CFP: Notre Dame Legal History Colloquium

 [We have the following announcement.  DRE] 

Notre Dame Legal History Colloquium to Begin Third Year of Meetings, Now Accepting Presenter Applications

The Notre Dame Legal History Colloquium will again convene a series of workshops during the 2026-2027 academic year for emerging legal historians. Now in its third consecutive year of meetings, the initiative is financially supported by Notre Dame Law School and The Graduate School.

Formerly known as the ASLH/Notre Dame Graduate Legal History Colloquium, the forum provides early career legal scholars and practitioners with feedback on works-in-progress—an important step in fine-tuning research to a point where it can be submitted for publication. This year, the Colloquium has been restyled to ensure that law, master’s, and doctoral students, as well as faculty members in visiting or other term-limited positions (e.g., postdocs) are eligible to present their work.

The Colloquium was established in 2024 with the support of the American Society for Legal History. It was organized at that time by Dennis Wieboldt, who graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 2026. Over the last two years, the Colloquium has enabled more than 40 students from across the country to present their research. Articles workshopped at the Colloquium have already begun (or will soon appear) in leading journals, including the Yale Law Journal, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, and Fordham Law Review Online.

Although the Colloquium has been restyled, its format will remain the same. Each presenter will be paired with a designated respondent, who is typically a senior scholar in the field. Previous respondents have included faculty from Notre Dame Law School, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, the University of Chicago Law School, and the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. All works-in-progress will continue to be pre-circulated to prospective attendees to facilitate a robust discussion.

Now that Wieboldt has concluded his studies at Notre Dame Law School, the Colloquium will be co-convened by 3L Mintae Cha and history Ph.D. student Sophie Rizzieri. Cha, who formerly earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University, received the American Society for Legal History’s 2024 William Nelson Cromwell Dissertation Prize. The Prize is awarded annually to the best dissertation in any area of American legal history by the Society. Rizzieri’s research focuses on early American intellectual, social, and legal history.

During the 2026-2027 academic year, meetings of the Colloquium will be held at the Notre Dame Law School campus in Chicago on September 26, October 17, February 6, and March 6. An additional meeting will be held at the Law School’s South Bend campus on January 16.

Those interested in presenting at and/or attending meeting(s) of the Colloquium should indicate their interest here.

Selma Moidel Smith Student Writing Competition in California Legal History

[Because the deadline of July 1 is fast approaching, we are moving up the following Call for Submissions. DRE]

The California Supreme Court Historical Society (CSCHS) encourages all students working on
California legal history (NOT just the history of California courts) to apply for [the Selma Moidel Smith Student Writing Competition in California Legal History.  Papers may include elements of digital humanities and may also be co-authored. This is a GREAT WAY to get attention for your hard work!

$5,000 first-place, $2,500 second-place, and $1,000 third-place prizes will be awarded to the best papers on California state or colonial history, broadly considered. Recent winners include a study of the death penalty in California, the evolution of California land law, the desegregation of Stanford Law School, and disability law and the campaign for independent living. as well as a jointly authored paper on Chinese adoption practices and their role in immigration decisions after the Chinese Exclusion Act.

We accept papers of at least 7,500 and not more than 15,000 words, including notes and other explanatory matter. The competition is open to students and recent graduates in history and/or law, provided that they did not have full-time academic employment at the time the paper was written. The paper should also be unpublished; prize winners will likely receive an offer to publish in California Legal History, CSCHS's journal.

Papers may be self-nominated or sent in by a professor or supervisor. To ensure anonymity, the author's name should appear only on a separate cover page, along with the author's mailing address, telephone number, email address, and the name of their school.  

Submissions are due by July 1, 2026 and should be sent to director@cschs.org with the subject line "Smith Prize." The winners will be announced in August 2026, and an award ceremony (likely over Zoom) will be held in August or September. 

For the Prize Committee: Sarah Barringer Gordon, Laura Kalman, Stuart Banner

Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition

[We have the following announcement.  DRE] 

The Legal History and Rare Books Special Interest Section (LHRB) of the American Association of Law Libraries, in cooperation with The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., is conducting its annual Morris L. Cohen Student Essay Competition.  Full- and part-time students currently enrolled in accredited graduate programs in law, history, library science, or related fields are eligible to enter.  Members of the Class of 2026 are also eligible.  Essays may be on any topic related to legal history, rare law books, or legal archives.  Criteria on which papers will be judged include originality of topic or approach, quality and depth of research and analysis, clarity of presentation, and contribution to the field.  The winner will receive a $1,000 prize from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., and will present the essay at an LHRB sponsored webinar.  The authors of the winning and runner-up essays will have the opportunity to publish their essays in LHRB’s online scholarly journal Unbound: A Review of Legal History and Rare Books.  The Competition electronic submission deadline is 11:59pm EDT, Tuesday, 30 June 2026.
 
