The Society for Empirical Legal Studies

The Society for Empirical Legal Studies (SELS) is an international organization of scholars interested in empirical legal studies. The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (JELS) is the official SELS journal. Every year, SELS sponsors The Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (CELS).

SELS exists to

• Encourage and develop empirical and experimental scholarship on legal issues
• Stimulate ongoing conversations among scholars in law, economics, political science, criminology, finance, psychology, sociology, health care, and other disciplines
• Convene an annual conference of scholars on empirical legal studies

Become a Member of the Society for Empirical Legal Studies

To join the Society for Empirical Legal Studies, please click here. You join the Society by subscribing to the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Those who subscribe automatically become members of the Society, and the only way to become a member of the Society is by subscribing to the journal. Membership and subscription cost is $60 ($25 or $35 for students).

Call for Papers: Fourth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (CELS 2009)

USC Gould School of Law, November 20-21, 2009
Submission Deadline July 15, 2009

To submit a paper, please go to the CELS Submissions page

The Fourth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies will be held at USC Gould School of Law. The conference will feature original empirical and experimental legal scholarship by leading scholars from a diverse range of fields.

Registration for Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (CELS 2009) Registration:

To attend the Conference on Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, please go to CELS 2009 and click on "Registration." The cost of conference registration is $50.00. In order to attend the conference, you must also be a member of the Society for Empirical Legal Studies. To join the Society, see above.

CELS 2009 conference information:

For information, please go to CELS 2009. You may also direct general inquiries to CELS2009@law.usc.edu. Logistical inquiries should be directed to:

The SELS Board of Directors consists of:

• Jennifer Arlen (NYU Law School)
• Bernard Black (University of Texas Law School)
• Shari Seidman Diamond (Northwestern University Law School)
• Theodore Eisenberg (Cornell Law School)
• Dame Hazel Genn (University College London)
• Valerie Hans (Cornell Law School)
• Michael Heise (Cornell Law School)
• Daniel Klerman (USC Gould School of Law)
• Mathew McCubbins (University of California San Diego & University of Southern California)
• Geoffrey Miller (NYU Law School)
• Jeffrey Rachlinski (Cornell Law School)
• Roberta Romano (Yale Law School)

CELS 2009 Program Committee

• Dan Klerman, Co-President
• Mat McCubbins, Co-President
• Gillian Hadfield
• Tom Lyon
• Dan Simon
• Matt Spitzer

History of CELS Conferences

• The First Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies was held at the University of Texas, School of Law in 2006. Selected papers presented at the first conference were published in Volume 4, issue 4 of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, available at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/jels/4/4
• The Second Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies was held at the NYU School of Law in 2007. Selected papers presented at the second conference were published in Volume 5, issue 4 of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.
• The Third Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies was held at Cornell University Law School in 2008. Selected papers presented at the third conference will be published in future Volume in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies.
• The Fifth Annual Conference will be held at the Yale Law School in 2010.