Dear Colleagues,

I write with news of the call for papers for the subject sections programme for the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, to take place at the University of Central Lancashire in September 2019. Full details are below. The Society has several private law sections – Contract, Commercial & Consumer Law; Property & Trusts; Restitution and Torts – and there is often a strong representation from colleagues from the ODG at the conference.

The deadline for proposals is Monday 18^th March. We look forward to seeing many members in Preston September.

I should be very happy to help with any questions from those interested.

Best wishes,

James

The 2019 Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference will be held at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, from Tuesday 3rd September – Friday 6th September, under the Presidency of Professor Richard Taylor. This year’s theme is ‘Central Questions About Law’.

The calls for papers for individual Subject are available here - https://www.legalscholars.ac.uk/the-subject-sections/ - and we look forward to receiving many submissions (whether engaging with the overall theme or not) for the subject sections programme at the conference. Those presenting do not need to be members of the Society, although we encourage those eligible to be members to join (and the Best Paper Prize at the Conference is only open to fully-paid up members).

Following the Subject Sections Survey conducted earlier this year, we should like to highlight the following points:

• The full range of intellectual and methodological approaches to law are welcomed in the Society, and its subject sections programme.
• The Subject Sections offer opportunities for presenters at all stages of their career to present, whether established academics or emerging scholars, and that mix is vital and valuable in the programme. Delegates are encouraged to take a full part in their section programme at the conference.
• The subject sections are rotated between halves of the conference programme from year to year, with some variation so as to vary the overlap between subjects. In feedback, some delegates tell us that they would like certain subjects to be in the same half of the conference, while others would prefer their subjects to be in separate halves so that they can attend both. The approach to the programme therefore aims to balance competing considerations, while preserving the opportunity for members to interact with scholars outside their field.
• This year, we shall trial offering greater flexibility in the programme by reserving slots in the Open Section at the conference for one-off topics or thematic sessions. New ideas for such sessions are very much encouraged. There are also slots in the Open subject section for those whose papers fall outside the existing subject sections.

The Maritime Law section remains suspended, pending a review by Council in the light of the Sections Review, and will not run a programme at this year’s Conference: those with interests in that field are welcome to subject relevant papers to other subject sections, such as Conflict of Laws, International Law and Contract, Commercial & Consumer Law.

If you are interested in delivering a paper or organising a panel, please submit your paper abstract or panel details by 11:59pm UK time on Monday 18th March 2019. All abstracts and panel details must be submitted through the Oxford Abstracts conference system which can be accessed using the following link – https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/1028/submission – and following the instructions (select ‘Track’ for the relevant Subject Section).

If you registered for Oxford Abstracts for last year’s conference, please ensure that you use the same e-mail address this year if that address remains current. If you experience any issues in using Oxford Abstracts, please contact slsconference@mosaicevents.co.uk.

After the calls for papers close, there is extensive liaison between convenors and the Subject Sections Secretary to try to ensure that papers of sufficient quality can be accommodated within the programme, even if in a different subject section from that to which the paper was originally submitted. Decisions on papers and proposals being included in the programme will be released by the end of April. All speakers will then need to book and pay to attend the conference, and will have to register for the conference by Friday 14th June in order to secure their place within the programme.

We hope that you will consider submitting a proposal in response to the calls, and look forward to welcoming members to Preston in September.

James Lee

Subject Sections Secretary, Society of Legal Scholars

sss@legalscholars.ac.uk

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James Lee

Reader in English Law and Vice-Dean (Education)

The Dickson Poon School of Law

Somerset House East Wing
King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS

E-mail: james.lee@kcl.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 2363

Profile: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/james-lee(4fca6ac2-bfa7-4036-ad5a-6b556df2181b)/biography.html

Feedback, Advice and Support Hours: Tuesdays 5-6pm, Wednesdays 9-10am and Thursdays 3-4pm. Room SW1.12.

Forthcoming Publications: ‘Against All Odds: Numbers Sitting in the UK Supreme Court and Really, Really Important Cases’ in P Daly (ed), Apex Courts and the Common Law (University of Toronto Press, forthcoming 2019) https://utorontopress.com/ca/apex-courts-and-the-common-law-3 

‘Trends in Tort Law: Bad Form and Addictive Substance?’ in A Robertson and J Goudkamp (eds), Form and Substance in the Law of Obligations (Hart, forthcoming 2019) https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/form-and-substance-in-the-law-of-obligations-9781509929450/ 

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Thursday 7 February to Monday 30 April. Complete the NSS at thestudentsurvey.com