Legal Theory Calendar

Conference Today: Parfit Meets Critics at Reading

PARFIT MEETS CRITICS –
Critical Evaluations of Climbing the Mountain

University of Reading
Department of Philosophy
NOVEMBER 2–3, 2006

About the Conference: Derek Parfit's manuscript Climbing the Mountain has
been circulating for years and is now near completion and submission to
Oxford University Press. The eventual book is widely predicted to have a
significant impact on moral theory for years to come. It offers a novel
interpretation of Kantian ethics, and attempts to show that such a view is
also compatible with the best versions of both rule-consequentialism and
contractualism. This conference gives seven first-class ethicists an
opportunity to investigate Parfit's penultimate draft and try out
criticisms of it before its final submission. Parfit himself is extremely
keen to get this feedback on his manuscript even at this late stage in its
development, and will actively take part in the discussions at the
conference. The manuscript is downloadable from Derek Parfit’s website
(http://individual.utoronto.ca/stafforini/parfit/parfit_-_climbing_the_mountain.pdf).

Program:
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2
12am – 1pm                Registration
1pm – 2:30pm                JAMES LENMAN        (University of Sheffield)
2:45pm – 4:15pm                SEIRIOL MORGAN         (University of Leeds)

4:15pm – 4:45pm         Coffee and Tea
4:45pm – 6:15pm                JENS TIMMERMANN (University of St Andrews)
                         Parfit’s Kant
6:15pm – 7:45pm                Dinner
7:45pm – 9:15pm                GIDEON ROSEN (Princeton)

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 3
1pm – 2:30pm                MICHAEL RIDGE         (University of Edinburgh)
            Parfit’s Kantian Contractualist Argument for Consequentialism
2:30pm – 3pm        Coffee and Tea
3pm – 4:30pm                MICHAEL SMITH         (Princeton)
4:45pm – 6:15pm                MICHAEL OTSUKA        (University College
London)
                         Climb Every Mountain?

This program is also available on-line at
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/Phil/Conferences/Parfit%20conference.doc.

Location and Registration: The conference will take place at Room 106 in
the Palmer Building located at the Whiteknights Campus, University of
Reading. You can find a map of the venue and links for the instructions of
how to get there from http://www.info.rdg.ac.uk/maps/maps-display.asp.
Advance registrations for the conference can be sent by email to Jussi
Suikkanen (j.v.suikkanen@reading.ac.uk). There will be room for 50
participants. The conference fee will be £30 (£20 for students). It is
payable during the registration at the conference and includes the dinner
on Thursday. For links to reserve accomodation see the online version of
this advert. The Whiteknights Campus and its surroundings offer various
possibilities for having lunch, coffee, etc, during the stay. Further
information will be posted later.

Please direct any enquiries concerning the conference to Jussi Suikkanen at:
j.v.suikkanen@reading.ac.uk
Philosophy department
University of Reading
Reading RG6 6AA
UK

Conference Announcement: Fletcher's Grammar of Criminal Law at Cardozo

On November 5 and 6, 2006, The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, the Jacob Burns Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, and the Cardozo Law Review will present a conference on George P. Fletcher's forthcoming book, The Grammar of Criminal Law, American, European, International.

Like Rethinking Criminal Law -- Fletcher's groundbreaking work of 1978 -- The Grammar of Criminal Law examines crime and punishment from a philosophical and comparative law point of view.

Accordingly, the conference will feature commentary from philosophers, lawyers, and legal scholars from around the world.  The papers will be published in a symposium edition of The Cardozo Law Review.

We invite you to join us in New York on November 5th and 6th for two days of discussion and debate on the deep structure of criminal law .

Conference Announcement: New Birth of Freedom at Toledo

"A New Birth of Freedom: The Thirteenth Amendment - Past, Present and Future"

Friday, October 13, 2006, University of Toledo College of Law, Toledo, Ohio

The Thirteenth Amendment not only ended slavery in our country, but it represents a promise of freedom and justice for workers and racial minorities in this country.  This symposium will discuss the history of the amendment and its use by supporters of workers' rights and civil rights throughout our history.  It will also consider the as yet un-tapped potential of this amendment in the twenty-first century.  The symposium celebrates the fact that Representative James Ashley, long-time abolitionist and the member of the Reconstruction Congress who first drafted the Thirteenth Amendment, was from Toledo and represented Toledo in Congress.  Panelists will include Alex Tsesis, Paul Finkelman, Michael Les Benedict, Tobias Wolff, Imani Perry, James Gray Pope, Rebecca Zietlow, Lea Vander Velde, Risa Goluboff, Suzanne Jackson, Maria Ontiveros, Kathleen Kim and William Carter.

We are very excited about hosting this event and hope that you will consider attending and tell your colleagues.  For information, please contact Prof. Rebecca Zietlow at Rebecca.zietlow@utoledo.edu.

Symposium Announcement: The Roberts Court at Pepperdine

Pepperdine University School of Law is webcasting its Supreme Court Symposium regarding the Robert's Court on August 30. Please join us over online for this special event.

