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 2025-26
All events are in the Moot Court Room (7th floor, CKK Building), unless otherwise stated.
Wed 8 Oct 2025 | 5-7pm
'The Public Constitution Defined: On the Importance of Being Recognised as Important'
Alon Harel (Hebrew University)
Wed 15 Oct 2025 | 5-7pm
Jake Subryan Richards (International History, LSE) with Niki Lacey (LSE, commentator) discuss his book The Bonds of Freedom: Liberated Africans and the End of the Slave Trade (Yale UP, 2025)
Wed 12 Nov 2025 | 5-7pm
Bernard Keenan (UCL) with Neli Frost (LSE, commentator) discuss his book Interception: State Surveillance from Postal Systems to Global Networks (MIT, 2025)
Tues 19 Nov 2025 | 5-7pm
'Constitutionalism through a More-than-Human Lens'
Jennifer Nedelsky (Toronto) Wed 19 Nov, with Lael Weiss (Melbourne, commentator)
Weds 26 Nov 2025 | 5-7pm
'Family, Faith and Nation: The Roberts Court and the Global Pivot Against Legal Liberalism'
Aziz Huq (Chicago)
Weds 10 Dec 2025 | 5-7pm
Chandran Kukathas (Singapore Management College), with Tarun Khaitan (LSE) and Martin Loughlin (LSE) as commentators, discuss his new book Dialogue on Immigration and the Open Society (Routledge, 2025)
Organisers
Thomas Poole (Law)
Lea Ypi (LSE Government)