Full Competition details are available at the Cohen Essay Contest: Full Explanation web page, and the Application Form is available at the Cohen Essay Contest: Application web page.  Questions may be sent to John Moreland at JMoreland@phillipslytle.com.  The Competition is named in honor of Morris L. Cohen, late Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School and recognized as “one of the towering figures of late 20th century law libraries.”  His scholarly work focused on legal research, rare law books, and historical bibliography.

Deadline Approaching: ASLH Student Research Colloquium

 [We have the following Call for Applicants.  DRE]

The American Society for Legal History will host its thirteenth annual Student Research Colloquium (SRC) on Wednesday, November 11, and Thursday, November 12, 2026, in Banff, Alberta, Canada.  Each year, the SRC brings eight graduate students to the site of the ASLH annual meeting to discuss their in-progress dissertations or other research projects with each other and with ASLH-affiliated scholars.  Target applicants include early-post-coursework Ph.D. students and historically minded law students.  All students whose research touches on legal-historical themes are encouraged to apply, whatever their chronological or geographical focuses.  Applicants who have not yet had an opportunity to interact with the ASLH are welcome, as are those who have never received any formal training in legal history.  A student may present a paper at the annual meeting and participate in the SRC in the same year.  The ASLH will either partially or, if possible, fully reimburse participants’ travel, hotel, and conference-registration costs.  To apply, submit the following three items to John Wertheimer at: srcproposals@aslh.net:

• a cover letter describing, among other things, how far along you are and approximately how many years remain in your present course of study;
• an up-to-date CV; and 
• a two-page, single-spaced research statement that contains a working title and describes the in-progress research project that you would like to present at the colloquium.

Application deadline: June 1, 2026.

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of ASLH donors, the SRC is able to offer student participants fellowships named in honor of past and present leaders in our field: the Lauren Benton Fellowship, the Herbert A. Johnson Fellowship, the Martha Jones Fellowship, the Laura Kalman Fellowship, the William Novak/University of Michigan Law School Fellowship, the Amy Dru Stanley Fellowship, the John Wertheimer/Davidson College Fellowship, and the James Whitman/Yale Law School Fellowship. 

Alan Rodger Postgraduate Visiting Researcher

 [We have the following announcement, via H-Law.  DRE]

The University of Glasgow School of Law invites applications from PhD students in Roman law/legal history for the post of Alan Rodger Postgraduate Visiting Researcher, to be held during the 2026/27 academic year. The selected candidate will spend a term in Glasgow and receive a £2,000 award for support, and will be encouraged to speak to students and at research seminars.  The deadline for applications is 26 June 2026.

The post was established in memory of Lord Rodger of Earlsferry (1944-2011), Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and scholar of Roman law and legal history.

Ernest Metzger
Douglas Professor of Civil Law
The School of Law,
Stair Building
5 - 8 The Square
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
United Kingdom

ICS Seminar: Presidential Power

[We have the following announcement from our friends at the ICS.  DRE]

The White House (LC)

The Institute for Constitutional Studies at The George Washington University Law School is pleased to announce another seminar for advanced graduate students and junior faculty:

Constitutional Controversies: Presidential Power

Disputes about the breadth and limits of the president’s constitutional powers have been recurrent throughout our nation’s history. This discussion-based seminar will explore a series of “constitutional moments” that relate to presidential authority. After examining debates over the structure of the executive branch eventually adopted in Article II, we will consider a variety of constitutional disputes about presidential power, focusing particularly on events during the Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, FDR, Truman, Nixon, and Trump administrations.

Instructors.  Maeva Marcus, a past president of the American Society for Legal History, is Research Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Constitutional Studies at the George Washington University Law School. She serves as the general editor of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States. Author of Truman and the Steel Seizure Case: The Limits of Presidential Power, she also edited the eight-volume series The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800 and Origins of the Federal Judiciary: Essays on the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Steven Steinbach, GWU Professorial Lecturer in Law, taught United States History and American Government courses and served as History Department Chair at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC. Previously he was a partner in the Washington, DC, law firm of Williams & Connolly LLP, where he specialized in criminal and civil litigation.

