The annual conferences of the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) and the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law (RCSL) are important gatherings for scholars in legal and socio-legal studies. These events, held this year at the University of Bristol and Bangor University respectively, brought together researchers from many institutions, including a number from the Max Planck Law network.
At the SLS conference (3–5 September 2024), the theme was ‘Learning from Others: Lessons for Legal Scholars?’. Among the attendees was Dr Rachel Pougnet, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Crime, Security and Law . Reflecting on her experience, Rachel remarked, ‘It was great to reconnect with colleagues, particularly as I have been to this conference before and also having received my doctorate from Bristol’. She noted that Max Planck Law was quite visible, including a notable mention by the SLS president during a plenary session, recognizing its significant contributions to the field of comparative law.
Rachel also presented a paper in the public law stream titled ‘New Hierarchies of Belonging in Counter-Terrorist States’, which was well-received. She described the audience’s response as ‘reassuring’ insofar as she had positive feedback on her substantive arguments, and considering the paper was part of her forthcoming book.
Meanwhile, at the RCSL meeting (3–6 September 2024), the theme ‘Representing Law’ drew attention to how law is symbolized and communicated in society. Dr Christian Boulanger, a researcher and department coordinator at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory , together with his team organized a panel presenting preliminary results of their project titled ‘Socio-legal Trajectories in Germany and the UK‘.
Christian Boulanger and Naomi Creutzfeldt (affiliated scholar) gave a paper on the project’s methodology and data. Lisa Marie Esselmann and Jannik Oestmann, both student research assistants, presented a paper that analysed interview responses for the specificities of the German legal education. Additionally, Christian founded a new working group within the RCSL titled ‘Histories of Sociology of Law’. Christian recommends the conference to researchers who are ‘interested in interdisciplinary and empirical work on law because it is not as big as many other interdisciplinary conferences’. He adds, ‘The community is very friendly and open to and supportive of young researchers’.
In addition to these presentations, Max Planck Law had a strong outreach presence at both conferences, with Zeynep Çağlar, our Communications and PR Manager, hosting a stand. The stand was situated in prominent locations at both events, drawing steady interest from scholars eager to learn more about the network’s research and academic opportunities. Moreover, Zeynep noted particular interest in the fact that the book covers on display represented publications that were all available open access. Such a commitment to accessible legal scholarship can only be a significant positive.