Speech at President’s Reception 2024
SLS President’s Reception Speech
Learning from Others: Lessons for Legal Scholars?
Professor Paula Giliker
It is a great delight and honour to be able to address you as the 109th SLS President, following in the footsteps of leading scholars dating back to the first SLS President Henry Goudy (1909-1910), Professor of Civil Law at Oxford University. The Society has changed considerably since 1909. We had our first female President, Professor Margaret Brazier, in 1997-1998.[1] Our EDI committee was established in 2017 to promote equality, diversity and inclusion across legal academia, and we have an increasing number of funds to support our members in their research, conferences, and networking activities, including most recently the ‘Law School and the Climate Crisis Fund’. Last year we established the Annual Conference Additional Support Fund (ASF), which seeks to ensure that the conference remains as accessible as possible to our members at all career stages. The SLS in 2024 therefore continues to look forward to address the concerns of its members across the UK and Ireland, but also across legal scholarship generally (including, of course, our Associate Overseas members). I am also fortunate to work with a great team of legal scholars on our Executive, committees, and Council and with our invaluable Subject Section Convenors, without whom the conference could not run.[2] I am proud to be part of such a proactive and forward-thinking organisation first as an Ordinary member and then as Subject Section Convenor, Secretary, and now President.
The theme for this year’s SLS conference – the 115th – will be Learning from Others: Lessons for Legal Scholars? As a comparative lawyer, my day job involves learning from others and reflecting on the diverse ways in which we address legal issues as a global society. Comparative law embraces both similarities and differences –apples v. oranges if you prefer. It is a means through which we search for commonality as the core of our interaction with the law but also seek to respect and understand difference. We endeavour to avoid homeward bias but instead to embrace new ideas and perspectives as neutral observers in order to deepen our understanding of the law. This, I would argue, makes us better legal scholars.
One of the key benefits of the SLS conference is the opportunity to meet and engage with colleagues from different backgrounds and disciplines from jurisdictions within and outside the common law world. In delivering papers, our views are challenged and debated. This may be quite a daunting experience, but it is one that allows us to interact with other scholars in our field and to strengthen our scholarship by gaining access to fresh ideas and approaches. I attended my first SLS conference in 1998 at the University of Manchester under Margaret Brazier’s presidency. As a younger scholar, I was very much in awe of some of the senior colleagues I met at the Manchester conference, some of whom I only knew by the front of their textbooks (!), but one of the joys of the SLS conference is its mixture of scholars at very different stages of their careers. The following year I summoned up enough courage to give a paper at the 1999 Leeds conference in the Torts section (my survey at Manchester had indicated that they were a friendly bunch and unlikely to be too harsh!) and received not only excellent feedback, but met colleagues, one of whom would be my future Head of School.
Two people, in particular, stand out as figures in the SLS from whom I have learnt lessons and whom I would like to mention briefly to you. The first name may not be familiar to you: Professor Robyn Martin. Robyn is perhaps best known for her work in Law and Public Health Policy, writing on health governance, law, regulation, and policy. She was also an excellent tort lawyer and indeed was Tort Law Subject Section Convenor when I first joined the Society. I owe a lot to Robyn’s kindness as a Convenor when I gave my first ever conference paper at the conference. She phoned me beforehand to check I was happy with my panel, offering to introduce me to the other members, and was a welcoming presence as I gave my paper. At the end, she took me to one side and told me that it was a very good paper – in my grilling, that had not been clear (!) This act of kindness gave me confidence and encouraged me to move towards publication of my paper. Robyn and I remained friends for many years. She and her husband moved to Hong Kong and, on teaching trips to the University of Hong Kong, we would meet for dinner and discuss the world of academia. Sadly, Robyn is no longer with us, although much missed by her colleagues, many, I later found, at the University of Bristol where she had worked long before I arrived. Robyn embodies much of what we can give to others as scholars – support, kindness, and friendship. I value this to this day.
The second legal scholar I would like to mention is Professor John Bell. John was SLS President in Leeds in 1999 and an excellent host. Leeds, as we shall see in 2025, is a fantastic venue for a conference. I remember vividly the annual dinner in Leeds Town Hall (sadly not available in 2025) and enjoying the company of my fellow legal scholars, with the relief of a paper already delivered. I first met John when I was a nervous undergraduate. While I owe so much to him for introducing me to the discipline of Comparative Law and, in particular, the importance of Anglo-French comparative analysis, it was John’s generosity as a tutor and later as a fellow scholar and colleague that makes his contribution stand out. At the time, it was the practice for your tutor to write a report on your progress each term. My report from John commented: “She should speak up more. She has something valuable to say”. While I am sure many would now regret this piece of advice (!), to me, it was enlightening and, dare I say, emboldening and it is this kind of encouragement which makes us better scholars but more importantly gives us the confidence to be better scholars. Every time John has said to me – “you can do better than that” – I find that I can! While I am sure that John would simply say he was doing his job, we need to appreciate as senior legal scholars how we can support and encourage younger colleagues. A second theme of the conference is that of mentoring and it asks us to think of ways in which we can promote the interests of early career scholars and offer support for those entering the academy. As we know, obtaining a permanent academic post is becoming harder than ever. If we, as a Society, can offer support to those entering the profession, we can create a better working environment for future senior legal scholars.
I am therefore delighted to host the 115th SLS conference in the wonderful Wills Memorial Building of the University of Bristol from 3-5 September 2024. Bristol is a wonderfully diverse and vibrant city and I have deliberately chosen locations for social events that highlight the city and its culture. We even include the option to climb to the top of the Wills Memorial Building iconic tower with its views all over Bristol, and a Banksy walking tour. I look forward to sharing Bristol with you in September 2024 and for lively discussions on the conference theme. As the locals say, Come to Brizzle – it’s Gert Lush!
Professor Paula Giliker, SLS President (2023-2024)
March 13, 2024
[1] Now honoured by our new Mid-Career Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship, established during my presidency: see Peter Birks and Margaret Brazier Prizes for Outstanding Legal Scholarship – Society of Legal Scholars.
[2] If you are interested in getting involved, do read Getting involved in the SLS – Society of Legal Scholars.