News & Press https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/default.asp Sat, 25 Jul 2026 17:17:54 GMT Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:49:00 GMT Copyright © 2026 Law and Society Association LSA 2026 Conference Schedule Now Available! https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=724593 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=724593 The schedule for the LSA Annual Meeting is now available!

 

This year, there are more than 450 engaging sessions to choose from. Start planning your days now to ensure you get the most out of your experience!

 

The schedule will be updated regularly with additional information as the conference draws closer. Stay tuned!

 

Online Schedule

 

To Find Your Session:

 

  • Click on the "Online Conference Schedule" link below
  • Enter your last name in the "Speaker Name" box
  • Click on your session name
  • Click on the abstract link to see the papers

 

LSA 2026 Online Conference Schedule >>

 

Sessions at a Glance PDF

 

Click below to view all of our schedule sessions, up-to-date as of March 30.

 

LSA 2026 Sessions at a Glance >>

]]> Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:49:00 GMT Ned Blackhawk Discusses U.S. History and Federal Indian Policy at #LSA2024 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=680433 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=680433 Challenging the False Premises of U.S. History: Native Activism and Federal Indian Policy, 1911-1941

Traditional narratives cast Indigenous peoples to the periphery of United States history. Just as the violent displacement of millions of Native Americans constituted, in the eyes of colonial settlers, a necessary evil in the divine project of Manifest Destiny, so too has their relative exclusion from U.S. historical inquiry played a key role in upholding the ideologies that constitute American identity.

Yale University Professor Ned Blackhawk challenged these narratives at his LSA Annual Meeting plenary address in Denver, CO. Drawing from his award-winning 2023 book The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmasking of U.S. History, Professor Blackhawk illuminated a robust history of Indigenous legal advocacy and activism that shaped federal policy regarding assimilation, self-determination, and cultural autonomy.

Watch the full video below to learn more about how Cornelius Kellogg, Henry Roe Cloud, and their numerous contemporaries established the foundation of an Indian New Deal that would change U.S. sociolegal history forever.

View the Full Video and Transcript Here!

]]> Thu, 22 Aug 2024 17:55:00 GMT Denver 2024 Photo Gallery https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=677208 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=677208 LSA’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado was full of memorable moments. View sights and scenes from the conference at the link below:

LSA 2024 Annual Meeting – Denver, Colorado Photo Gallery

Photos from the Awards Ceremony, Plenary, and Welcome Reception were taken by photographer Alex Segall. Additional photos taken by Steven Boutcher.

]]> Thu, 11 Jul 2024 18:43:00 GMT LSA 2021 Chicago Annual Meeting Theme Announced https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=522961 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=522961 Related:

Submission Information

Abstract Guidelines

Participation Limitation

 

#LSA2021:
Crisis, Healing, Re-Imagining

LSA 2021 Annual Meeting - Chicago, Ill. | May 27-30

We are excited to announce the theme of the 2021 Annual Meeting that will take place in Chicago from May 26-30!  Please keep an eye out for the official Call for Papers later this fall.

CRISIS, HEALING, RE-IMAGINING
 
Program Chairs:

 

Alexandra Huneeus | University of Wisconsin-Madison
&
Tom Ginsburg | University of Chicago
Ours is an era of multiple and overlapping crises. Climate, democracy, economy and health are newly unstable throughout the world. Last summer, for the first time, the physical Law and Society conference was canceled in light of a global pandemic. In the United States, the pandemic exacerbated underlying racial inequalities that erupted in protests throughout the country, and beyond. Across the globe, these crises reveal existing social inequalities in different ways, and demand that we adapt to survive. What is the role of law, which strives for stability as well as justice, in this volatile context?
 
The 2021 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting will be held, we hope, in Chicago, a city that embodies inequality and violence but also has a  long history of reform and re-imagination. In this setting, we invite scholars in the law and society tradition to submit panels and papers that speak to the themes of law and justice in crises and disasters, but also in healing and reparations, in building sustainable systems, in reshaping social practices and imaginaries, and in creating new possibilities. A conference focused on crisis foregrounds the present, but it also looks to the past and to the future with the themes of healing and re-imagining. As scholars, we have a special role in re-imagining law and legal institutions to make our societies and institutions more resilient and just. We can also contribute to a multi-faceted understanding of healing, which opens new and different entry points to old problems. These themes cut across disciplines and invite creative thinking beyond law and beyond social science, to encompass the humanities, the arts, medicine, and the natural sciences.
 
