[We have the following CFP. DRE]
Call for Papers: American Society for Legal History 2025 ASLH Annual Meeting, (Detroit, November 14-16, 2025)
Panel proposals should include the following: a CV with complete contact information for each person on the panel, including chairs and commentators; 300-word (maximum) abstracts of individual papers; and a 300-word (maximum) description of the panel. Only complete panel proposals will be considered.
Scholars looking to build a panel may post their potential paper topics here. We encourage individuals to peruse this spreadsheet to identify other scholars with common interests, beyond their familiar networks. Senior scholars who are willing to chair and/or comment on a panel may register their interest and availability here. All program participants must be current members of the Society by the date of the Annual Meeting. Information on how to build a successful panel can be found here. The Program Committee especially encourages panels that include participants from groups historically under-represented in the organization, and that include participants who represent a diversity of rank, experience, and institutional affiliation.
In addition to traditional panels featuring presentations of work in progress, the Program Committee welcomes other forms of structured presentation for a 90-minute slot, such as a skills/pedagogical workshop (chair, 3-4 presenters) or a roundtable format (chair, 3-5 presenters).
Following last year’s highly successful inaugural session, this year’s Annual Meeting will also dedicate a session to a presentation and discussion of Digital Legal History projects. Individuals interested in participating in this session should submit a short description of their project (up to 300 words) as well as a CV. As a complement to the session, there will be a poster display of the accepted projects. Accepted participants in the Digital Legal History session will be asked to submit a poster design to the organizers by early October. Posters will be printed onsite.
In addition to the above formats, this year’s meeting will also consider New Directions panels. The purpose of these panels will be to identify cutting-edge methodological and topical directions in legal history, to define new subfields, and/or generate dialogue among scholars whose recent books (published since 2022 or forthcoming) have tackled common historiographic questions. These panels will feature three to five authors of new books organized by theme, chronology, methodology and may also include scholars writing review essays of a field, or others similarly positioned. The session abstract should include the author, title, publisher, and publication date for each proposed book. Please note that the Program Committee will devote only a small number of sessions to this type of panel. The New Directions panels replace the Author-Meets-Readers (AMR) panels which were formally on the program; AMRs will not be available for the 2025 meeting.
[The Program Committee invites "traditional panels," "skills/pedagogical workshops," "roundtables," "New Directions" sessions, and "Digital Legal History" sessions. For formats and submission requirements, see the CFP.]
The Program Committee additionally seeks proposals for full-day or half-day pre-conference symposia crafted around related themes to augment traditional conference offerings. We especially encourage proposals for pre-conference events that will involve scholars in emerging fields or in fields previously underrepresented at ASLH conferences and/or that will promote early career scholarly development. We encourage those considering submitting a proposal for pre-conference symposia to be in touch with the program committee chairs. To submit a proposal, please email the program co-chairs directly to provide a short proposal (1-2 pages) including program title, the intended length of program, and a program description, as well as a CV and contact information for each presenter. The Program Committee is available to consult with organizers of such symposia as they develop their proposal, but pre-conference symposia must be self-funded. Organizers are encouraged but not required to host their symposia at the conference hotel. Please note that the deadline for these submissions is earlier than the deadline for main conference submissions so that organizers whose symposia are not selected have an opportunity to submit their panels to the main conference.
As a general matter, we will not be able to accommodate special scheduling requests, nor will we be able to support hybrid or virtual presentations or panels. (For a fuller explanation of this policy, please see the ASLH Annual Meetings FAQ page.) Until a draft of the program is circulated, prospective presenters, chairs, and commentators at the main conference should plan to be available in person on Friday, November 15, and Saturday, November 16.
The ASLH has a strict one-appearance policy (excluding appearances at pre-conference symposia). Prospective participants may submit proposals for multiple sessions, with the understanding that the panel chair will be responsible for promptly finding an appropriate substitute member for any session from which a participant has to withdraw.
Limited financial assistance (covering airfare and ground transportation only) is available for presenters in need, with priority given to graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, contingent faculty, and scholars from abroad.
The members of the Program Committee are Maggie Blackhawk, Jocelyn Hendrickson, Zach Herz, Hide Hirota, Youssef Ben Ismail, Jedidiah Kroncke, Tim Lovelace, Jane Manners, Noah Rosenblum, Natasha Wheatley, and Yanna Yannakakis. The co-chairs of the Program Committee are Deborah Dinner (deborah.dinner@cornell.edu) and Jessica Marglin (marglin@usc.edu).