Call for Papers: SLS Conflict of Laws Section, University of Exeter 2020

For the fourth consecutive year, the Annual Conference of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) will feature a section dedicated to Conflict of Laws. This year’s iteration of the conference will take place from 1 to 4 September 2020 at the University of Exeter (more information here). The conveners of the Conflict of Laws section, Andrew Dickinson and Máire Ní Shúilleabháin, have kindly provided the following Call for Papers.

SLS Conflict of Laws Section: Call for Papers and Panels for 2020 SLS Annual Conference at the University of Exeter

This is a call for papers and panels for the Conflict of Laws section
of the 2020 SLS Annual Conference to be held at the University of Exeter from
Tuesday 1st  September –
Friday 4th September. 

This
marks the fourth year of the Conflict of Laws section, and we are hoping to
build on the successful meetings in past years, most recently at the 2019
Conference in Preston. We would like to thank all those who have supported the
section since its inception.

The Conflict of Laws section will meet in the second half of the conference on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th September.

We intend that the section will comprise four sessions of 90
minutes, with 3 or more papers being presented in each session, followed by
discussion. At least three of the sessions will be organised by theme. We hope,
if submissions allow, to be able to set aside the fourth session for papers by
early career researchers (within 5-years of PhD or equivalent). We also hope to
organise a Conflict of Laws social event on the Thursday evening.

We welcome proposals from scholars in the field for papers or
panels on any aspect of the Conflict of Laws (private international law). We welcome proposals representing a full
range of intellectual perspectives in the subject section, and from those at
all stages of their careers.

If you are interested in delivering a paper, we ask you to submit a proposed title and
abstract of around 300 words. If you wish to propose a panel, please submit an outline of the theme
and rationale for the panel and the names of the proposed speakers (who must
have agreed to participate), together with their proposed titles and abstracts.

Please submit your paper abstract or panel details by 11:59pm UK time on Tuesday 24th March 2020.  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/1763/submitter – 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.

As the SLS is keen to ensure that as many speakers with good
quality papers as possible are able to present, we discourage speakers from
presenting more than one paper at the conference.  With this in mind, when you submit an
abstract via Oxford Abstracts, you will be asked to note if you are also
responding to calls for papers or panels from other sections. 

The SLS offers a Best Paper Prize which can be awarded to
academics at any stage of their career and which is open to those presenting
papers individually or within a panel. 
The Prize carries a £250 monetary award and the winning paper will,
subject to the usual process of review and publisher’s conditions, be published
in Legal Studies.  To be eligible:

  • speakers must be fully paid-up members of the SLS;
  • papers must not exceed 12,000 words including footnotes (as counted in Word);
  • papers must be uploaded to the paperbank (via Oxford Abstracts) by 11.59pm UK time on Monday 24th August; and
  • papers must not have been published previously or have been accepted or be under consideration for publication.

We have also been asked to remind you that all speakers will need to book and pay to attend the conference and
that they will need to register for the conference by Tuesday 16th June
in order to secure their place within the programme. Please do let me/us
know if this is likely to pose any problems for you. For further information,
please see the conference website (https://www.slsconference.com/).

We note also that prospective speakers do not need to be
members of the SLS or already signed up as members of a section to propose a
paper.

We look forward to seeing you, as a speaker or delegate, at the
Conflict of Laws session in Exeter.

With best wishes,

Professor Andrew Dickinson,
St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford Dr Máire Ní Shúilleabháin, University College
Dublin (Conveners)