Legal biographies and autobiographies are a rich and important
source of information about the legal system, the evolution of case law and
statute and legal cultures more generally. Yet, despite a growing interest over
the last fifty years in the information such studies contain, they have been
much neglected in the study of law.
The Legal Biography Project, convened by the Law Department at the LSE, seeks to remedy this omission by providing a focus in Britain for biographical research in law. The aim of the project is to create a rich foundation for scholarship on legal history, legal biography and the history of the legal profession. Drawing on published works, official records, personal letters, oral histories, art work and film we aim to facilitate a broader discussion than has taken place to date about ideas of lawyering, judgecraft, judicial identity, judicial diversity and the changes which have occurred to these notions over time.
The pursuit of this goal has two main aspects. First, the Project aims to promote scholarship in the field through a number of activities, including:
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workshops and public lectures
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the establishment of a network of scholars working in related fields in both other departments at LSE and beyond;
Second, the Project aims to raise funds to develop the collection of legal biographies that it received through the generous bequest of an anonymous donor in 2011. Full details about the collection, and a catalogue to enable research access, will be uploaded to this website in late November 2011.
The project is managed by Professor Linda Mulcahy and Dr Kristen Rundle of the LSE Law Department, with the support of an advisory board of external experts led by Sir Ross Cranston FBA.
The Legal Biographies Collection
The Legal Biographies Collection is housed within the LSE Law Department in room 6.18 of the New Academic Building. The Collection is available for public access during normal Reception hours, 10am - 4pm, Monday - Friday. Appointments, however, are essential: please email law.room.bookings@lse.ac.uk to arrange a time. Please note that this is a reference collection only, and all researchers will be required to provide appropriate identification, and to fill out a form, in order to access the Collection. Access to photocopying services can be arranged through Reception.
> click here to browse the catalogue of books in the Legal Biographies Collection
Project Co-ordinators
Advisory Committee
Professor W.R. Cornish FBA (Magdalene College, Cambridge)
Sir Ross Cranston FBA (chair)
Dr Stephen Cretney FBA (Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford)
Guy Holborn (Librarian, Lincoln's Inn)
Professor Nicola Lacey FBA (All Souls College, Oxford)
Professor Patrick Polden (Law School, Brunel University)
Funding
Sources
of Funding for
MPhil/PhD Projects