The Rookie Year of the Roberts Court & A Look Ahead Supreme Court Symposium Wednesday, August 30, 2006 2:00-6:00 PM

http://law.pepperdine.edu/news_events/072006_symposium.jsp T

he panel will... Examine the work product of the first year of the Roberts Court, especially with regard to: Presidential power and the war on terror Civil rights - including abortion, religious freedom, and free speech Federal-state relations - including investment tax credits, probate exceptions, the scope of environmental laws, and assisted suicide Criminal procedure - including new skepticism about the exclusionary rule, a renewed death penalty debate, and the challenge to lethal injections Law and the political process - including gerrymandering and campaign finance Business cases - including civil RICO, retaliation cases, and patent injunctions Reflect on the confirmation process and the interpretative approaches of the new justices; Consider the cases already headed for the Court next term, including the review of the federal partial-birth abortion ban, racial preferences in K - 12, and possible new limits on punitive damages.

These and related topics will be covered in an active format that involves formal presentations as well as interaction among a distinguished panel of constitutionalists, veteran Supreme Court journalists serving as symposium interlocutors, and Pepperdine School of Law faculty respondents.

Conference Announcement: Parfit Meets Critics at Reading

PARFIT MEETS CRITICS –
Critical Evaluations of Climbing the Mountain

University of Reading
Department of Philosophy
NOVEMBER 2–3, 2006

About the Conference: Derek Parfit's manuscript Climbing the Mountain has
been circulating for years and is now near completion and submission to
Oxford University Press. The eventual book is widely predicted to have a
significant impact on moral theory for years to come. It offers a novel
interpretation of Kantian ethics, and attempts to show that such a view is
also compatible with the best versions of both rule-consequentialism and
contractualism. This conference gives seven first-class ethicists an
opportunity to investigate Parfit's penultimate draft and try out
criticisms of it before its final submission. Parfit himself is extremely
keen to get this feedback on his manuscript even at this late stage in its
development, and will actively take part in the discussions at the
conference. The manuscript is downloadable from Derek Parfit’s website
(http://individual.utoronto.ca/stafforini/parfit/parfit_-_climbing_the_mountain.pdf).

Program:
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 2
12am – 1pm                Registration
1pm – 2:30pm                JAMES LENMAN        (University of Sheffield)
2:45pm – 4:15pm                SEIRIOL MORGAN         (University of Leeds)

4:15pm – 4:45pm         Coffee and Tea
4:45pm – 6:15pm                JENS TIMMERMANN (University of St Andrews)
                         Parfit’s Kant
6:15pm – 7:45pm                Dinner
7:45pm – 9:15pm                GIDEON ROSEN (Princeton)

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 3
1pm – 2:30pm                MICHAEL RIDGE         (University of Edinburgh)
            Parfit’s Kantian Contractualist Argument for Consequentialism
2:30pm – 3pm        Coffee and Tea
3pm – 4:30pm                MICHAEL SMITH         (Princeton)
4:45pm – 6:15pm                MICHAEL OTSUKA        (University College
London)
                         Climb Every Mountain?

This program is also available on-line at
http://www.rdg.ac.uk/Phil/Conferences/Parfit%20conference.doc.

Location and Registration: The conference will take place at Room 106 in
the Palmer Building located at the Whiteknights Campus, University of
Reading. You can find a map of the venue and links for the instructions of
how to get there from http://www.info.rdg.ac.uk/maps/maps-display.asp.
Advance registrations for the conference can be sent by email to Jussi
Suikkanen (j.v.suikkanen@reading.ac.uk). There will be room for 50
participants. The conference fee will be £30 (£20 for students). It is
payable during the registration at the conference and includes the dinner
on Thursday. For links to reserve accomodation see the online version of
this advert. The Whiteknights Campus and its surroundings offer various
possibilities for having lunch, coffee, etc, during the stay. Further
information will be posted later.

Please direct any enquiries concerning the conference to Jussi Suikkanen at:
j.v.suikkanen@reading.ac.uk
Philosophy department
University of Reading
Reading RG6 6AA
UK

Confernce Announcement: Gender Unbound at Keele

Gender unbound
An international conference in the area of law, gender and sexuality. 9-11 July 2007 at Keele University, Staffordshire Plenary Speakers:

Hazel Carby
Sander Gilman
Rosemary Hennesy
Carol Smart
Sylvia Tamale

CALL FOR PAPERS

This is an international, inter-disciplinary conference in the area of law, gender, and sexuality, broadly defined. We particularly encourage papers exploring the intersections between gender and sexuality, as well as how other social relations (eg, race, disability) impact on and are shaped by these.

While there is no requirement to adopt any specific theoretical stance, we do expect contributions to have some theoretical content and not simply present material. While papers should engage with the broad theme of law (or governance or regulation), gender, and/or sexuality, we encourage papers from all disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.

We also welcome proposals for panel sessions, and we encourage participants and sessions to consider non-traditional formats.

Abstracts Due by: 31 December 2006

To submit your abstract or panel proposal, please use the Abstract Submission Form.

