Call for Papers: Annual Comparative Law Work-in-Progress Workshop, University of Pennsylvania Law School

Submit papers to Jacques deLisle at [email protected]. Please put “Comparative Law Workshop” in the subject line of your email. Papers must be submitted by November 18, 2022. We will inform authors of decisions by December 16, 2022.

This annual workshop is a vital forum for colleagues in comparative law to explore and discuss works in progress in a serious and thorough manner that will be helpful to paper authors in developing and revising their work. “Work in progress” means scholarship that has reached a stage at which it is substantial enough for serious discussion and critique but has not yet been published (and can still be revised after the workshop, if already accepted for publication.) Appropriate work for the workshop includes law review articles, book chapters, and other similar genres. As is customary in the field, a “comparative law” paper need not be explicitly comparative; it may focus on the law of one non-U.S. jurisdiction.

Each paper author may submit only one paper. Papers should be no more than 15,000 words (including notes), or, if the work is longer, authors should indicate (when submitting) which 15,000-word portion they would like to have read and discussed at the workshop.

Participants in the workshop will include the paper authors, designated commentators, faculty members of the host institutions, and a few other invited participants. The group will be small enough to gather around a large table and to allow sustained and in-depth discussion. The authors will not present their papers at the workshop. The papers will be distributed well in advance, and participants are expected to have read them before the workshop. (Authors whose papers are selected for discussion at the workshop are expected to have read, and be prepared to discuss, all of the papers.) Two designated commentators will introduce and discuss each paper before opening the discussion to the other workshop participants. Paper authors will then have an opportunity to respond and ask questions. Paper authors may seek publication wherever they wish.

The principal goal of the workshop is to improve work before publication. An additional goal of the workshop is to provide an opportunity for comparative lawyers to gather two days to talk shop, both in the paper-focused sessions and in more informal conversations. We hope that this will create synergy that fosters more dialogue, cooperation, and an increased sense of coherence for the discipline.

The Workshop is supported by the host school and the American Society of Comparative Law.