Legal History Colloquium

The Legal History Colloquium (LHC) is a speaker series and workshop that brings together historians and other scholars interested in the history of law, socio-legal questions, methods, and theories, and law and society research. The workshop spans across time and place—from ancient Rome, medieval Spain, and colonial Peru to late imperial China and the modern United States. Workshop paper topics vary depending on the speaker’s interests and expertise, but have included themes such as comparative constitutionalism, the legal consciousness of ordinary people, and battles for citizenship and rights. The LHC meets six times per academic year to workshop an invited outside scholar’s work-in-progress, and it meets twice per year to workshop the work-in-progress of Vanderbilt faculty and graduate students. Every two years, the LHC operates in tandem with the Legal History Methods Graduate Seminar, giving graduate students additional face time with the speakers and providing them with a diversity of perspectives on the practice of legal-historical research, socio-legal historiography, and the process of writing and revising. 

To receive regular notices about LHC events, please email the history department to be added to the mailing list.

LHC events are open to the public please, email the history department to be added to the list

Legal History Colloquium Schedule

2026-27

Mondays 3:10-4:45pm
Faculty Director: Kim Welch

Fall 2026

September 28: Leor Halevi (Vanderbilt University). Location is TBD.

October 19: Sara Mayeux (Vanderbilt University). Location is TBD.

Spring 2027

February 1: Bhavani Raman (University of Toronto). Location is TBD.

March 22: Doris Morgan Rueda (Appalachia State). Location is TBD.

April 12: Susanna Blumenthal (University of Minnesota). Location is TBD.