For further information about the conference, or to contact us, please email: clgsunbound@kent.ac.uk

Event Flyer

Conference Annoucement: Antecedents of Action at Potsdam

University of Potsdam:
Conference "Antecedents of Action - Reasons, Decisions, Intentions, and Will"
14.-17. September 2006

More than fifty years have passed since Wittgenstein wrote his cryptic reminder. During this time numerous scholars in the philosophy of action have tried to elucidate the relation between our actions and other things we do or which happen to us. It used to be widely agreed that actions are distinguished by a certain kind of explanation that refers to reasons, intentions or motives. But how exactly is this more general criterion of action to be understood? In particular, what is the relation between intentions and reasons for actions on the one hand and action tokens on the other? These are questions that continue to generate vast disagreement. This conference brings together representatives of the most important rival action theories in order to further discussion of the differing approaches to these issues. The conference also aims to lay a foundation for more detailed discussions of theories of action among German philosophers. Speakers: Maria Alvarez (Southhampton, GB) Michael Bratman (Stanford, USA) Jennifer Hornsby (London, GB) Marco Iorio (Bielefeld, D) Geert Keil ( Aachen, D) Christoph Lumer (Siena, I) Alfred Mele (Tallahassee, USA) Neil Roughley (Konstanz, D) Tim Schroeder (Manitoba, CDN) Thomas Spitzley (Duisburg-Essen, D) Ralf Stoecker (Potsdam, D) Gary Watson (Riverside, USA) Location: University Potsdam Am Neuen Palais Haus (building) 9 Raum (room) 2.15 Costs: Conference (incl. lunch and coffee breaks): 25 €. Additional dinner and guided tour through Park Sanssouci: 25 €. Please go to the Registration Page for payment instructions. Organisation: Thomas Spitzley (University of Duisburg-Essen) Ralf Stoecker (University of Potsdam) We are very grateful to the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, who, by their generous financial support, have made this conference possible

Conference Announcement: Supreme Court Preview at William & Mary

The Institute of Bill of Rights Law, William & Mary School of Law, is pleased to invite you to attend the 19th annual Supreme Court Preview, September 15 & 16, 2006, at which leading legal scholars, lawyers, and Supreme Court journalists will discuss and analyze the Courts upcoming term.

The Preview features a moot court on the federal partial birth abortion act.  Two seasoned Supreme Court advocates, Duke University law professor Erwin Chemerinsky and Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, will argue the case.  During the two-day event panelists will examine cases now before the Supreme Court including affirmative action, election law, punitive damages and greenhouse gas emissions, and engage in some informal, freewheeling reviews of what is happening at the Supreme Court.   

Participants in the 2006 Supreme Court Preview are Joan Biskupic, USA Today; David Savage, Los Angeles Times; Linda Greenhouse, New York Times; Charles Lane, Washington Post; Lyle Denniston, SCOTUSblog; Dahlia Lithwick, Slate; Randy Barnett, Georgetown University Law Center; Beth Brinkman, Morrison and Foerster; Michael Carvin, Jones Day; Erwin Chemerinsky, Duke Law School; Walter Dellinger, OMelveny & Meyers and Duke Law School; Tom Goldstein, Akin Gump; Pam Karlan, Stanford Law School; Neal Katyal, Georgetown University Law Center; Richard Lazarus, Georgetown University Law Center; Maureen Mahoney, Latham & Watkins; Carter Phillips, SidleyAustin; Jay Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice; Paul Smith, Jenner & Block; Amy Wax; University of Pennsylvania Law School; Stephen Wermiel, Washington School of Law, American University; John Yoo, University of California Berkeley and Neal Devins, Alan Meese, and William Van Alstyne, all of William and Mary School of Law.

All events will take place at the Law School, beginning Friday, September 15^th at 6:15 pm. with the Moot Court Argument followed by panels: The Roberts Court and The War on Terror. Registration is at 5:30 p.m.  Saturday’s program begins at 9 a.m. with a panel on Business Law and will continue to run the rest of the day with panels on Criminal Procedure, Election Law, Civil Rights, and will wrap up with a panel on Supreme Court Advocacy.

Conference Announcement: The Cato Institute's "Supreme Court: Past and Prologue"

On Constitution Day, Septetmber 14, 2006, The Cato Institute will be hosting an all-day conference entitled:

The Supreme Court: Past and Prologue
A Look at the October 2005 and October 2006 Terms

Cato Institute
F. A. Hayek Auditorium
Thursday, September 14, 2006
10:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

The long list of speakers and panelists includes:

The Hon. Danny J. Boggs, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Ilya Somin, Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law

Larry E. Ribstein, Mildred van Voorhis Jones Chair, University of Illinois College of Law

Robert Pushaw, James Wilson Professor of Law, Pepperdine University School of Law

Martin Flaherty, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law

John Yoo, Professor of Law, University of California-Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall

Allison Hayward, Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law

Dale Carpenter, Associate Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School

Robert Corn-Revere, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Erik Jaffe, Law Office of Erik S. Jaffe, P.C.

Walter Dellinger, Douglas Maggs Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law; Partner, O’Melveny & Myers LLP

Randy Barnett, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

For more info or to register, click here.