Emeritus
David Sugarman is Professor of Law Emeritus at the Law School of Lancaster University, UK; Senior Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London; and Senior Associate of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford. Having gained an undergraduate law degree (LLB) at Hull University, he completed graduate work in law at Cambridge University as a William Senior Scholar in Comparative Law (LLM and Diploma in Comparative Legal Studies), and Harvard Law School (LLM), where he was awarded a doctorate (SJD). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Legal History.
His writing and teaching engage with law, history, politics and society, traversing legal history, company law, international human rights (with reference to the struggle to prosecute Augusto Pinochet and the 'human rights turn' in post-Pinochet Chile), the legal profession, legal education, European anti-discrimination law, women’s rights and gender equality, law and literature, law and the visual, legal life writing and socio-legal studies.
David has authored, co-authored and edited 24 books (including special issues of journals), and has written over 100 articles and book chapters. The recipient of research grants and scholarships within and beyond the UK, David has undertaken commissioned research for governments, inter-governmental organisations and non-governmental organisations.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS INCLUDE
(2024) “The Hidden Histories of the Pinochet Case” (2024) 51 Journal of Law and Society. Issue 4, pp. 459–490.
(2022) “The Humanities and Law: More Intertwined Than You Might Think”. Lead blog in series, “Where Law Meets the Humanities”. Talking Humanities. School of Advanced Studies, University of London. Live on 7 March 2022: https://talkinghumanities.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2022/03/07/the-humanities-and-law-more-intertwined-than-you-might-think/
(2021) “How America did (and didn't) influence English Legal Education, circa 1870-1965.” In American Legal Education Abroad: Critical Histories edited by Susan Bartie and David Sandomierski. New York: New York University Press, pp. 39-64.
(2021) “Twining’s Tower and the Challenges of Making Law a Humanistic Discipline”. Amicus Curiae Series 2, Vol 2, No 3, pp. 337-354.
(2021) “Becoming Peter Fitzpatrick (1941-2020).” 17 (1) International Journal of Law in Context. In Special Issue in Celebration of Peter Fitzpatrick and his Scholarship, edited by David Sugarman and Abdul Paliwala. pp. 2 – 16.
(2020) “William Twining: The Man Who Radicalized the Middle Ground.” 16 International Journal of Law in Context pp. 475–480.
(2020) “Jurist in Context: William Twining in Conversation with David Sugarman”, 47 (2) Journal of Law and Society, pp.195-220. Co-authored with William Twining.
(2019) “Law, Law-Consciousness and Lawyers as Constitutive of Early Modern England: Christopher W. Brooks’s Singular Journey”. In Law and Litigants in Early Modern English Society. Essays in Memory of Christopher W. Brooks ed. Michael Lobban, Joanne Begiato, Adrian Green (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp. 32-57.
(2018) “Robert W. Gordon in Conversation with David Sugarman,” Law and History Review Digital Edition (The Docket vol.1. issue 3) https://Lawandhistoryreview.Org/Article/Robert-W-Gordon-In-Conversation-With-David-Sugarman/
(2017) “Promoting Dialogue Between History and Socio-legal Studies: The Contribution of Christopher W. Brooks and the ‘Legal Turn’ in Early Modern English History,” Journal of Law and Society volume 44, issue S1, October, Special Issue: Main Currents in Contemporary Sociology of Law, pp. S37- S60.
(2015) “From Legal Biography to Legal Life-Writing: Broadening Conceptions of Legal History and Socio-Legal Scholarship.” In Legal Life-Writing: Marginalized Subjects and Sources. 42 (1) Journal of Law and Society. Special Issue on Legal Life Writing and Marginalized Subjects and Sources. Linda Mulcahy and David Sugarman (eds.). pp. 7-33.
EDUCATION
Having gained an undergraduate law degree (LLB) at Hull University, he completed graduate work in law at Cambridge University as a William Senior Scholar in Comparative Law (LLM and Diploma in Comparative Legal Studies), and Harvard Law School (LLM), where he was awarded a doctorate (SJD).
ON-LINE LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS
The ‘Pinochet Effect’– the Impact of Transnational Legal Action.
A public lecture to mark the 15th anniversary of General Pinochet’s arrest in London, and its contemporary relevance. delivered at the State Parliament of Berlin on 30 September 2013. Prof. Sugarman shared the platform with Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish judge who reqested Pinochet’s extradition to Spain, and Juan Garcés, the lawyer who sought Pinochet’s arrest on behalf of Pinochet’s victims. The event was broadcast on German radio (Deutsche welle). A short film, drawing on the event, can be viewed on-line and down-loaded at:
Creating Quotas to Improve the Gender Balance among Directors of Companies.
