Call for papers

The Network of Legal Empirical Scholars (NoLesLaw) is pleased to invite submissions of papers that explore legal questions in a comprehensive and systematic manner, which use qualitative or quantitative empirical methods to investigate the origins, the working and the effects of legal rules, and develop data-based accounts of law in action. In particular, we encourage submissions that deal with international and European law and institutions.

Papers will be selected through a review process and presented during a two-day conference. Each paper will be assigned a discussant. Papers from law and social science broadly understood are welcome.

The aim of the conference is twofold. First, the conference seeks to map the field of legal empirical scholarship in Europe and especially in the Nordic region, and kick off a discussion regarding its epistemological foundations. Second, the conference will give the participants an opportunity to present and discuss their ongoing research in a stimulating and interdisciplinary setting.

Date and place: January 25-26 2018, iCourts center of excellence for international courts, Copenhagen, Denmark

Deadline for submissions: October 10 2017 (selected participants will be informed by November 1 2017)

Keynote lecture: Lee Epstein, Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Read more about Prof. Epstein here http://epstein.wustl.edu/

Fee: no conference fee (The organizer will not cover the cost of participation and accommodation. Junior scholars (PhD researchers and postdocs) can apply for a scholarship up to 300 EUR to cover their travelling and accommodation expenses.)

Related events:

Hands-on workshop on qualitative methods and data visualization techniques (January 24) with Sune Lehmann, DTU Compute. Sune is an Associate Professor at DTU Compute, Technical University of Denmark. He has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University and the College of Computer and Information Science at Northeasthern University and at Laszlo Barabási’s Center for Complex Network Research at Northeastern University and the Center for Cancer Systems Biology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. For more information please visit his website https://sunelehmann.com/about/

Sune began his career as a physicist, but his interests have shifted towards complex networks and massive datasets. Recently, he has become interested in data visualization. His project on visualizing mood on Twitter received world wide press coverage. 

Sune has been working at the intersection between physics, sociology, and computer science and is accustomed to interdisciplinary discussion. Sune conveys his knowledge and expertise in a manner that is accessible to non-experts from a wide range of disciplines.

No prior knowledge of visualization techniques and computer software is required.

About NoLesLaw

The ambition of NoLesLaw is to increase the quality, scale, relevance and visibility of legal empirical research in Europe, particularly in the Nordic region. It is a unique initiative with special emphasis on international and European law and institutions. Its main aim is to strengthen and further advance the epistemological foundations of legal empirical research, reach out to young researchers and develop collaborative research projects of relevance to practitioners and policy makers.

Funding: The conference is generously funded by the Joint Committee of the Nordic Research Council.