Empirical Legal Studies

UPDATED: 1st Annual Western Empirical Legal Studies Conference -- Call for Papers

UPDATED:  The application period for the Western Empirical Legal Studies Conference has been extended. The new deadline is November 18.

The Call for Papers is here ; information and applications are here.

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Joe Doherty (UCLA) passed along information about a development that will certainly interest ELS folks. Joe also made a point to note that the one-day conference, described below, is designed in large part to "give law and graduate students a place to present their ELS research." The announcement and contact information follow.

"The UCLA School of Law Empirical Legal Scholars Association (ELSA) is proud to announce the First Annual Western Empirical Legal Studies Conference February 18, 2012. The WELS Conference is open to law and graduate students (political science, sociology, economics, etc.), and provides them with a forum to present their empirical legal research. The [extended] deadline for submission is November 18, 2011."

Further information and a submission form are available at the UCLA-ELSA website.

50 Years of CSLS!

The Center for the Study of Law and Society at UC-Berkeley is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.  The great folks at the Center have been promoting, supporting, and conducting first-rate empirical work since before many of us were born, and the Center played a key role in (inter alia) the development of the law and society movement, the mainstreaming of empirical work in the legal academy, and the recruitment and training of generations of empirically-oriented legal scholars.

In celebration of this momentus anniversary, the Center is hosting a 50th Anniversary conference on "The Future of Law and Society."  The conference will be held November 3-4, 2011 in the Great Hall of the Bancroft Hotel in Berkeley, and boasts a lineup that is a "who's who" of contemporary law and society scholars. 

The conference is free, but attendees are asked to register at the conference link above. Please join the Center affiliates and the entire ELS community at what is sure to be a stimulating and enjoyable conference.

CELS Submission Deadline Extended Until Tuesday, July 12, 2011

EXTENDED submission deadline:  July 12, 2011, midnight (Chicago time).

SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES (CELS)

to be held at Northwestern Law School

Friday November 4 & Saturday Nov. 5, 2011

Those scrambling to meet the CELS submission deadline can exhale a bit. CELS organizers have extended the submission deadline until Tuesday, July 12, 2011, midnight (Chicago time).

The Sixth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (CELS 2011) is sponsored by the Society for Empirical Legal Studies (SELS) and the Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern Law School.  CELS accepts empirical papers spanning all areas of empirical legal studies.

For conference submission information click here.

2011 CELS Paper Submission Deadline Reminder

Submission deadline:  July 8, 2011, midnight (Chicago time).

SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES (CELS)

to be held at Northwestern Law School

Friday November 4 & Saturday Nov. 5, 2011

The Sixth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (CELS 2011) is sponsored by the Society for Empirical Legal Studies (SELS) and the Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern Law School.  CELS accepts empirical papers spanning all areas of empirical legal studies.

For conference submission information click here.

Summer Workshops

For those still looking for something worthwhile to do this summer I recommend the following (click on links for detailed information):

Workshops on Research Design for Causal Inference

Northwestern University will be hosting two workshops this summer on Research Design for Causal Inference, sponsored by Northwestern University, University of Southern California, the Society for Empirical Legal Studies, and The Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern Law.

Causal Inference: Bayesian Methods Workshop
July 11-13, 2011

Causal Inference: Frequentist Methods Workshop
August 15-19, 2011

Another Quant "Boot Camp" for Law Profs

George Mason University School of Law's Law and Economics Center is hosting a Workshop on Empirical and Experimental Methods for Law Professors on May 23-26, 2011, in Arlington, VA. Interestingly, this is the second entrant into a growing market for programs specifically addressing law professors and empirical legal scholarship. (We've previously noted similar programs jointly sponsored by Wash U/Northwestern.) A more detailed description of the GMU Workshop, as well as contact information, follow.

"The Workshop on Empirical and Experimental Methods for Law Professors is designed to teach law professors the conceptual and practical skills required to (1) understand and evaluate others’ empirical studies, and (2) design and implement their own empirical studies.  Participants are not expected to have background in statistical knowledge or empirical skills prior to enrollment.  Instructors have been selected in part to demonstrate the development of empirical studies in a wide-range of legal and institutional settings including: antitrust, business law, bankruptcy, class actions, contracts, criminal law and sentencing, federalism, finance, intellectual property, and securities regulation.  Class sessions will provide participants opportunities to learn through faculty lectures, drawing upon data and examples for cutting edge empirical legal studies, and participating in experiments.   There will be numerous opportunities for participants to discuss their own works-in-progress or project ideas with the instructors.

The Workshop will begin on Monday May 23, at 8:30 a.m. and conclude on Thursday May 26, at 12 pm.  Classes on May 23, 24 and 25 will run from 8:30 am to 5pm, and include lectures, group sessions, and opportunities for participants to present their own empirical projects or “works in progress.”

Tuition for the Workshop on Empirical and Experimental Methods is $850 for the first professor from a law school and $500 for additional registrants from the same school.

Those interested in the Workshop should contact Jeff Smith directly at:

jsmithQ@gmu.edu  t:703.993.8181

CELS 2010 Recap

Another outstanding CELS conference. Kudos and appreciation to Yale Law School and its organizing committee--Richard Brooks, Alan Gerber, Dan Kahan, Yair Listokin, Tracey Meares, and (especially) Roberta Romano--for their efforts and for hosting in such spectacular fashion. Those with first-hand experience with hosting such conferences understand how difficult it is to overstate the sheer amount of work involved.

In addition, over at Concurring Opinions Dave Hoffman (Temple--and CELS paper presenter) has, once again, posted the most thorough CELS recap I've come across (here).

Finally, Northwestern will host CELS 2011.

2010 CELS Program

For those who cannot attend and are interested, the 2010 CELS Program is here.

CELS 2010 -- Submission Deadline Reminder -- July 16

To accommodate those celebrating the July 4th "weekend," the CELS organizers nudged the submission deadline to Friday, July 16, 2010.  Acceptance notices will be sent by September 1, 2010. More info here.

Second Annual Property and Psychology Roundtable Workshop

For those already in (or near) the Syracuse area, Jeremy Blumenthal (Syracuse) mentioned that the Second Annual Property and Psychology Roundtable Workshop is open to all interested (June 7-8). Participants include:

Karen Neary, University of Waterloo Psychology Department: Artifacts and Natural Kinds: How Children Judge Whether Objects Are Owned
Discussant: Jeanine Skorinko, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Stephanie M. Stern, Chicago-Kent College of Law: Regulatory and Ownership Perceptions: An Empirical Analysis of Regulatory versus Physical Takings
Jay Hook, Harvard Law School: Psychology of Property
Discussant: Oliver Goodenough, Vermont Law School

Alex Shaw, Yale University Department of Psychology: Ideas as Property: Children Apply Ownership to Ideas
Discussant: Jeremy A. Blumenthal, Syracuse University College of Law

Terry Turnipseed, Syracuse University College of Law: Is Voting in Churches Unconstitutional?
Discussant: Robin Paul Malloy, Syracuse University College of Law

Jeffrey Stake, Indiana University Maurer School of Law: What is "Just Compensation?"
Discussant: Meera Adya, Syracuse University, Burton Blatt Institute