Questions include, but are not limited to:
  • Health: How has law contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic response and to the racial and economic inequities in exposure and morbidity? What might be the role for law and justice in creating a sustainable system for access to health in its wake?
  • Democracy: What is the role of law and legal institutions in facilitating or retarding the global erosion of democracy?
  • Race: The mass demonstrations against police brutality that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020 spread around the world. Can policing and the carceral state be re-imagined in response to what many now refer to as the pandemic of violence against racialized minorities? What might defunding look like in practice?
  • Environment: Climate change has caused many to question whether we are reaching the limits of the planet’s ability to sustain human society in its current form. What role has law played in getting us here, and what role might it play in creating an economic system that is resilient and sustainable?
  • Economy: The set of legal institutions that governed the expansion of trade over the past decades are being rapidly undermined. What role will law play in an economic downturn and recovery?
  • Law: How has law contributed to the various crises we find ourselves in? How might legal institutions themselves be re-imagined?

Chicago 2021 Logo:
Artist Statement

"For 'Crisis, Healing, Re-imagining,' I first chose the official color scheme for the City of Chicago. A subtle hint of the hosting city without too much distraction. And for the visual elements, I picked the helping hand as the primary focus. The upward fist is a universal symbol of revolution, which played a significant part during the past year of crisis–it's an issue that must be addressed. But the resilience after the crisis depends on the union of the people. We must help each other to overcome this hardship, so I added a helping hand. The secondary meaning of the conjoint hands is the returning of human touch after, perhaps, the biggest crisis of all in 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the rays in the background fore-sighting the new future."

Nico Sun is a Chicago-based freelance illustrator, designer and art educator.

Born in Nanjing, China. He studied in the United States for over eight years, spending much time traveling and living in various regions across the country. Sun attended ArtCenter College of Design (Pasadena, California) and graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019. He has been producing illustrations for children’s books and product designs.

]]> Mon, 24 Aug 2020 17:34:06 GMT Program Now Available https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=507203 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=507203 Virtual Conference Update
Program Now Available!
 
The time has come! The 2020 Program Committee and LSA Executive Office are excited to announce the program for our first-ever virtual conference is now available! Please click the  link below to learn more about our upcoming sessions and see when you're scheduled to present.


Check out the program book here: 2020_program_book__2_.pdf


When navigating through our program, you will be able to search for sessions by keywords, speakers, institutions, dates, CRNs and event type. All the necessary details pertaining to each individual session can be accessed by clicking on its title.
 
Our Annual Meeting will take place from Wednesday May 27-Sunday May 31. The conference starts off with several mini-plenaries, followed by our awards celebration Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday – Sunday, we will host over 300 events, including paper sessions, salons, roundtables, new books in the field and author meets readers panels. 

 

Online Program

]]> Wed, 13 May 2020 20:51:24 GMT Dates and Time Blocks Announced! https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=506199 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=506199 Virtual Meeting Update
Dates and Time Blocks Announced!

*Registration Required

Dear colleagues,
 
The 2020 Program Committee and LSA Executive Office are pleased to announce that our first-ever virtual conference will take place from Wednesday May 27-Sunday May 31. The meeting will kick off on Wednesday with three exciting mini-plenaries along with the awards celebration (awards will be announced shortly).On Thursday – Sunday, we will host over 300 events, including the many paper sessions, salons, roundtables, and author meets readers panels. The program is truly shaping up to be an intellectually engaging event.We are excited and hope you are too!
 
2020 Annual Meeting Time Blocks
 
The Program Committee is working hard to finalize the schedule, but we ask that you hold the following days and time blocks for the conference (all times are EDT):
 
Wednesday, May 27:
11:00am-12:45pm: Mini-Plenary I
1:00pm – 2:45pm: Mini-Plenary II
3:00pm-3:45pm: Awards Celebration
4:00pm-5:45pm: Mini-Plenary III
 
Thursday, May 28
11:00am-12:45 pm
1:00pm-2:00 pm
2:15pm-4:00 pm
 
Saturday, May 30
11:00am-12:45 pm
1:00pm-2:45 pm
4:00pm-5:45 pm
 
Friday, May 29
11:00am-12:45 pm
1:00pm-2:45 pm
4:00pm-5:45 pm
 
Sunday, May 31
11:00am-12:45 pm
1:00pm-2:00 pm
2:15pm-4:00 pm
 
LSA is proud of our large international program, representing over 60 countries and spanning 17 different time zones. We understand that participants will not be able to attend each session live, but we plan to make all events available to participants through the conference portal for 30 days following the end of the meeting (panels will be able to opt out of recording). The final program will be available next week.
 