Meeting Time. Monday evenings, 6-8 pm

Dates.  August 31; September 14, and 28; and October 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2026.

Location. The seminar will meet at The George Washington University Law School, 2000 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20052. The classroom location will be communicated at a later date.

Application Process.  The seminar is designed for graduate students and junior faculty in history, political science, law, and related disciplines. All participants will be expected to complete the assigned readings and participate in seminar discussions. Although the Institute cannot offer academic credit directly for the seminar, students may be able to earn graduate credit through their home departments by completing an independent research project in conjunction with the seminar. Please consult with your advisor and/or director of graduate studies about these possibilities. Space is limited, so applicants should send a copy of their curriculum vitae and a short statement on how this seminar will be useful to them in their research, teaching, or professional development. Materials will be accepted only by email at icsgw@law.gwu.edu until August 23, 2026. Successful applicants will be notified soon thereafter. For further information, please contact Maeva Marcus at maevamarcus@law.gwu.edu.

Additional Information.  There is no tuition or other charge for this seminar, though participants will be expected to acquire the assigned books on their own.

About ICS.  The Institute for Constitutional Studies (ICS) is the nation’s premier institute dedicated to ensuring that future generations of Americans understand the substance and historical development of the U.S. Constitution.  Begun with the assistance of a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute is located at the George Washington University Law School.  To fulfill its mission, the Institute’s seminars explore the important role the Constitution has played in shaping American society.

Weekend Roundup

• 
  "The Selden Society regularly funds a Milsom Studentship for a person undertaking research in English legal history leading to the degree of PhD (or equivalent) at a university in the United Kingdom." 

• A review of Geoffrey Samuel's Principia Iuris: A Historical and Comparative Introduction to the English Law (Edward Elgar Publishing) (Law Society Gazette). 

• A review of James Hart's The U.S. Supreme Court in American Society: Historical Perspectives (Edward Elgar Publishing) (Law Society Gazette).

• Washington University-St. Louis Law invited UCLA's Stuart Banner back to lecture on his history of the US Supreme Court (Student Life).   

• On Tuesday, April 28, from  6:00 - 8:00 PM, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, First Department with support from the Historical Society of the New York Courts, will sponsor a talk on The Constitution’s Framers: What They Teach us about Making America Better, by John D. Feerick, Norris Professor of Law, Fordham Law School Dean Emeritus, and a panel discussion with William M. Treanor, Dean Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center and Fordham Law School and John Rogan, Senior Fellow, Fordham Law School.  Register here. 

• Jill Hasday, Minnesota Law, discusses We the Men on the Infinite Women podcast. 

• A fully funded four-year Collaborative Doctoral Studentship at the University of Leeds on The Making of the National Archive: The First Century of the Public Record Office.  

• Over at Balkinization, a symposium is underway of Stephen Skowronek's The Adaptability Paradox.   Several legal historians are slate to contribute.

• The National Constitution Center has posted the recording of its Town Hall on Women and the American Revolution with Mary Beth Norton, the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emerita of American History at Cornell University, and Rosemarie Zagarri, distinguished university professor of history at George Mason University. 

• ICYMI: Back to the archives to defend reproductive rights (Ms. Magazine).  A dispatch from the new "civic education" (University of Colorado-Boulder).  New York's woman lawyers (NYSBA).  Michael R. Dreeben revisits Robert Jackson’s "The Federal Prosecutor" (HLR). 

 Weekend Roundup is a weekly feature compiled by all the Legal History bloggers. 

Global Dissertation Prize

[We have the following announcement from the ASLH.  DRE.]

The American Society for Legal History (ASLH) is delighted to announce a new dissertation prize: the Global Dissertation Prize for the best dissertation in global legal history. The [prize] recognizes the best dissertation from the previous calendar year on topics centered outside the United States. Eligible dissertations must be written in English and submitted for a PhD, JSD, or equivalent doctoral degree, excluding the JD, awarded in the previous calendar year (for example, a dissertation for a PhD awarded in 2025 would be eligible in 2026). Dissertations should not be predominantly focused on the US and may examine contexts, processes, or institutions that are local, regional, imperial, comparative, global, or otherwise. 

Submissions should be made by the author including only (1) the dissertation as submitted to the university for the degree, and (2) a curriculum vitae. 

