Annual Meeting to Move Online
The Society’s Executive Committee, following the recommendation of our Annual Program Committee, has decided that the 2020 annual meeting, which was to have been held at Boston University October 15–17, will now take place online, October 15–16, on the Zoom meeting platform. Please mark your agendas. This decision was made in consideration of difficulties caused by the current Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to possible risks to the safety of attendees, practical problems have been caused by the economic impact of the pandemic on participating institutions.
This change in format will necessitate several modifications to our usual program. The Annual Program Committee has tentatively decided to schedule the bulk of the academic program in a six-hour block on Thursday, October 15, starting at 11 am Eastern Time. There will be one or more plenary panels and a period for concurrent panels (See the call for panels and papers below.). The annual business meeting will take place on Friday, October 16, at 11 am Eastern Time, followed by our annual Hot Topic panel and a possible second block for concurrent panels.. On both days, the length and scheduling of the sessions are constrained by the need to accommodate participants and attendees in various time zones.
The main theme of the Academic Program will continue to be Comparative Legal History. Legal scholars have relied extensively on comparative historical analysis, producing a body of research that is impressive in depth and scope. However, there has been little dialogue between comparative law experts and historians and a systematic discussion of the methods and goals of comparative legal history is virtually absent. This omission is unfortunate because comparative historical analysis provides tools that are critical to the understanding of legal institutions and legal change.
The Meeting will also reserve one or more time for concurrent panels on Thursday, October 15, and/or Friday, October 16, 2020. In addition to proposals on comparative legal history the Committee is soliciting proposals for concurrent panels on any comparative law topic even if different from the main topic. As a way to foster multilingualism at the ASCL, proposals will be entertained for panels in languages other than English. Panel proposals should include up to four speakers, a panel title, and a one-to-two-paragraph description of the ideas that the panel will explore. Due to the change to an online venue, we have extended the deadline for submissions. Panel and paper proposals should be submitted via e-mail to Thomas Price at ASCLannualmeeting@law.ucla.edu on or before July 15, 2020. The Committee’s decisions regarding accepted panels will be made by the middle of August 2020.
Any questions about the paper or panel proposals should be addressed to Thomas Price at ASCLannualmeeting@law.ucla.edu.
