Early career researchers / PG researchers: do join us here @lawatleeds.bsky.social on 20 January 2027 if you're researching the Legal Profession - see below for full details.

lucindasoon@lucindasoon.bsky.social · 3w ago

Socio-legal academics, postgraduate researchers, early career researchers: the Society of Legal Scholars and @lawatleeds.bsky.social invite abstract submissions for a one-day workshop focused on developing research on the legal profession. All disciplines welcome. Deadline 18 Nov. Pls share. Thanks!

Mr @batesmith.bsky.social discusses his work with the Bar Diversity Hub and its role in creating a more equal and accessible pathway into the #Bar of England and Wales. Check out the full video below 👇 tinyurl.com/3fx73c6c #NationalInclusionWeek @researchleeds.bsky.social @ccjsleeds.bsky.social

Leeds Institute for Societal Futures@societal.bsky.social · 4w ago

⚖️ How can we make the legal profession more accessible and inclusive? Alex Batesmith from the @universityofleeds.bsky.social discusses the Bar Diversity Hub's work to improve diversity and access across the Bar of England and Wales. 🎥 bit.ly/4xn6JHU #NationalInclusionWeek #Diversity #Inclusion

Read it here! 📘 cup.org/485wMbY

The @slsauk.bsky.social has awarded an LSR piece, “‘Closeted’ Cause Lawyering in Authoritarian Cambodia,” with the 2026 SLSA Article Prize. Congratulations @batesmith.bsky.social (@lawatleeds.bsky.social) and @kieranmcevoy.bsky.social (@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social)!

Delighted that @slsauk.bsky.social have awarded me and @kieranmcevoy.bsky.social the Article Prize 2026 for our piece on 'closeted' Cambodian cause lawyers. Thanks also @ashleytrubin.bsky.social, editors & reviewers @lawandsociety.bsky.social Review. Available here www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Socio-Legal Studies Assocation@slsauk.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Many congratulations to all the winners of the SLSA prizes announced at the Annual Conference in Brighton! The winners are (long thread) SLSA Article Prize - Alex Batesmith and Kieran McEvoy, ‘“Closeted" Cause Lawyering in Authoritarian Cambodia’ (2025) 59(3) Law & Society Review 463

Launching *tonight* @lawatleeds.bsky.social: the Bar Diversity Hub on the North Eastern Circuit. 90 students from 10 different regional law schools, 40 barristers, judges and other legal professionals. It's going to be a great event! www.northeasterncircuit.co.uk/diversity-hub

📯 @kieranmcevoy.bsky.social and I are very pleased to share the news that our article '"Closeted" Cause Lawyers in Authoritarian Cambodia' has been shortlisted for the @slsauk.bsky.social article of the year prize. #CauseLawyers #CauseLawyering More details here: www.linkedin.com/posts/batesm...

closeted_cause_lawyering_in_authoritarian_cambodia.pdf | Alex Batesmith

Pleased to share that my article with my good friend and colleague Kieran McEvoy, “‘Closeted’ Cause Lawyering in Authoritarian Cambodia” (2025) 59(3) Law & Society Review 463, has been shortlisted for the SLSA Article of the Year Prize. The paper is the result of 11 years of writing and revising, grounded in a longitudinal study (2014–2021) of 37 Cambodian lawyers and human rights defenders working in politically sensitive areas. It explores what we term “closeted cause lawyering”: how lawyers in repressive environments pursue legal and social change while concealing their intentions in order to protect their clients, themselves, and the fragile spaces in which they work. We identify how they quietly advance rights‑focused goals through dignity‑restoration work with clients, professionalism in court, and the cultivation of a moral community among like‑minded colleagues. Our deep thanks and admiration go to the Cambodian lawyers who participated in our research, and whose everyday courage makes this work possible. The article also reflects on how lessons from Cambodia resonate elsewhere. As more democracies experience authoritarian tendencies, including sustained attacks on institutions, legal accountability, and those who represent politically disfavoured clients, the paper argues that defending the rule of law even in these spaces may increasingly require lawyers to recognise their shared responsibility to resist such pressures, both publicly and, where necessary, more quietly. The shortlist was recently announced by the SLSA ahead of the prize ceremony at the Annual Conference in Brighton on 31 March. The article is open access here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gMnieWtf

linkedin.com

Our guest-edited symposium on Professionals and Professionalism(s) in International Criminal Justice is now out: all 6 articles, a practitioner roundtable and a co-authored editorial with @ilariazavoli.bsky.social and Dr Nora Stappert: academic.oup.com/jicj/issue