To be considered for the year’s prize, the author should e-mail a PDF electronic copy of the dissertation and author’s curriculum vitae to the prize committee chair (globaldissertationprize@aslh.net) with the subject heading: GLOBAL DISSERTATION PRIZE SUBMISSION. Please title the PDF as “author last name” and “short title” .pdf (for example, Adewoye Lawyers Southern Nigeria.pdf).  

Deadline for Submissions: June 1, 2026.  Award Amount: $500.

Weekend Roundup

• 
  
  A head's up to those thinking about submitting proposals for the annual meeting of the American Society for Legal History in Banff, November 12-14: the deadline is March 24.   

• This year's Bancroft Prizes have gone to two works of legal history: Emilie Connolly’s Vested Interests: Trusteeship and Native Dispossession in the United States and Beth Lew-Williams’s John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese Life Under American Racial Law (NYT).

• Legal history bulks large among the finalists for the book division of the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts: The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder that Inspired the Abolition of Slavery, by Siddharth Kara; The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America, by John Fabian Witt; We The People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, by Jill Lepore; You Can't Kill a Man Because of the Books He Reads: Angelo Herndon's Fight for Free Speech, by Brad Snyder; American Scare: Florida's Cold War on Black and Queer Lives, by Robert Fieseler; and The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North, by Michelle Adams.  

• The Irish Legal History Society has announced its 2026 essay prize.  "Submissions are invited by 31 May on any topic within Irish legal history, broadly conceived, from both undergraduates and postgraduates."

• 
  The latest two volumes in the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States, The Taft Court: Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930, by Robert C. Post, Yale Law School, and The Hughes Court: From Progressivism to Pluralism, 1930 to 1941, by Mark V. Tushnet, Harvard Law School, are now available as paperbacks from Cambridge University Press.

• The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that a museum devoted to its past will open in July 2026. 

• Anna Snyder on the "odd omission" of lawyers in commemorations of the 250th anniversary of independence (AHA Perspectives). 

• A notice of Maria Fletcher, Charlie Peevers, and Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe's chapter on "Madge Easton Anderson, the first woman in Scotland and the UK to become a professional lawyer," in Celebrating Women in Legal History: Making and Shaping a Discipline (Scottish Legal News). 

• "The 1957 executive order signed by President Dwight Eisenhower to enforce the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School is one of the documents on display at the Clinton Presidential Center at a new exhibit chronicling the history of the 27 amendments to the Constitution" (Arkansas Advocate).    

• Michele Goodwin’s Presidential Address to the Law & Society Association prompted June Carbone to reflect on teaching Johnson v. McIntosh and Dred Scott in the comment Claiming History.

• A Harvard Law Review note: Making the Rules of the Rules of the Game: The Use, Misuse, and Disuse of the Rulemaking Grant in the Act of 1842.

• Robert L. Tsai reviews Cliff Sloan's The Court at War (Washington Monthly). 

• Lawbook Exchange's March catalogue of Scholarly Law and Legal History.

• ICYMI:  Phillip W. Magness on Justice Thomas's dissent in the IEEPA decision (Law & Liberty). A notice of Vernon Burton's talk, “The First Amendment and Lincoln’s Constitutional Legacy" at Clemson's "week of celebrating First Amendment rights and history" (Clemson News). Tarun Choudhury on Sir Garfield Barwick (Legal Service India).  Ernie Walton thinks that Originalists Need the Classical Legal Tradition (Public Discourse).

 Weekend Roundup is a weekly feature compiled by all the Legal History bloggers.

MPI Seeks a Doctoral Student

[We have the following announcement.  DRE.]

The Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt/Main is a world leading research institute with a staff of more than 150. Its three departments with more than 70 scholars, the unrivalled collections of its specialized library and its numerous national and international co-operations make it the central research hub for a global scientific community investigating the past, present and future of legal regimes.

We are looking to recruit as of 1 November 2026 one Doctoral Student (m/f/d) for the DFG Research
Training Group "Organizing Architectures¨. The DFG Research Training Group "Organising Architectures" (3022), in which the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, the Technical University of Darmstadt, the University of Kassel and our institute are involved, focuses on architecture as the organized, collective shaping of modern societies through institutions, networks and discourses. This focus is based on the assumption that observation of social orders cannot b e separated from architectural formations and that these, like the respective architectures, arise through specific, complex social negotiation processes. A detailed description of the graduate school and more detailed information on pplications can be found [here].

