The 2025 Law & Society Association (LSA) Annual Meeting will take place in Chicago from May 22–25. PAL researchers will organize three paper sessions and one Author-Meets-Readers session, presenting new research on autocratic legalism, democratic backsliding, and legal resistance across a wide range of jurisdictions.
Since emerging in 2019 in response to then-LSA President Kim Lane Scheppele’s call to examine how rising autocrats use law to consolidate power, PAL has grown into an international research collaborative bringing together scholars from the Global South and North. This year’s program reflects that growth, featuring research on Brazil, Turkey, Venezuela, Egypt, the United States, and other comparative contexts.
Program Highlights
Autocratic Legalism I
Friday, May 23 | 8:00–9:45 AM
Chaired by Raquel Pimenta (FGV Law School, São Paulo), this session examines judicial complicity in democratic decline, political trials as instruments of authoritarian governance in Turkey, and secrecy as a tool of executive power in Bolsonaro’s Brazil.
Defending American Democracy against Trumpist Autocracy
Friday, May 23 | 12:45–2:30 PM
This Author-Meets-Readers session centers on Richard Abel’s new trilogy on Trump and authoritarianism in the United States. Kim Lane Scheppele, Fabio de Sa e Silva, Jothie Rajah, and other scholars discuss the books and their implications for understanding legal resistance to democratic erosion.
Autocratic Legalism II
Friday, May 23 | 2:45–4:30 PM
Chaired by Mohsin Bhat (Queen Mary University of London), the session explores the impact of autocratic legalism on universities, protest movements, and public security, highlighting both transnational dynamics and forms of legal resistance.
Autocratic Legalism III
Saturday, May 24 | 8:00–9:45 AM
Chaired by Fabio de Sa e Silva (University of Oklahoma), the final session examines judicial responses to democratic crises, the dismantling of the rule of law in Venezuela, and the relationship between authoritarianism and judicial institutions in Egypt.
Program
Download the brochure for the complete program, including presenters, paper abstracts, and session details.