Peter Birks and Margaret Brazier Prizes for Outstanding Legal Scholarship
The next deadline for nominations to the Peter Birks and Margaret Brazier Prizes for Outstanding Legal Scholarship is 31 May 2024.
About the Prizes
From 2024, the SLS will offer four prizes for Outstanding Legal Scholarship by its members in their early and mid-careers: the Peter Birks prizes for Outstanding Early Career scholarship and the new Margaret Brazier prizes for Outstanding Mid-Career scholarship (named after the renowned scholar and first female President of the SLS).
The Birks prize will forthwith be open to authors who have been in full-time academic employment for not more than 6 years (or its equivalent on a part-time basis) on the closing date for nominations; and were not a professor on the date of publication of the book.
The Brazier prize will be open to authors who have been in full-time academic employment for more than 6 years but not more than 15 years (or its equivalent on a part-time basis) on the closing date for nominations; and were not a professor on the date of publication of the book. Further details are set out in the prize rules.
The prizes will be presented at the annual dinner of the Society at the Annual Conference. The value of the Birks and Brazier prizes are £1,000 for the first prize and £500 for the second prize.
The Birks Prize will be judged by the President, Vice-President, and immediate Past President of the Society.
The Brazier Prize will be judged by the President, Vice-President, and Vice-President Elect of the Society.
The judges will be entitled to take advice from such members of the Society as they see fit. It is expected that the publishers of the nominated books will provide three copies, one for each of the three judges, and these will not be returned. It is also the intention that after the full list of nominated books has been submitted to the Executive Committee, it will be placed on the Society’s website.
The shortlist will also be placed on the website once determined by the judges, which should be one month before the Annual Conference. The rules are strictly adhered to.
Particularly note the rules regarding membership of the Society, nomination and the need for the author’s consent. Nominations should be sent to the Administrative Secretary, Rosa Bladon, before the closing date. The nomination form must be used.
Download: Book Prize Rules (Revised for 2024).
Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form
To meet our equality and diversity aims in the SLS, we have undertaken to monitor equality and diversity data in respect of those who apply to our funding streams and prizes. We would be grateful if the nominee could complete the attached form to support our monitoring activities. Please be assured that your data will be treated in the strictest confidence. The information you supply here has no bearing on the outcome of the nomination and participation is completely voluntary.
Download: Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form. The form can be returned to admin@legalscholars.ac.uk
Birks Book Prize Winners 2023
The winner of the Peter Birks Prizes for Outstanding Legal Scholarship is Dr Alysia Blackham (Melbourne) for Reforming Age Discrimination Law: Beyond Individual Enforcement (OUP).
Second prize was awarded to Dr Sharon Thompson (Cardiff) for Quiet Revolutionaries: The Married Women’s Association and Family Law (Hart).
Birks Book Prize Winners 2022
Professor Natasa Mavronicola (Birmingham) is the winner of the Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship 2022 for Torture, Inhumanity and Degradation under Article 3 ECHR (Hart Publishing).
The runner up was Dr Dominic de Cogan (Cambridge) for Tax Law, State-Building and the Constitution (Hart Publishing).
Birks Book Prize Winners 2021
Dr Andreas Televantos is the winner of the Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship 2021 for Capitalism before Corporations: The Morality of Business Associations and the Roots of Commercial Equity and Law (Oxford University Press).
There were two joint runners up: Dr Joanna Bell for The Anatomy of Administrative Law (Hart Publishing) and Dr Anna Donovan for Reconceptualising Corporate Compliance: Responsibility, Freedom and the Law (Hart Publishing).
Birks Book Prize Winners 2020
Dr Yu Mou is the winner of the Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship 2020 for The Construction of Guilt in China: An Empirical Account of Routine Chinese Injustice (Hart Publishing).
There were two joint runners up: Dr Shreya Atrey for Intersectional Discrimination (Oxford University Press) and Dr Ernest Lim for A Case for Shareholders’ Fiduciary Duties in Common Law Asia (Cambridge University Press).
Birks Book Prize Winners 2019
Dr Oisin Suttle (Belfast) is the winner of the Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship (2019) for Distributive Justice and World Trade Law – A Political Theory of International Trade Regulation (Cambridge University Press).
There were two joint runners up: Dr Noam Gur (QMUL) – Legal Directives and Practical Reasons (Oxford University Press) and Dr Hélène Tyrrell (Newcastle) – Human Rights in the UK and the Influence of Foreign Jurisprudence (Hart Publishing).
Birks Book Prize Winners 2018
Dr Nimer Sultany (SOAS) is the winner of the Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship (2018) for Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring. (OUP).
Runner-up: Dr Lydia Hayes (Cardiff) for Stories of Care: A Labour of Law. Gender and Class at Work. (Palgrave)
Birks Book Prize Winners 2017
Devyani Prabhat (Bristol) is the winner of the Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship (2017) for Unleashing the Force of Law; Legal Mobilization, National Security, and Basic Freedoms. (Palgrave MacMillan).
Runner-up: Alysia Blackham (Melbourne) for Extending Working Life for Older Workers: Age Discrimination Law, Policy and Practice. (Hart Publishing)
Birks Book Prize Winners 2016
Jason Varuhas, (Melbourne) is the winner of the Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship (2016) for Damages and Human Rights (Hart Publishing).
There were two joint runners up: Janina Dill, for Legitimate Targets? Social Construction, International Law and US Bombing (Cambridge University Press) and Sandy Steel, for Proof of Causation in Tort Law (Cambridge University Press).
Winners 2015
Katja LH Samuel, University of Reading – Judging The OIC, the UN, and Counter-Terrorism Law-Making: Conflicting or Cooperative Legal Orders? (Studies in International Law, Hart Publishing),
Runners-up: Paul S Davies,University of Oxford, Accessory Liability (Hart Studies in Private Law: Hart Publishing).
Winners 2014
Dr Jeff King, of UCL, Judging Social Rights (Cambridge Studies in Constitutional Law, CUP).
Runners-up: Dr James Goudkamp (Oxford University) Tort Law Defences (Hart Studies in Private Law, Hart Publishing);
and to Dr Jure Vidmar, (Oxford University) with his book Democratic Statehood in International Law: The Emergence of New States in Post-Cold War Practice (Studies in International Law, Hart Publishing).
Winner 2013
Erika Rackley, “Women, Judging and the Judiciary: From Difference to Diversity”, ( Routledge Cavendish).