We are also offering an online information event where we will present the research concept, the study program and the future working methods of the college, and will of course be available to answer any questions.  Registration is not required. The link to participate can be found on the website mentioned above. 

Your profile.  We welcome applications that demonstrate a serious interest in legal history or in a historical discipline that addresses questions of normativity, as well as a willingness to combine this with the thematic fields ofarchitecture and urban planning.

We expect a qualified, above-average university degree in law or history. Additionally, we expect  a willingness to work in an interdisciplinary manner and ideally initial experience in this, the ability, eagerness and readiness to work in a team, presence at Frankfurt and good German or English skills, as well as the willingness to learn the other language.

Our offer.  You will have unlimited access to our world leading library and a multitude of databases. You will be provided with a work space and will receive extensive academic and administrative support. There are generous grants for research trips to archives and libraries, as well as for attending conferences. A variety of personal and career development opportunities is available, including funding for German language classes. We offer an attractive and international work environment with an unparalleled research infrastructure and a good working atmosphere. The job is a full time position (currently 39 hours per week). While you will be based in Frankfurt/Main. The payment is currently £á3,185.72 per month (gross) in the first year, which equals approximately £á2,163 after taxes in the first year and £á2,301 in the second year, depending on family circumstances, plus a special annual payment.. The position is a fixed-term appointment for three years, with the possibility of renewal for a further year.

We welcome all applications, regardless of nationality, ethnic and social background, religion
 and age. We are striving to increase the proportion of female researchers and staff and therefore particularly encourage women to apply. Severely disabled people with the same abilities and qualifications will be given priority. The college also offers support in balancing family and work; there are generous opportunities for mobile working (at present, up to 40 per cent per month). Due to the collaborative nature of the interdisciplinary group, active participation in the qualification and study programme of the research training group is expected.

Application procedure.  Please submit the following application documents in German or English:

• A cover letter explaining your motivation for pursuing a doctorate in the Research Training Group, stating in which of the participating disciplines you are pursing your doctorate;
• CV with information on your course of study and language skills and your academic certificates (scanned).

Please also submit a separate, anonymized file (max. 1 MB) containing a detailed research expose of a maximum of 3 pages plus a bibliography for a doctoral project taking into account the academic program of the Research Training Group. Please indicate here in which supervisor(s) from among the Principal Investigators of the Research Training Group you prefer. Your application must be submitted online via our application form by the closing date of 7 April 2026. The selection interviews will take place in the beginning of June 2026.

Contact.  Informal enquiries may be directed to PD Dr. Peter Collin (collin@lhlt.mpg.de) or - as far as it generally concerns the activities of the Research Training Group ¡V to the coordinator of the research training group, Friederike Weidner (f.weidner@kunst.uni-frankfurt.de). For questions as to the terms and conditions of employment please contact Anna Heym (jobs@lhlt.mpg.de).

The Julien Mezey Dissertation Award

[We have the following announcement.  DRE]

The Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities is excited to announce that we are accepting submissions for the Julien Mezey Dissertation Award. This annual prize is awarded to the dissertation that most promises to enrich and advance interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of law, culture and the humanities.

The Association seeks the submission of outstanding work from a wide variety of perspectives, including but not limited to law and cultural studies, law and critical race studies, law and gender and sexuality, legal theory and environmentalism, law and literature, law and psychoanalysis, law and visual studies, legal history, legal theory and jurisprudence. Scholars completing humanities-oriented dissertations in SJD and related programs, as well as those earning PhDs, are encouraged to submit their work. Applicants eligible for the 2026 award must have defended their dissertations successfully between March 2025 and March 2026.

The Association will cover the Mezey Prize winner’s travel and lodging costs to our annual meeting at the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, Illinois.  Nominations for the 2026 award must be received on or before March 15, 2026.  For submission instructions, please see our website.

Notre Dame Graduate Legal History Colloquium

We have word that the Notre Dame Graduate Legal History Colloquium will reconvene on March 7, 2026, from 10 AM to 3 PM on the Notre Dame Law School campuses in South Bend, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois. The organizers write that "All students and faculty, regardless of institutional affiliation, are welcome," that all "presenters and attendees will receive complimentary lunch and refreshments," and that virtual opportunities to participate will be available for those unable to attend in-person.  

Those wishing to attend should register here, a form that reproduces the schedule for March 7 at right.  More information about the Colloquium can be learned here or via email to Dennis Wieboldt at dwiebold@nd.edu. 

