The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, Albany Law School, the U.S. Feminist Judgments Project, and the Feminist Judgments International Research Collaborative of the Law and Society Association invite expressions of interest in participating in the inaugural Feminist Legal Studies Roundtable to be held on June 16, 2025, at Pace University’s downtown campus in Lower Manhattan.
This roundtable seeks to bring together a group of up to twenty self-identified feminist scholars (whatever that means to you) to workshop ideas and papers at any stage of formation. All participants will be engaged in legal scholarship that relates in some way to women, gender & sexuality studies; critical race theory; or related fields. We invite participants to present any work, at any stage of development, on a topic of their choice that is related in some way to feminist legal studies, broadly understood.
Feminist legal scholarship is diverse in its approaches and subjects, engaging with structural inequalities, legal reform, and the lived experiences of marginalized communities, among other topics. This roundtable seeks to foster an inclusive and collaborative intellectual space where feminist scholars can share works at any stage, refine their ideas, and build lasting connections. Some fields that the roundtable participants may be working in include, but are not limited to:
- Feminist legal theory and critically-informed analyses of the legal system
- Gender, economic justice, and labor rights, including caregiving, wages, and financial security
- Reproductive justice, bodily autonomy, and health law
- Gender-based violence, criminal law, and state accountability
- Race, gender, and intersectional identities in law and policy
- The legal regulation of families, parenthood, and relationships
- Comparative and international approaches to feminist legal studies
- Queer, trans, and nonbinary legal issues and perspectives
- The pedagogy of teaching gender and law
- Contemporary feminist responses to political and legal challenges
By June 4, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, interested scholars should submit a short statement/email explaining their interest in participating, plus some written work product (anywhere in the range of 5 to 30 pages, however rough) to be presented at the roundtable. Selected participants will be notified by June 5, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern
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Depending on the number of people who express interest, we may need to select participants with an eye toward having a mix of subject areas, seniority, and institutional affiliations. All selected participants will be asked to read each other’s papers in advance and commit to attending the full day’s program (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.). Depending on the final number of participants, our hope is to allocate an equal amount of time to all speakers and each can decide how they’d like to use the time (presentation + Q&A, presentation only, go right to comments, etc.).
Lunch will be provided, but regrettably there is no funding available to otherwise cover the cost of participation. For that reason, participants in this inaugural roundtable will be mostly likely be faculty members at New York-area schools and those whose schools are otherwise able to sponsor their participation. If the program is successful, we hope that future roundtables will both include some financial support and accommodate more participants, while maintaining the commitment to community-building among feminist legal scholars.
There is no publication requirement (or opportunity) associated with the roundtable. If possible, we prefer early-stage works and works in progress, but scholars may present any work of their choice.
Expressions of interest can be sent by June 4, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern to Bridget Crawford (bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu) and Dale Cecka (dceck at albanylaw dot edu).