Legal and Political Theory Forum

The Legal & Political Theory Forum was set up in September 2007 in order to provide an umbrella for seminars and colloquia on topics of common interest to scholars and graduate students working in various disciplinary areas, but particularly in the fields of politics and law. The Forum holds a series of seminars during term-time, at which papers are presented by academics who are based either at LSE or more commonly elsewhere.

The Forum has an excellent track record for holding international conferences. In addition to our regular seminars, our practice has been to hold a major event each Spring. Themes have included Alan Brudner’s constitutional theory (which resulted in a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence), ‘The Rule of Law and Political Emergencies’, ‘Hobbes and the Law’ (which led to an edited volume of essays from Cambridge University Press), David Hume, Adam Smith, and ‘Hayek, Oakeshott and Schmitt on Law, Liberty and State’ (which also produced an edited volume for CUP).

Scholars who have presented a paper at the Forum include: Brian Barry, Nehal Bhuta, Alan Brudner, Clare Chambers, Costas Douzinas, David Dyzenhaus, Katrin Flikschuh, Fonna Forman, Frank Furedi, Ross Harrison, Duncan Kelly, Nico Krisch, Martin Krygier, Jacob Levy, John McCormick, David Miller, Jan-Werner Müller, Liam Murphy, Sankar Muthu, Gerald Postema, Alice Ristroph, John Tomasi, Adrian Vermeule, Lars Vinx, Jeremy Waldron, Leif Wenar and Lea Ypi.

Our policy is to make Forum events as inclusive as possible. All Forum events are open to staff and students from all departments and all academic institutions. The Forum is run by Thomas Poole (LSE Law School).

Events Autumn Term 2026

PLEASE NOTE: This term’s events will start at 5:00 PM, unless otherwise indicated.

Wednesday 11 November 2026, 5-7pm
Title: Worlds of Wartime: The First World War and the Reconstruction of Modern Politics
Speaker: Duncan Kelly (Cambridge)
Venue: Moot Court Room, 7th Floor, Cheng Kin Ku Building, LSE, London, WC2A 3LJ

Wednesday 18 November 2026, 5-7pm
Title: The War Against Law: What's Wrong with Common Good Constitutionalism
Speaker: David Dyzenhaus (Toronto)
Venue: Moot Court Room, 7th Floor, Cheng Kin Ku Building, LSE, London, WC2A 3LJ

Wednesday 25 November 2026, 5-7pm
Title: What Makes an Official or Authority Public?
Speaker: Sandy Steel (Oxford)
Venue: Moot Court Room, 7th Floor, Cheng Kin Ku Building, LSE, London, WC2A 3LJ

Organisers

Thomas Poole (Law)