--Dan Ernst

Berger-Howe Legal History Fellowship: Deadline Approaching

[We are moving this previously posted announcement up because the deadline of January 15 is approaching.  DRE.]

Harvard Law School invites applications for the Raoul Berger-Mark De Wolfe Howe Legal History Fellowship for the academic year 2026-2027.  Eligible applicants include those who have made substantial progress on their doctoral dissertations or who have recently been awarded a doctoral degree. A first law degree is preferred, but not required.

The purpose of the fellowship, which is awarded annually, is to enable the fellow to complete a major piece of writing in the field of legal history, broadly defined, as the fellow seeks to begin an academic career in legal history. There are no limitations as to geographical area or time period.  Previous fellows have gone on to pursue faculty appointments or other fellowships in American universities, primarily on law faculties.

The fellow is expected to spend the majority of their time on their own projects. The fellow will also participate in the Harvard Law School Legal History Workshop, a for-credit semester-long seminar, and assist with occasional other legal history sessions, both under the direction of Harvard faculty affiliated with the Program in Law and History.  The term of the fellowship is July 1 through June 30.  The fellow will be required to be in residence at the law school during the academic year (September through May).

Applicants for the fellowship for 2026-2027 should submit their applications and supporting materials electronically to Professor Bruce H. Mann. 

Each interested applicant should submit: 

• a detailed (five pages maximum) description of a proposed project;
• a writing sample; 
• a comprehensive résumé or curriculum vitae that gives the applicant's educational background, publications, works in progress, and other relevant experience; 
• two academic letters of reference, which may be submitted electronically by the recommenders to Professor Mann at the above email address; and
• copies of official transcripts of all academic work done at the graduate level,  which may be sent electronically or by regular mail to Professor Mann at Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

The deadline for applications is January 15, 2026.  Announcement of the award will be made by February 27, 2026.  The fellow selected will receive a stipend of $60,000.

Nebraska's Summer Research Institute in U.S. Law and Race

[We have the following call for applicants.  DRE] 

Graduate Fellows Summer Research Institute in U.S. Law and Race, June 7-26, 2026 

Call for Applicants: Deadline February 15, 2026

Funded by the Mellon Foundation, this three-week residential fellowship program supports four (4) graduate students in Summer 2026 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's U.S. Law and Race Initiative with the Digital Legal Research Lab. We seek proposals addressing race and racialization in U.S. law and history broadly, aiming to understand racialized people's use of the law to advance personhood, citizenship, rights, and sovereignty throughout American history.

The Fellowship: Fellows will workshop their research and writing, receive training in digital methods to support data structuring and analysis, contribute to an Open Educational Resource, and enjoy seminar-style discussion of shared readings. The 3-week program features tailored mentoring with U.S. Law & Race affiliate faculty and staff, along with opportunities to meet and network with UNL's History & Digital Humanities communities. Faculty mentors include William G. Thomas III (History), Katrina Jagodinsky (History and Women’s and Gender Studies), Jeannette Eileen Jones (History and Ethnic Studies), Donna Doan Anderson (History), Genesis Agosto (Law), Eric Berger (Law), Danielle Jefferis (Law), Laura Muñoz (History and Ethnic Studies), Jessica Shoemaker (Law), and Catherine Wilson (Law).

Benefits: $4,000 stipend; all housing and meals provided; and all travel costs are covered.

Eligibility: We seek Graduate Fellows researching topics broadly related to U.S. law and race. We are not able to accept proposals that are solely quantitative social science research. Fellows must be from Ph.D. programs in History or relevant humanities or humanistic social science disciplines, including joint J.D./Ph.D. programs. We are especially interested in applications from scholars who engage directly with traditionally underrepresented groups or attend Minority Serving Institutions. The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its programs, activities, or employment.

How to Apply: To be considered for the Fellowship, you should send (1) a letter of interest describing your research project, the writing you propose to workshop and how your work promotes deep historical assessment of U.S. law and race; and (2) a CV, and 3.) a list of two references the committee may contact. Please send materials to uslawandrace@unl.edu with the subject line "Mellon Graduate Fellows" by midnight on February 15, 2026. 

The University of Nebraska is a land-grant institution with campuses and programs on the traditional territories of the Oceti Sakowin, Omaha, Oto, Pawnee, and Ponca Tribes, and those held by the relocated Ho Chunk, Iowa, and Sac & Fox Tribes. The UNL Department of History offers graduate fellowships for research in Digital History, Nebraska and the Great Plains, and the North American West that are ideal for potential graduate students pursuing projects in histories of race, gender, sovereignty, and the law.

Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Centre for Legal History of India

[We have the following announcement.  DRE]

The newly established Centre for Legal History of India (CLHI) at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt, Germany, has just advertised three PhD positions and a postdoc position in the field of Indian legal history, all of which are fully funded. 

[The CLHI] is dedicated to advancing research and academic collaboration in the field of Indian legal history. Its primary objective is to strengthen and professionalize the discipline by providing training, mentorship, and resources to doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, equipping them to produce high-quality scholarship.

The Centre seeks to foster a collaborative environment where scholars can engage in critical dialogue about both the current state and future scope of research and pedagogy in this diverse field. Building on a multilateral network connecting institutions and researchers within India and internationally, the Centre showcases the richness and breadth of Indian legal history, identifying areas of common ground while highlighting the diversity of legal traditions and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Indian legal history has long been a significant focus in the Department of European and Comparative Legal History, especially in the context of the study of legal transfers within the common law world. Given the central role of the Indian subcontinent in the history of the British Empire and the deep and varied legal traditions therein, the Centre aims to contribute towards developing legal history in India as a distinct and valuable field of study that merits dedicated resources and sustained scholarly attention.

The Centre maintains formal collaborations with leading Indian law schools NLSIU Bangalore and NALSAR. It is supported by a Centre Advisory Council and has a dedicated visitors’ programme.

Junior Scholars Conference at Michigan Law

[We have the following announcement.  DRE.]

We are writing on behalf of the Center for International and Comparative Law at the University of Michigan to invite you to help spread the word about our upcoming Junior Scholars Conference, which will be held on April 17-18, 2026, in Ann Arbor, MI, USA. The deadline for abstract submissions is January 5, 2026.

We are accepting abstract submissions from pre-tenure track faculty, as well as Ph.D. and S.J.D. candidates, in law and related fields. This conference offers a valuable opportunity for junior scholars to present their research, engage with peers, and receive feedback from senior faculty. Thematic panels will be organized, and each presenter will benefit from the insights of faculty commentators.

For more information on the submission process and conference details, please refer to the Junior Scholars Conference website.

Junior Scholars Conference Organizing Committee
University of Michigan Law School
Center for International and Comparative Law

Weekend Roundup

• Reminder: at noon on September 10, the Supreme Court Historical Society will sponsor a virtual lecture and conversation with John Q. Barrett, “Away Without Leave but Back in Washington, Briefly: Nazi Prosecutor Justice Robert H. Jackson on the Road to Nuremberg, September 1945.”  Register here.  

• The Supreme Court Historical Society’s latest episode in its Breaking History video series treats “two extraordinary behind-the-scenes stories from the latest Journal of Supreme Court History” concerning Reed v. Reed (1971) and Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

• In an episode of Historians & Their Histories, the Massachusetts Historical Society spoke with Cornelia H. Dayton, University of Connecticut, about her her research into the life of John Peters, the husband of acclaimed poet Phillis Wheatley, as well as abour Professor Dayton’s “path to becoming an historian, her early interest in constitutional law, and the challenges of researching subaltern subjects, such as Peters, who left few firsthand accounts.”  The transcript is here.

• Over at ESCLH Blog: a post on the "(Dis)continuity of Legal Systems in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland after WWII: Difficult Heritage." 

• On Monday, September 8, at 6:30 p.m. at Paul Sawyier Public Library in Frankfort, Kentucky, Thomas C. Mackey, University of Louisville emeritus, will discuss his book, Opposing Lincoln: Clement L. Vallandigham, Presidential Power, and the Legal Battle over Dissent in Wartime (State-Journal).  

• Also on Monday, September 8, Aziz Rana, BC Law, will give the 2025 Kops Freedom of the Press Lecture, "The Constitution in crisis: how Americans came to idolize a document that fails them," at Cornell University, from 12-1 p.m.  More.  

• In C-SPAN’s “Bell Ringer” series, Joseph Crespino, Emory University, talks about “the changes in society, politics, institutions and the U.S. Senate in the 20th and 21st centuries.”  

• Keith Whittington, Yale Law School, will deliver the Constitution Day address at Washington and Lee University at 5 p.m. on September 18 on “By Birth Alone: The Original Meaning of Birthright Citizenship in the Fourteenth Amendment" (More). 

• Notre Dame Law’s notice of the second ASLH/Notre Dame Graduate Legal History Colloquium.

