Call for Papers: SLS Conflict of Laws Section, King’s College, London, 2022

The convenors of the SLS Conflict of Laws section, Lauren Clayton-Helm and Bobby Lindsay, would be delighted to receive abstract submissions from conflictoflaws.net readers, emphasising that there is an option to present virtually on the 8th September, with the 9th September reserved for in-person papers at Kings College, London. They have kindly shared the following call for papers.

SLS Conflict of Laws Section: Call for Papers/Panels for 2022 SLS Annual Conference at King’s College London – The links and connections to legal development.

This is a call for papers and panels for the conflict of laws section of the 2022 Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference to be held at King’s College, from 6th – 9th September. The conflict of laws section will meet in the second half of the conference on 8^th – 9th September and will have four sessions, each lasting 90 minutes.

The Society of Legal Scholars’ 2022 annual conference explores how links and connections both within one legal system and across different legal systems work to influence the development of law. Legal rules, ideas and concepts develop as a result of diverse influences, both internal and external to any legal system. Existing studies have identified the importance of legal diffusion and of legal transplants between legal systems as agents of legal change and development. Similarly, within one legal system the development of a particular subject matter is often undertaken as a result of borrowings or copying from another subject matter within the same legal system. The importance of links and connections in legal development can be demonstrated in many different ways, including the examination of particular links between people, within institutional and political networks or with bodies in other legal systems. Proposals are invited for papers which consider, broadly or specifically, how links and connections have worked to influence legal development in any area of law.

The 2022 conference will be held in person at King’s College London on Tuesday 6^th – Friday 9^th September. A new online attendance option will allow delegates the opportunity to attend and to present papers virtually in the sessions held on the 7^th and 8^th of September, so, for the conflict of laws section, the 8^th of September. When submitting an abstract you must indicate whether you intend to present your paper in person or virtually in the event your proposal is accepted. It will not be possible for presenters to deliver their paper online on the days which are listed as in person only since the facilities will be unavailable. The organisers anticipate that there may be somewhat greater opportunities to present papers in person. Papers which have been accepted on the basis that they are to be delivered in person cannot later be delivered online.

Doctoral students are very welcome and are encouraged to submit papers for consideration in the Subject Sections Programme. There will not be a separate doctoral stream at the 2022 conference.

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 Friday 25^th March 2022. 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/3743/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. For those whose papers are accepted, the original submission offers the facility to upload a full paper nearer the time. If you experience any issues in using Oxford Abstracts, please contact slsconference@mosaicevents.co.uk.

Decisions will be communicated by the end of April.

We welcome proposals for papers and panels on any issue relating to the conflict of laws. We welcome proposals representing a full range of intellectual perspectives and methodological approaches in the subject section, and from those at all stages of their careers.

Those wishing to present a paper should submit a title and abstract of around 300 words. Those wishing to propose a panel should submit a document outlining the theme and rationale for the panel and the names of the proposed speakers (who must have agreed to participate) and their abstracts. Sessions are 90 minutes in length and so we recommend panels of three to four speakers, though the conference organisers reserve the right to add speakers to panels in the interests of balance and diversity.

As the SLS is keen to ensure that as many members with good quality papers as possible are able to present, speakers should not present twice at the conference at the expense of another credible paper. 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.

Please also note that the SLS offers two prizes. First, The 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 £300 monetary award and the winning paper will, subject to the usual process of review and publisher’s conditions, appear in Legal Studies. To be eligible:

speakers must be fully paid-up members of the SLS (Where a paper has more than one author, all authors eligible for membership of the Society under its rule 3 must be members. The decision as to eligibility of any co-authors will be taken by the Membership Secretary, whose decision will be final.)
papers must not exceed 12,000 words including footnotes (as counted in Word);
papers must be uploaded to the paperbank by 11:59pm UK time on Monday 29th August;
papers must not have been published previously or have been accepted or be under consideration for publication; and
papers must have been accepted by a convenor in a subject section and an oral version of the paper must be presented at the Annual Conference.

In 2020 the Society launched the Best Paper by a Doctoral Student Prize, which is open to currently registered doctoral students who are members of the Society. The Prize is £300. There is no link to publication in Legal Studies arising from this award, but any winner would be welcome to submit their paper for consideration by the Society’s journal. To be eligible:

speakers must be fully paid-up members of the SLS who are Doctoral students. (Where a paper has more than one author, all authors eligible for membership of the Society under its rule 3 must be members and all authors must be Doctoral students, whatever their discipline). The decision as to eligibility of any co-authors will be taken by the Membership Secretary, whose decision will be final;
papers must not exceed 12,000 words including footnotes (as counted in Word);
papers must be uploaded to the paperbank by 11:59pm UK time on Monday 29th August;
papers must not have been published previously or have been accepted or be under consideration for publication; and
papers must have been accepted by a convenor in a subject section and an oral version of the paper must be presented at the Annual Conference.
Where a paper eligible for this prize wins the Best Paper Prize, the judges may at their discretion award the prize for Best Paper by a Doctoral Student to a different nominated paper
The judges may announce a shortlist at their discretion with the winner to be announced by the first week in November.

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 Friday 17^th June 2021 in order to secure their place within the programme, though please do let us know if this deadline is likely to pose any problems for you. Booking information will be circulated in due course, and will open after the decisions on the response to the calls are made.

With best wishes,

Dr Lauren Clayton-Helm
Dr Bobby Lindsay