Collaborative Research Network on REALIST AND EMPIRICAL LEGAL METHODS
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The Collaborative Research Network (CRN #28) on "Realist and Empirical Legal Methods" (REALM) debuted at the 2007 Law & Society Association meetings in BERLIN. This meeting was held jointly with sociolegal studies associations from around the world, including the Research Committee on Sociology of Law, the Socio-Legal Studies Association of the UK, the Japanese Association of Sociology of Law, the Vereinigung fur Rechtssoziologie (VfR), and the Sociology of Law Section of the German Sociological Association. REALM has continued to sponsor panels at subsequent LSA meetings.
INTRODUCING the CRN on Realist and Empirical Legal Methods:
For many decades, the law-and-society movement has served as a meeting point for scholars interested in empirical research on law. This CRN focuses explicitly on the process of translation between law and social science. Building from existing and future research, we hope to develop new perspectives on this translation process, perspectives which we then plan to put to use and refine – as well as to disseminate through publications, panels, working groups, and conferences. Bringing together scholars interested in “realist” and “empirical” approaches to law, we will work to build an integrative set of research methods for sociolegal studies. We begin with several specific foci: (1) RIGOROUS TRANSLATION OF LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCE: First, we do not assume that scholars trained in social science and scholars trained in law can instantly understand each other’s fields with any depth. Rather, we ask what conditions are necessary in order to bridge very different disciplinary traditions. This requires systematic attention to the translation process itself, and to the institutional settings within which translation occurs. (2) INTERDISCIPLINARY METHODS: Second, scholars involved in this CRN work with the full range of available empirical methods – qualitative and quantitative, ethnographic and statistical. Our goal is to encourage a truly interdisciplinary approach, which examines law from the “ground up” as well as the “top down.” Panels sponsored by this CRN at LSA meetings focus largely on research methods, and on translating social science in legal settings (including law school classrooms). We also work to develop conferences, networks, and small working groups which will provide social scientists and law professors with more extended and intensive opportunities to bridge disciplinary divides.
2007 Sessions (Berlin) Sessions on methods (qualitative, quantitative, experimental), transnational legal transformations, U.S. legal education, institutional mediation of law, empirical research on contracts
2008 Sessions (Montreal)
2009 Sessions (Denver)
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