10 December 2011

CALL FOR PAPERS: Fifth Annual International Junior Faculty Forum

Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School have established an International junior Faculty Forum. The purpose is stimulate the exchange of ideas and research, among younger scholars in the academy, from all parts of the world. We live today in a global community– in particular, a global legal community – and we would like to foster legal scholarship on a transnational basis. Scholars in different countries are often divided by barriers of time and space and also by barriers of different legal traditions and cultures. We hope that the Forum will be a step in the direction of surmounting these barriers. The papers at the 2011 forum were on a very wide range of subjects, from street law in Mexico City, to social justice in intellectual property law, to young people’s perceptions about war crimes trials in Bosnia, and the art and law of macroeconomics. The authors of these papers came from many countries, as did the senior scholars who chose the papers and commented on them. A wide range of views, techniques, and methodologies were represented.
The sponsors, Harvard and Stanford Law Schools, are pleased to announce plans for the fifth international forum. It will be held in fall, 2012, either in October or November (the exact date has not yet been fixed). It will take place at Stanford Law School, in Stanford, California.

In order to be considered for the 2012 International Junior Faculty Forum, authors must meet the following criteria:

- Citizen of a country other than the United States
- Home academic institution is outside of the United States
- Have held a faculty position or the equivalent, including positions comparable to junior faculty positions in research institutions, for less than seven years as of 2012; and
- Last degree earned less than ten years before 2012

Papers may be on any legally relevant subject. We particularly welcome work that is interdisciplinary. The papers can make use of any relevant approach: they can be quantitative or qualitative, sociology, anthropological, historical, or economic. The sponsoring schools would like to emphasize that they welcome papers from junior scholars from all parts of the world. No country or group of countries has a monopoly of talent. Please note, however, that already published papers will not be eligible to be considered.

The first step is to submit an abstract of the proposed paper. We would like these to be no more than four (4) pages long; and to be in English. Tell us what you plan to do, lay out the major argument of the paper, say something about the methodology and what you think the paper’s contribution will be to scholarship. The due date for the abstracts is January 4, 2012, although earlier submissions are welcome. Please submit the abstract electronically to both schools — at Harvard, to Juliet Bowler, jbowler@law.harvard.edu; and at Stanford to Lisa Woodcock, woodcock@law.stanford.edu, with the subject line, International Junior Faculty Forum. The abstract should contain the author’s name, home institution, and the title of the proposed paper. Please also send a current CV.

After the abstracts have been reviewed, we will in February invite a number of junior scholars to submit full papers of no more than 15,000 words, electronically, in English, by May 31, 2012. Please include a word count for final papers. There is no fixed number of papers to be invited, but in the past years, about 50 invitations have been issued, out of a much larger number of abstracts.

An international committee of legal scholars, who themselves represent many different countries, and many different styles and approaches, will review the papers. In the end, about ten of the papers will be chosen for full presentation at the conference. At the conference itself, two senior scholars will comment on each paper. After the remarks of the commentators, all of the participants, junior and senior alike, will have a chance to join in the discussion. One of the most valuable—and enjoyable—aspects of the Forum, in the opinion of many participants, has been the chance to meet junior and senior scholars, and to talk about your work and theirs.

The sponsoring schools will cover expenses of travel, including airfare, lodging, and food, for each participant. Questions should be directed to Juliet Bowler (bowler@law.harvard.edu) or Lisa Woodcock (woodcock@law.stanford.edu).
 

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