
The first posting on the Methodological Toolkits section of Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies focuses on an issue which is of considerable importance to many Frontiers readers and listeners. Critical race theory and counter-colonial thinking are playing an increasingly vital role in informing methodological debate and in questioning concepts of neutrality and objectivity, which have long served as a veil for particular ways of seeing.