Issues | Journal of International Criminal Justice | Oxford Academic

Addresses the major problems of international criminal justice from the angle of law, jurisprudence, criminology, penal philosophy, and the history of international judicial institutions.

academic.oup.com

Alex Batesmith@batesmith.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Several years in the making, we're pleased to finally see our Symposium in the Journal of Internat Crim Justice on #Professionals & #Professionalism in #InternationalCriminalJustice now out! Here's the Editorial, co-authored with Dr Ilaria Zavoli and Dr Nora Stappert academic.oup.com/jicj/advance...

We're hiring two Lectureships in Law (Grade 8) - come and join us at @lawatleeds.bsky.social! If anyone is interested, please do get in touch (a.batesmith@leeds.ac.uk) - happy to speak in confidence. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Job Opportunity at University of Leeds: Lecturer in Law

**2 Posts**Are you an outstanding individual with the ambition to join a thriving law school and to contribute to the further development of the School and its research centres? Are you passionate abo...

jobs.leeds.ac.uk

CALL CLOSES TODAY! If you're interested in presenting a paper for the @slsauk.bsky.social conference - and in particular the #Lawyers and #LegalProfessions stream, please do submit your abstract today. Hope to see you there!

Alex Batesmith@batesmith.bsky.social · 12mo ago

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....' CALL FOR PAPERS NOW OPEN - SLSA Conference at the University of Sussex 30 March - 1 April 2026! Send in your abstracts for the Lawyers & Legal Profession stream here: www.sussex.ac.uk/collaborate/... (deadline 18 December). Ideas for a panel? Get in touch!

Less than a week to go to submit your abstract to the Lawyers and Legal Professions stream at the SLSA conference in Brighton next March - details below!

Alex Batesmith@batesmith.bsky.social · 12mo ago

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....' CALL FOR PAPERS NOW OPEN - SLSA Conference at the University of Sussex 30 March - 1 April 2026! Send in your abstracts for the Lawyers & Legal Profession stream here: www.sussex.ac.uk/collaborate/... (deadline 18 December). Ideas for a panel? Get in touch!

Mr @batesmith.bsky.social and Dr Zavoli's landmark project has been several years in the making and brings together leading scholars and practitioners from across the world to explore critical questions about professionalism in international criminal law. Read more about it 👇 tinyurl.com/45yrmx55

Congratulations to @batesmith.bsky.social and Dr Ilaria Zavoli on their symposium being published #OpenAccess in the Journal of International Criminal Justice! 🎉

Alex Batesmith@batesmith.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Several years in the making, we're pleased to finally see our Symposium in the Journal of Internat Crim Justice on #Professionals & #Professionalism in #InternationalCriminalJustice now out! Here's the Editorial, co-authored with Dr Ilaria Zavoli and Dr Nora Stappert academic.oup.com/jicj/advance...

Calling all #SocioLegal Scholars ...there's still time to submit your abstract for the Lawyers and Legal Professions stream at the @slsauk.bsky.social conference in Brighton next year - deadline 18th December.

Alex Batesmith@batesmith.bsky.social · 12mo ago

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....' CALL FOR PAPERS NOW OPEN - SLSA Conference at the University of Sussex 30 March - 1 April 2026! Send in your abstracts for the Lawyers & Legal Profession stream here: www.sussex.ac.uk/collaborate/... (deadline 18 December). Ideas for a panel? Get in touch!

Several years in the making, we're pleased to finally see our Symposium in the Journal of Internat Crim Justice on #Professionals & #Professionalism in #InternationalCriminalJustice now out! Here's the Editorial, co-authored with Dr Ilaria Zavoli and Dr Nora Stappert academic.oup.com/jicj/advance...

Conceptualizing Professionalism(s) in International Criminal Justice: Editors’ Introduction

Abstract. This symposium examines competing and converging assumptions about professionalism, professional behaviour, and a professional sense of self held

academic.oup.com

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....' CALL FOR PAPERS NOW OPEN - SLSA Conference at the University of Sussex 30 March - 1 April 2026! Send in your abstracts for the Lawyers & Legal Profession stream here: www.sussex.ac.uk/collaborate/... (deadline 18 December). Ideas for a panel? Get in touch!

'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....' CALL FOR PAPERS NOW OPEN - SLSA Conference at the University of Sussex 30 March - 1 April 2026! Send in your abstracts for the Lawyers & Legal Profession stream here: www.sussex.ac.uk/collaborate/... (deadline 18 December). Ideas for a panel? Get in touch!

What are “closeted” cause lawyers, and what is their relationship to #RuleOfLaw? Check out the latest LSR issue to learn more! bit.ly/LSRSep25 @kieranmcevoy.bsky.social @batesmith.bsky.social

Really enjoying swimming in a slightly different academic stream from the usual: here in Belfast for the European Sociological Association's Sociology of Emotions midterm conference "Emotions in Post-/ Conflict and Post-/ Crisis Societies"

I'm trying to identify the person who deals with Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the School of Law ‪@uniofbradford.bsky.social‬ - any ideas? It's for an invitation to join the Working Group of the #BarDiversityHub we're working on this coming academic year!

Session two, which focussed on contemporary developments in substantive crimes, was chaired by Caleb Wheeler with presentations from Victor Kattan (@victorkattan.bsky.social), Jolana Makraiová, Hemi Mistry (@hemimistry.bsky.social), Daryna Abbakumova & Francesco Cunsolo #UoN_ICL25 #IntlCrimJustice

We begin the 2nd day of the UoN International Criminal Justice Conference by exploring the autobiographically constructed identities & emotional labour of intl criminal lawyers. Chaired by Mando Rachovitsa w/ presenters @ilariazavoli.bsky.social & @batesmith.bsky.social #UoN_ICL25 #IntlCrimJustice

Very happy to be here presenting on #AutoHistories of #InternationalCriminalLawyers with @ilariazavoli.bsky.social (and later my own paper on #EmotionalLabour in #ICL)

Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC)@uon-hrlc.bsky.social · last yr.

We are hugely excited to kick off the 2025 Nottingham International Criminal Law Conference this morning, bringing together leading academics, practitioners & policymakers to discuss current issues & recent developments in the field! #UoN_ICJ25 #IntlCrimJustice

New podcast alert! Great to talk to ‪@rachelkillean.bsky.social‬ Lauren Dempster about their powerful, thought-provoking new book "Green Transitional Justice". Spread the word! newbooksnetwork.com/rachel-kille... #TransitionalJustice #GreenTransitionalJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #Nature

📢 Out today! Our article in Law & Society Review on #CauseLawyers in #Cambodia, exploring lawyers' strategies of #Closeting under #Authoritarianism: co-authored with @kieranmcevoy.bsky.social for @lawandsociety.bsky.social. Open access, too! 🔗 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Final day, final panel at #SLSA2025, with @richardmoorhead.bsky.social and team on the #HorizonScandal at the #PostOffice: telling the story of the failings and misfeasance of the lawyers.

Jimmy McGovern tells a roomful of academics: "I don't understand why people spend time writing about nothing". Cue lots of knowing laughter. Priceless. #SLSA2025

Day 2 #SLSA2025 "Liverpool and the Legacies of Hillsborough" introduced by Profs Helen Stalford and Marie Fox of @livunislsj.bsky.social

Kicking things off at #SLSA2025 in the #Lawyers&LegalProfessions stream, @lawatleeds.bsky.social colleagues @parkendlydia.bsky.social and Steve Montagu-Cairns on the role of legal education in a world of AI and large language models

Looking forward to being back in Liverpool for #SLSA2025 tomorrow! @ilariazavoli.bsky.social and I will be presenting on auto-histories in #InternationalCriminalJustice, and I'm co-convening the #Lawyers&LegalProfessions stream with Chalen Westaby. Huge crew coming from @lawatleeds.bsky.social too!

School of Law & Social Justice at University of Liverpool@livunislsj.bsky.social · 2y ago

Countdown to #SLSA! ⏰ We’re thrilled to be hosting the SLSA Annual Conference (@slsauk.bsky.social) here in Liverpool, 15–17 April!✨ With around 900 delegates attending, it’s the UK’s biggest event for socio-legal scholars – & we can’t wait to welcome you. More info: liverpool.ac.uk/law/slsa-2025