Dear Friends,
As we approach Thanksgiving and the end of the year, I want to express my gratitude to each of you for your support of socio-legal studies. The Law and Society Association was founded sixty years ago, and its pathbreaking approach to academic studies, legal scholarship, empirical research, and theory has reframed questions related to politics, law, society, and culture ever since. Across topics spanning economics, civil law, criminal law, the environment, religion, race, sex, LGBTQIA+ discrimination, and even tax law—your inspired and courageous scholarship and cogent analysis has offered new points of view. In light of our strong legacy, I propose a vision moving forward.
Graduate Fellowship
Now, generations strong, we want to continue building our pipeline of thought leadership. With that in mind, I will be proposing to and working with the Executive Committee to launch a new, competitive fellowship for graduate students interested in supporting the work and mission of LSA. The new fellowship will offer the opportunity for hands-on engagement, mentoring, and collaboration with LSA leadership and committees. This will come with a modest stipend and span two years. In the new year, please keep an eye out for this.
Development
This year, please join me in giving to LSA. Your contributions support our annual awards, our early career workshop, travel for our colleagues coming from afar, and more. Last year, Professor Gregory Shaffer and I offered a match for all board member donations, and we will do the same this year. Please give. As little as $5 makes a difference.
International Regional Convenings
For years there has been a very strong interest in convening our international meeting in parts of Africa, Asia, and South America. The desire to do so is strong, but is often met with concerns about costs, local connections, and the ability to facilitate two thousand or more people. I would like to announce a proposal that I will be bringing to the Executive Committee involving micro-regional meetings every two years (never in an international meeting year) in the heart of the communities that have been on your mind. We will seek to collaborate in locations where we have local relationships and build out new and innovative meetings. They will be small, but will allow membership to gather regionally. Those with the capacity to travel longer distances will also be welcome to be part of these convenings. Details must still be sorted out, but I hope to launch the first in the late fall of 2025.
Skills
We need you and want your leadership. Soon you will receive a survey asking about your skill sets and willingness to serve on LSA committees. I hope that those of you who have an interest in serving our vibrant community will take up the call.
LSA 2025 Annual Meeting Program Theme
This year, we will have a panel of dynamic reproductive justice scholars serving as Program Co-Chairs for the 2025 Annual Meeting: Professors Aziza Ahmed, Maya Manian, Kimberly Mutcherson, and Priscilla Ocen. I thank them and know that our Chicago meeting will be extraordinary.
Finally, the approaching 2024 elections in the U.S. are a time of tremendous reflection on democracy, voting rights, voter suppression, reproductive rights, disability justice, the environment, and much more, both nationally and state-by-state. I know that, for many of you, your scholarship touches on these issues. It brings to mind the Civil Rights beacon, Fannie Lou Hamer.
Sixty years ago—the year of our founding—Fannie Lou Hamer spoke at the Democratic National Convention, explaining the difficulties that she and other Black women encountered while attempting to vote. What she understood is that democracy dies in the darkness. By bringing her story to light, she not only exposed the cruel corruptions in Mississippi, but gave hope and inspiration to so many. Now, sixty years later, her urgent call for fair and accessible voting is clearer than ever.
To our U.S. membership, I wish each of you a safe and successful voting day.
My best,
Michele Goodwin