The 13th annual Ontario/New York Regional Sociolegal Studies conference was held at University of Toronto Centre of Criminology’s wonderful new premises in the Canadiana Building at Queen’s Park on May 8, 2008. There were approximately 30 participants from University of Toronto, York, Carleton, University at Buffalo and the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Apart from opportunities for informal exchanges among participants, there were two main thematic roundtables. One concerned social movements and anti-discrimination and the other dealt with the interaction between risk knowledges and legal policy and decisionmaking. A remarkable feature of the presentations throughout the day was the wide range of casestudies canvassed: European anti-racism, LGBT social movements, history of civil rights activism, mental illness advocacy, citizenship and discourses of terrorism, energy and biotechnology policy, aboriginal justice processes, foster care funding, pension plan governance.
A central theme of the morning discussion was the idea of “framing” an issue and the factors that contributed to certain kinds of frames. For example, who is an “acceptable” citizen, what is a legitimate definition of “racism”, how do some kinds of activism get validated and others do not? Read the rest of this entry »
The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, the Department of Sociology, and the School of Law at SUNY Buffalo held a conference on “Private Lawyers and the Public Interest: The Evolving Role of Pro Bono in the Legal Profession” on April 24-26. The papers offered valuable empirical research on a wide range of topics: the incentives for pro bono in both large and small firms, the role of law schools in encouraging (and mandating) pro bono, the potential of mobilizing the huge cohort of baby-boom lawyers about to retire, the pro bono activities of public interest lawyers, and the efficacy of public interest lawyering against radical poverty. The papers were informed by several shared understandings: pro bono services exceed in quantity all legal services provided by government and foundations; pro bono has unique advantages and disadvantages vis-à-vis other delivery systems; we need to find ways to expand both the quantity and quality of pro bono activity. The papers (including plenary addresses by Deborah Rhode, past president of the Association of American Law Schools, and Karen Mathis, past president of the American Bar Association) will be published in a book edited by Robert Granfield, chair of the Sociology Department and organizer of the conference, and Lynn Mather, Baldy Center Director.
Prof. Abel writes: