Online production tracking is now available through Author Services- see below for details
Law & Social Inquiry
Published on behalf of the American Bar Foundation
Edited by:
Edited by Laura Beth Nielsen. Review Section Editor: Howard S. Erlanger
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 41/104 Law
Impact Factor: 1.203
Law & Social Inquiry (LSI) features both empirical and theoretical studies of law that make original contributions to the understanding of sociolegal processes. LSI content spans the social sciences disciplines, including:
- Anthropology
- Criminology
- Economics
- History
- Law
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Sociology
- Social Psychology
Law & Social Inquiry offers readers a remarkable range of empirical analyses and theoretical studies on specific topics in law and society, including legal institutions, the legal profession, and legal history.
TopNews and Announcements
2010 Graduate Student Paper Competition
The editors of Law & Social Inquiry are pleased to announce a competition for the best journal-length paper in the field of sociolegal studies written by a graduate or law student. Entries will be accepted starting January 1, 2010 and must be received by March 1, 2010. All entrants will be notified via e-mail by the end of May. The author must be a graduate student or law student at the time of submission.
We invite direct submissions from graduate and law students and/or nominations of student work from faculty. (Faculty nominations should be accompanied by the paper in question, and should provide a short description of the nominated paper and its significance, and contact details for the student.) The winning paper will be published in Law & Social Inquiry and the author(s) will receive a total cash prize of $500 (US). Submissions will be judged by the editors. The winning submission will be sent to selected scholars for advisory reviews to aid with revisions prior to publication.
Law & Social Inquiry publishes both empirical and theoretical studies of sociolegal processes from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.
Please send your best work in Word or WordPerfect to: lsi-abf@abfn.org. Please indicate in your text message: your intention is to be considered for the prize competition; confirm your graduate student status; and confirm that the paper is a sole submission to Law & Social Inquiry, meaning that you have not submitted it to other journals for potential publication. Submission is limited to one paper per student; articles may not be altered or resubmitted with corrections once it has been accepted by our office.
Papers should and include, as a first page, a title page with a complete mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number(s). The second page should include a 100-150 (maximum) word abstract. After the second page, all pages should be paginated, and all text, footnotes or endnotes, and references should be double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12 font, with 1.5" margins on all sides, and all headers/footers removed. With proper formatting, papers must be no more than 60 manuscript pages in length--this limit will be enforced strictly. Papers not properly formatted will be returned to the author for reformatting. It is preferred, though not necessary, that the author use endnotes (social sciences format) rather than footnotes (law review format). If the winning paper is submitted with footnotes, the author will be given time to alter the paper to LSI style.
For further information go to www.blackwellpublishing.com/LSI, or send an e-mail to
lsi-abf@abfn.org, or call (312) 988-6517.
Abstract from the 2009 Graduate Student Paper Competition Winner
Miscarriage of Chief Justice: Lawyers, Media and the Struggle for Judicial Independence in Pakistan
Shoaib Ghias
This study explains the rise and fall of judicial power in Pakistan under Musharraf focusing on two questions. First, how do pro-regime judges expand judicial power leading to a confrontation with the regime? Instead of supporting economic liberalization in a period of economic growth, I find that the Court expanded power by scrutinizing privatization and deregulation policies as part of public interest litigation. Second, how were the bar and the bench mobilized in the struggle for judicial power? I find that the bench consolidated the legal fraternity, while the consolidated lawyers organized a social movement to support the bench. The Pakistani case challenges some of our basic assumptions about the factors at play in the judicialization of authoritarian politics. The case also invites scholars to explore the role of courts in judicial support consolidation and the role of lawyers in social movements.
Online Production Tracking now available through Author Services
Visit the Author Services website for a wealth of information for all authors plus online production tracking for your article. Authors of articles in Law & Social Inquiry can register to:
• track the production status of their article online
• choose to receive e-mail alerts on article status
• get free access to their article when it is published online
In addition, all authors visiting the site can access information and tips on:
• Article preparation
• Article submission
• Electronic artwork details
• And more features added over time!
TopHighlights
- Making Meaning of Megan's Law
Rose Corrigan - Comparative Sociology of Law: Legal Fields, Legal Scholarships, and Social Sciences in Europe and the United States
Mauricio García-Villegas - 'Jurisdictional Politics' in the Occupied West Bank: Territory, Community, and Economic Dependency in the Formation of Legal Subjects
Toby Kelly - Constitutions and Empires
Lauren Benton - Narrative and 'Compulsory Compassion'
John Braithwaite - American Exceptionalism and Racialized Inequality in American Capital Punishment
Paul J. Kaplan
