Law in Societies
We bring together those with an interest in the rules, both formal and informal, by which social order has been organised at different times, in different cultures and in different contexts.
Photo Caption: Shadows II (2007) by Jaume Plensa. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal; on loan from Carolina and Marcel Elefant. Photo credit: Linda Mulcahy
About the Cluster
The Law in Societies Cluster provides an opportunity for Fellows of Wolfson, external speakers and a mixed academic and public audience to explore various facets of law, society, and legal phenomena. The Cluster exists to serve everyone interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the study of laws, rules, regulations, and other normative frameworks.
The Law in Societies Cluster arranges a variety of events, including public lectures, workshops, panel discussions, ‘author meets reader’ sessions, and events aimed at early career fellows. It also organises a companion event to Wolfson College’s annual Adams Lecture.
The Cluster is convened by Professor Linda Mulcahy, Statutory Chair of Socio-Legal Studies and Fellow of the College Governing Body. Linda is assisted by Lauren Gowler in organising events. Lauren is a research student at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.
If you wish to join our mailing list, please let us know by emailing lawinsocieties@wolfson.ox.ac.uk.
Forthcoming events
Call for Applications: Social Class and Law Workshop
Date: 9 September 2026, 9:30am – 6:00pm
Location: Wolfson College
Application Form: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/vMch7sND1H
Application Deadline: 30 June 2026, 6:00pm BST
Applicants will be informed of their application outcome by 10 July 2026.
The Law in Societies Research Cluster at Wolfson College and the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, invite PhD students and Early Career Researchers in Law to apply to participate in a one-day workshop on Social Class and Law, taking place on 9 September 2026 from 9:30am – 6:00pm.
This one-day workshop is designed for legal scholars interested in researching social class in the legal profession, substantive law and/or legal procedure and processes. It aims to provide attendees with a broad grounding in the social class literature to support current or future research projects that consider how law and legal process hold the potential to contribute to or disrupt the construction of class.
Speakers: Professor Mike Savage (London School of Economics), Professor Diane Reay (University of Cambridge), Dr Conor McCabe (Dublin City University), Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper (Queen Mary University of London), Professor Jo Littler (Goldsmiths, University of London), Dr Alexandra Kelbert (University College London), Dr Rima Saini (Middlesex University).
Workshop Programme: Session 1: Theories of Social Class; Session 2: Social Class, Poverty, and Neoliberalism; Session 3: Social Class, Race, and Gender; Session 4: Social Class Research in Legal Settings.
This workshop is free to attend. Lunch and refreshments will be provided, but we are unable to fund travel costs. This is an in-person only event.
SAVE THE DATE
Workshop: Legal Biography – From Politicians and Judges to Marginalised Legal Lives
Date: 19 November 2026 | Location: Wolfson College
This workshop is a companion event to the lecture being delivered by William Hague, as part of the Adams Lecture series. In addition to his political career, William Hague has enjoyed a career as an author of political biographies including books on politician and lawyer William Pitt the Younger and campaigner against the slave trade, William Wilberforce. This workshop will bring together a number of specialists in legal biography and life writing to discuss issues around group biography, oral history, archival research and marginalised legal lives through their own research.
RECENT EVENTS
Workshop: The Socio-Legal Dynamics of Financial Markets
Date: 11 June 2026, 9:30am–12:30pm | Location: Levett Room, Wolfson College
The Law in Societies Research Cluster recently hosted The Socio-Legal Dynamics of Financial Markets, a workshop bringing together socio-legal scholars to explore how political economy shapes the research questions we pose and the experiences of those we study. Drawing on law and political economy scholarship, the papers will focus on empirical studies of the role that law and market capitalism play in the construction and persistence of private power and injustice.