• A columnist praises the appointment of Lee Strang to direct the new Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at the Ohio State University because the center promises to address "the partisan biases that have oozed into the teaching of American history and civic responsibility" (Columbus Dispatch).   

• The 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy at the Howard University School of Law has launched a newsletter, The Refounding.

• ICYMI:  How a Chinese Laundryman Shaped US Civil Rights (KQED).  The Evolution of the Bail System in America (History). The Volatile History of Flag Burning in the US (History).  The "Founders Museum" from White House and PragerU blurs history, AI-generated fiction (NPR).  Speaking of Founders: How about the one who lost a leg?  (Smithsonian).  And there's no rest for the Madison revisionist: “'If we truly want to look at the birthplace of the United States Constitution, it’s not in Philadelphia, it’s on the second floor of this home,' Montpelier’s Director of Interpretation and Visitor Engagement Kyle Stetz said." (29News).

 Weekend Roundup is a weekly feature compiled by all the Legal History bloggers.

Smith Student Writing Prize in California Legal History

[We are moving up this previously posted call for submissions for this student writing prize because the due date is now July 15.  DRE]

The California Supreme Court Historical Society (CSCHS) encourages all students working on California legal history (NOT just the history of California courts) to apply for the Selma Moidel Smith Student Writing Competition in California Legal History. Papers may include elements of digital humanities and may also be co-authored. This is a GREAT WAY to get attention for your hard work!

$5,000 first-place, $2,500 second-place, and $1,000 third-place prizes will be awarded to the best papers on California state or colonial history, broadly considered. Recent winners include a study of the death penalty in California, the evolution of California land law, the desegregation of Stanford Law School, and disability law and the campaign for independent living. as well as a jointly authored paper on Chinese adoption practices and their role in immigration decisions after the Chinese Exclusion Act.

We accept papers of at least 7,500 and not more than 15,000 words, including notes and other
explanatory matter. The competition is open to students and recent graduates in history and/or law, provided that they did not have full-time academic employment at the time the paper was written. The paper should also be unpublished; prize winners will likely receive an offer to publish in California Legal History, CSCHS’s journal.

Papers may be self-nominated or sent in by a professor or supervisor. To ensure anonymity, the author’s name should appear only on a separate cover page, along with the author’s mailing address, telephone number, email address, and the name of their school.

Submissions are due by [July 15], 2025 and should be sent to director@cschs.org with the subject line “Smith Prize.” The winners will be announced in July 2025, and an award ceremony (likely over Zoom) will be held in August or September.

For the Prize Committee: Sarah Barringer Gordon, Laura Kalman, Stuart Banner

Hurst Fellows Announced

The fellows for the 2025 Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History has been announced, here.  H/t: MS.

ASLH: Student Research Colloquium

[We have the following announcement from the American Society for Legal History.  DRE.]
 
The American Society for Legal History will host its eleventh annual Student Research Colloquium (SRC) on Wednesday, November 12, and Thursday, November 13, 2025, in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Each year, the SRC brings eight graduate students to the site of the ASLH annual meeting to discuss their in-progress dissertations or other research projects with each other and with ASLH-affiliated scholars. Target applicants include early-post-coursework Ph.D. students and historically minded law students. All students whose research touches on legal-historical themes are encouraged to apply, whatever their chronological or geographical focuses. Applicants who have not yet had an opportunity to interact with the ASLH are welcome, as are those who have never received any formal training in legal history. A student may present a paper at the annual meeting and participate in the SRC in the same year. The ASLH will either partially or fully reimburse participants’ travel, hotel, and conference-registration costs. To apply, submit the following three items to John Wertheimer at: srcproposals@aslh.net:

• a cover letter describing, among other things, how far along you are and approximately how many years remain in your present course of study;
• an up-to-date CV; and
• a two-page, single-spaced research statement that contains a working title and describes the in-progress research project that you would like to present at the colloquium.

Application deadline: June 1, 2025.  Thanks to the generosity of ASLH donors, the SRC is able to offer student participants fellowships named in honor of past and present leaders in our field: the Lauren Benton Fellowship, the Herbert A. Johnson Fellowship, the Martha Jones Fellowship, the Laura Kalman Fellowship, the William Novak/University of Michigan Law School Fellowship, the Amy Dru Stanley Fellowship, the John Wertheimer/Davidson College Fellowship, and the James Whitman/Yale Law School Fellowship.