This year’s Conference takes place at the London School of
Economics and Political Science. I hope both the programme and the location
provide a stimulating environment for members to engage with old friends and
to make new ones.
As the Society approaches its centenary, it seems appropriate to re-examine
what we do and why we do it. In that spirit, the theme of this year’s
Conference is ‘The Impact of Legal Scholarship’. Both conference
plenaries will take the form of panel discussions looking at the impact of
legal scholarship within the profession (first plenary) and outside it
(second plenary). The panelists have both an intimate knowledge of the field
and a well-recognised ability to challenge conventional wisdom. The first
plenary, on Tuesday 16 September, will be chaired by Dame Hazel Genn,
Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, UCL, and speakers include Timothy Dutton
QC, Chairman of the Bar Council; Jeffrey Golden, partner at Allen and Overy;
Professor Martin Partington, consultant to the Law Commission and ex-Law
Commissioner; and Professor William Twining, UCL. The second plenary, on
Wednesday 17 September, will be chaired by Mr Justice Ross Cranston, and
speakers include Lord Justice Sedley, Court of Appeal; Professor David
Soskice, an economist and political scientist from the University of Oxford;
Sharon Witherspoon, Deputy Director of the Nuffield Foundation; and Clive
Coleman, of BBC Radio 4.
As well as the plenaries, there will be a strong social programme.
Receptions will be held on all three evenings: at the Royal Courts of
Justice (Monday, buffet), Lincoln’s Inn (Tuesday, the Annual Dinner) and the
Royal Opera House (Wednesday, buffet). Those events will each be preceded by
special receptions for Young Scholars, the Birks’ Book Prize and the Best
Paper Prize, respectively. The special receptions will have their own guest
speakers, also pursuing the conference theme, but in the context of the
particular evening event. The core business of the conference, however,
takes place in the Subject Section meetings detailed below.
I strongly encourage junior and senior academic colleagues and research
students to attend this Conference. The main object of our Society is the
advancement of legal education and scholarship in the United Kingdom and
Ireland. The Annual Conference gives us all an opportunity in pleasant
surroundings and amongst friends to do just that in a stimulating and
thought-provoking way.
The plenary lectures and subject section meetings will all be held in
lecture theatres and teaching rooms on the LSE site. The LSE itself is
located between Covent Garden and the Royal Courts of Justice, and close to
the four Inns of Court. We look forward to welcoming you to the London
School of Economics and Political Science in September.
Sarah
Worthington
President, Society of Legal Scholars