We hope this email finds each of you doing well and staying healthy.
 
Best regards,
- LSA Executive Office

]]> Thu, 7 May 2020 18:15:35 GMT LSA Annual Meeting Update - April 10 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=501212 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=501212
 
Dear Colleagues, 
 
We hope and trust that you are coping with the continued impacts and spin-off effects of our current health emergency. The coronavirus pandemic has consequences for communities around the world and our law & society community is, in that sense, no different.
 
We know that many of you are have some remaining questions about our first-ever virtual conference before deciding whether to withdraw your registration or remain on the program as a participant. To help you make an informed decision, we would like to share our vision of the virtual conference with you and provide some details about what we are planning. A virtual conference cannot completely replace an in-person meeting (and we look forward to Chicago in 2021). Nonetheless, the Executive Office has been working closely with the Program Committee to organize a virtual conference around the dates of Denver 2020 that attempts to retain as much of the intellectual energy of the in-person meeting as possible.
 
Several facets of the virtual meeting are still being worked on, and we will keep you informed as new details are finalized. Although we don’t have everything worked out at this time, we hope the information below is helpful as you make your decision about whether to continue to participate in the LSA 2020 annual meeting or not. 
What can you expect to see?
The virtual meeting will have a one-stop-shop “digital home.” All sessions will be organized in a self-contained conference website. We are working on this digital home with a company that has assisted other Associations that have moved to a virtual format. Registered participants will be able to login using their LSA credentials and navigate through the various sessions and other events. As the conference rolls out, you will be able to watch sessions live on the conference site as they occur. Sessions will be recorded and made available only to registered participants for a period of time after the meeting. Participants can thus attend as many sessions as you would like on-demand. If you do not want your presentation recorded, there will be an option to opt-out from this option. We are working to hire dedicated support to assist participants with technical questions about the platform.
 
Which medium will we be using for sessions?
All sessions will be held on Zoom and/or GoToMeeting webinars and/or meetings which will be organized centrally. The conference portal – the digital home -- will contain all of the sessions for easy access and search capabilities, including composing your own panel attendance schedule. These platforms will allow presenters and attendees in sessions to interact via features such as live chat, polls and raising hands for Q&A sessions after the presentations.
 
What about time zone differences?
LSA is proud to already have a global membership and audience, representing over 60 countries across the world. We hope to look back on the 2020 virtual meeting as a truly global LSA meeting in a new sense. To fulfill this vision, we will do our best to accommodate individual participants, sessions, and our collaborative research networks (CRNs) by carefully considering requests for specific time zones. At this point, we are expecting around 80% of the sessions to take place live in the Mountain or Eastern time zones of the US and 20% to take place in other time zones. The final time blocks for the live sessions will be shaped by the sessions that remain on the program. The Office and Program Committee are committed to making the virtual meeting work for the largest number of participants as possible. At the same time, we also plan to work closely with CRNs and other groups to schedule their sessions that work for their participants on that session. Whatever the time blocks we ultimately decide, we recognize that it will not work for everyone to attend each session live, but that recorded sessions will be available to view on your own schedule.
 
What are the days and times of the meeting? And how long are the days?
The dates of the virtual conference will be Wednesday, May 27-Sunday, May 31. The schedule and time blocks are:

Wednesday: Plenary at 11-12:45 
Plenary at 1-2:45
Award Ceremony 3-3:45
Plenary at 4-5:45 

Thursday and Sunday Schedule: 11-12:45, 1-2, 2:15-4
Friday and Saturday Schedule: 11-12:45, 1-2:45, 4-5:45

*All times are eastern. 

How do you plan to replicate the informal conversations and networking opportunities that take place outside sessions?
One of the best parts about attending the LSA Annual Meetings is connecting with one another in the hallways over coffee, sharing a meal, or a cocktail at the bar. Obviously, a virtual meeting cannot fully replace those casual, but important, interpersonal connections. However, the Program Committee is hard at work brainstorming alternative options, whether that is allowing extra time following a session to informally connect or creating breakout spaces where conference participants can connect over shared interests.Note also that business meetings of CRNs will also be held.
 
Will there still be exhibit halls?
LSA is working with exhibitors and our technical partners about whether we can create a virtual exhibit hall. More information will come as we learn more, including whether participants can schedule individual meetings with participating publishers.
 
