cfp.english.upenn.edu

The Law Society invites papers from academics for a conference on the relationship between academic research and policy development and law reform.

LJ Jackson's review of civil costs and the ensuing legislative process to enact his recommendations highlights the importance of, and necessity for, academics and their research in the development of policy and law reform. The requirement in the 2014 REF exercise to demonstrate the impact of research provides a strong impetus for the relationship between research and law reform and policy to be explored and invigorated.

This conference aims to provide a unique opportunity to do that by bringing together academics, parliamentarians, civil servants, judges and other users of research.

Contributions are invited primarily from academics in the field of law - including doctrinal and theoretical research as well as socio-legal approaches - but also in political science, sociology and economics.

In particular we welcome research papers which:
• identify needs for reform
• have contributed to law reform processes in the last 5 years or are likely to in the near future
• have influenced the development of precedent or other judicial decision making
• capture impacts of law reform
• have improved, or are intended to improve, the depth and quality of policy debate and legal argument
• capture how law making has changed or is changing.

Suggested topics/themes for parallel workshop sessions include:
• (Legal) Business Environment - e.g. EU and domestic laws regulating business transactions (EU contract law, AML), regulation of entities, cyberlaw
• Rights of the individual (and opposing rights)/legal person environment – e.g employment, family justice, human rights/civil liberties, access to justice, medico-legal, migration
• Criminal Justice – e.g. sentencing, victim perspectives, juries
• Rule of Law/Public Law
• International perspectives on law reform
(***examples are provided as a guide and are not intended to be exclusive)

We invite submissions of abstracts for 20 minute papers on any aspect of law reform (broadly defined as the process of examining existing laws and advocating and implementing changes in a legal system but also including work which contributes to government legislative programmes and Bill processes, and judicial decision making).

Submission details:
Please email a Microsoft Word document containing your contact details, institution and position, along with a 700 word abstract to tara.chittenden@lawsociety.org.uk and nina.fletcher@lawsociety.org.uk and indicating the workshop subject stream the paper is most suited for.

Deadline for abstracts: 9 March 2012
Word limit: 700 words
Notification: 6 April 2012
Full manuscript: chosen authors are required to submit the full manuscript by September 14, 2012.