Academic

Conference Announcement: Comparative Law Works in Progress Workshop at Yale

By Lawrence Solum

Sixth Annual Comparative Law Works in Progress Workshop
February 11-12, 2011, to be held at Yale Law School

Sponsored by:

American Society of Comparative Law
Yale Law School
University of Illinois College of Law
Princeton University, Program for Law and Public Affairs

Jacqueline Ross (University of Illinois College of Law), Kim Lane Scheppele (Princeton University, Program for Law and Public Affairs), and James Q. Whitman (Yale Law School) are calling for paper submissions for the Sixth Annual Comparative Law Works in Progress Workshop which will take place at Yale Law School on February 11 and 12, 2011 (with arrival on February 10.) This workshop will be co-sponsored by the American Society of Comparative Law.

There is no regular opportunity for comparative law scholars in the United States to meet and discuss their work in any depth. The scholarly programs of the meetings of the American Society of Comparative Law are chosen and organized by the respective host schools and aim at the presentation of finished papers on a given topic. While there is some opportunity to present work in progress, there is little opportunity for sustained discussion. The meetings of the Comparative Law Section at the AALS Conference each January are also dedicated to a specific topic and usually exhaust themselves in the presentation of papers with little substantive discussion. There is thus a need for a forum in which comparative law work in progress can be explored among colleagues in a serious and thorough manner that will be truly helpful to the respective authors.

The Annual Comparative Law Works-in-Progress Workshop is intended to fill that need. It will involve up to six papers during a two-day period. If more than six papers are submitted for discussion, the organizers will jointly decide which ones to accept, giving preference to younger scholars.

The participants will consist of the respective authors, one commentator on each paper, faculty members of the host institution, particularly those with expertise in comparative law and research, and others interested in attending. The overall group will be kept small enough to sit around a large table and to allow serious discussion (20 people maximum). The papers will not be presented at the workshop. They will be distributed two weeks in advance and every participant must have read them before attending the meeting. The commentator will present a 10 to 15 minute introduction and critique, leaving at least one hour for discussion. There are no plans to publish the papers. Instead, it is up to the authors to seek publication if, and wherever, they wish.

Th Sixth Annual Comparative Law Workshop will take place on February 11 and 12 at Yale Law School. The Workshop will be funded by the host school and by the American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL). Authors of papers and commentators from ASCL member schools will be reimbursed for their travel expenses and accommodation up to $600.00, in accordance with the ASCL reimbursement policy (as posted on its webpage), though only up to six authors and commentators will be reimbursed by the ASCL. (Yale Law School will reimburse the other participants, also in amounts up to $600.) The ASCL?s policy provides that reimbursement is available only if the applicant cannot obtain reimbursement from his or her home school.

Interested authors should submit papers electronically to Jim Whitman at james.whitman@yale.edu by November 1, 2010. We will inform them of our decision by early December, 2010. "Work in progress" means scholarship that has reached a stage at which it is substantial enough to merit serious discussion and critique but that has not yet appeared in print (although it may have been accepted for publication. It includes law review articles, book chapters or outlines, substantial book reviews, and other appropriate genres.

Our objective is not only to provide an opportunity for the discussion of scholarly work but also to create an opportunity for comparative lawyers to get together for two days devoted to nothing but talking shop, both in the sessions and outside. We hope that this will create synergy that fosters more dialogue, cooperation, and an increased sense of coherence in a discipline badly in need of it.

Jacqueline Ross Kim Lane Scheppele James Q. Whitman

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on October 18, 2010 (boomark / email).