Why am I still paying the full price for registration?
LSA is now covering substantive tech expenses to make this year's virtual conference as professional, engaging and valuable to its attendees as possible. Some of these new costs pertain to the design of an exclusive virtual conference website, extra tech support and software licenses to host all of the sessions, among other items, including the association's regular operating expenses, including staff time to organize the entire meeting.
 
What is LSA’s refund policy?
If you wish to request a refund of your registration fee and not participate in the virtual meeting, we will provide afullrefund and your paper will be dropped from the program, but you must fill out the refund form byApril 15th. The link to the cancel is here:
 
You will be required tologinprior to accessing the form. For those who do not wish to participate in the virtual meeting, we hope you will consider converting all, or even part, of your registration fee into a donation to LSA’s General Fund to help mitigate the financial losses that we will sustain from cancelling the in-person meeting. You will have this option when filling out a cancellation form.
 
What if I already filled out a cancellation form?
If you have already filled out a cancellation form, but haven’t received your refund, we ask for your patience as our office processes the refunds. If you haven’t received your refund within two weeks, please contact the office atlsa@lawandsociety.org.
 
Can I automatically just convert my registration to the virtual meeting?
Yes. If you do not want to cancel your participation in the virtual program, you do not need to do anything. If you do not cancel your registration byApril 15th, your presentation will be placed on the virtual program and no refunds will be given after this date.
 
What if I can’t log into my LSA profile to fill out a cancellation form?
The username for your LSA profile is most likely your full email address on record. If you are having trouble logging into your profile, please select the “forgot password” link:https://lawandsociety.site-ym.com/general/email_pass.aspand follow the prompts to reset your password. If you don’t receive an email to reset your password right away, be sure to check your spam or junk folder, or try another email addresses that may be associated with your LSA account. If you are still having issues logging in, please contact the LSA Executive Office atlsa@lawandsociety.org.
 
What if I don’t have an LSA profile, but would like to fill out the cancellation form?
Please contact the LSA Executive Office atlsa@lawandsociety.organd we will work with you.
 
If you have a question that was not answered above, please check out our FAQs page here first. Still need an answer? Please contact LSA's Executive Office at lsa@lawand society.org.
 
Although we are disappointed that we will not see you all in Denver, the Executive Office is working hard to organize an engaging virtual program, and we look forward to your participation.
 
We wish you all continued good health.
 
Best regards,
- LSA Executive Office

]]> Fri, 10 Apr 2020 21:37:40 GMT LSA Virtual Conference Update - A Message From Our Program Chairs https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=499663 https://members.lawandsociety.org/news/news.asp?id=499663
 
Greetings! 
 
Saddened as we were, of course, to cancel LSA's face-to-face meeting in Denver, our plans to take the meeting online are starting to take shape. We are writing now to let you know some of our online thinking.
 
Subject to change, here are some of our plans:
 
  • Paper sessions that allow panelists to deliver papers to an audience of interested participants, with those participants able to engage in meaningful ways – with a “chat” function, everyone can ask their question!
  • Plenaries will be available both live and recorded giving you an option to attend even if it’s scheduled at an inconvenient time.
  • Author Meets Reader sessions may be longer, allowing us to discuss more thoroughly the newest books in our field.
  • Professional development panels – on getting grants, publication, tenure, and other topics – available at the LSA web site all year long.
 
Indeed, we are excited about the possibilities and opportunities presented by an online meeting. We hope that you will join us there!
 
After careful consideration, LSA decided to keep the same registration fee as the face-to-face meeting. We expect that the technology we can procure will offer opportunities to interact with colleagues, present your research, and get feedback to an extent similar to attending a regular meeting. Moreover, LSA will incur significant costs associated with cancelling the meeting and transferring it to an online environment, and the Annual Meeting constitutes an important portion of LSA’s annual budget.
 
Next steps --  Please fill out the cancellation form (Click here) by April 15th if you would prefer NOT to join us in LSA’s journey to a virtual annual meeting, and we will refund your registration fee in full. If you decide not to participate, we would be thrilled if you would consider donating your registration fee, even in part if you’re able, to the Law and Society Association, to protect its ongoing health and vitality through these challenging times.
 
If we do not hear from you by April 15, you will remain in the program, joining us in this exciting experiment. Refunds will not be processed after April 15.
 
Finally and most importantly, as we face these new challenges, we hope that wherever you are, you, your family and friends are managing to stay safe and keep healthy. Looking forward to seeing all of you in virtual space!
 
- Anna-Maria Marshall and Jonathan Klaaren | Program Committee Co-Chairs
]]> Fri, 3 Apr 2020 19:15:42 GMT