A presentation on the EU’s proposal to create quotas to improve the gender balance among directors of companies delivered at the Conference, “Getting Women on Board”, the European Parliament, Brussels, 7 March 2013. Other participants included Commissioners, MEPs, and government and trade union representatives. The conference can be viewed on-line and downloaded from:
http://greenmediabox.eu/archive/2013/03/07/get-women-on-board/
Hart Interviewed: H.L.A. Hart in Conversation with David Sugarman.
H.L.A. Hart (1907–1992) is frequently regarded as the twentieth century’s foremost legal philosopher, at least within the English-speaking world. Prof. Sugarman’s lengthy interview with Hart reviews Hart’s life, work and significance. The interview was digitalized by Oxford University Press, who posted it on the Web, along with Prof. Sugarman’s reflections on the interview. The interview is broken down into nine parts, available for streaming and download:
http://www.oup.co.uk/academic/law/hart/
http://blog.oup.com/2012/12/h-l-a-hart-in-conversation-with-david-sugarman/
The interview is also accessible via the YouTube playlist.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3MAPgqN8JWiLdUqgmrQMzhao6b-RrS49
The history of Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century England.
A guest contributor to “Secrets from the Clink”, a programme on the history of crime and punishment, broadcast on Independent Television (ITV1) on 6 August 2014 at 9pm:
https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/secrets-from-the-clink/series-1/episode-1
Guest contribution to the BBC Radio Four series, "Voices from the Old Bailey" (July-August 2011), examining how far the law gave everyone a fair trial, from the lowest to the highest in society, in eighteen and nineteenth-century England:
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERSHIP:
1995 - The Journal of Legal History
1998 - 2000 Law and Society Review
1997 - 2008 Legal Ethics
1994 - The International Journal of the Legal Profession
1992 - 2009 The Canadian Journal of Law and Society
1990 - 2000 Studies in Law, Politics and Society
1990 - 1995 Continuity and Change: A Journal of Social Structure, Law and Demography
1989 - 2001 Law and Social Inquiry: Journal of the American Bar Foundation
1980 - The Company Lawyer
(1980-84, Founding Associate Editor)
VISITING PROFESSOR:
VISITING FELLOW:
DISTINGUISHED FACULTY:
University of Toronto, Faculty of Law(Canada) -September-October 2002.
COLLABORATION WITH RESEARCH USERS
He has completed research for government departments, inter-governmental bodies and briefed non-governmental organisations on international human rights issues, European anti-discrimination law and with respect to legal services and the legal profession.
International Human Rights and European Anti-Discrimination Law
He was one of the consultants commissioned by the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights to write the Handbook on European Law Relating to Asylum, Borders and Immigration published in 2013.
http://www.cavancha.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4554&Itemid=2
www.estrellaiquique.cl/
http://www.defensoriapenal.cl/interior/noticias/dpp.php?id=3917
http://www.defensoriapenal.cl/interior/noticias/dpp.php?id=3916
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Legal Services and the Legal Profession.
Legal History
He has been consulted on the history of English law and legal institutions by English Heritage, BBC TV - Timewatch, the documentary film, "Scandalous Women", the genealogy documentary series, "Who Do You Think You Are?" and the period drama series, "Father Brown". He appeared on the BBC Radio Four Series, "Major Victorian legislation, and how it changed British society."
He was involved in the making of the BBC Radio Four series, "Voices from the Old Bailey" (July-August 2011), examining how far the law gave everyone a fair trial, from the lowest to the highest in society:
Appeared in and legal history consultant for, “Secrets from the Clink”, a programme on the history of crime and punishment, broadcast on Independent Television (ITV1) on 6 August 2014 at 9pm:
https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/secrets-from-the-clink/series-1/episode-1
http://www.nottinghampost.com/TV-star-s-Clink-link/story-22054391-detail/story.html
Member of a project on “Legal Biography”, with the British Library, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (London), the Socio-Legal Studies Association and the LSE Legal Biography Project. Co-editor (with Linda Mulcahy, LSE) of a Special Issue of the Journal of Law and Society on Legal Life Writing: Marginalised Subjects and Sources, to be published in spring 2015.
Core Member, "Dynamics of Memories" Research Group. This international and interdisciplinary group investigates the politics of memory. Funding has been awarded by the Institute of Advanced Studies, Lancaster University,the European Science Foundation and the AHRC.A Colloquium on "Memory and Justice" was organised at Lancaster University in 2009. See, further, http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/groups/dynamicsofmemories/
Co-Director, "Conceptualising the contemporary 'professions': interdisciplinary debates". An Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded Research Seminar Programme, bringing together scholars, practitioners, regulators and consumer representatives from Britain and abroad. Bid for funding prepared with colleagues in Lancaster's Geography Department, Leeds University Business School, the Geography Department of the University of Nottingham, and the Cass Business School of City University. 2009-10. For further details, please see: http://www.contemporaryprofessions.com/
Co-Director, The Lancaster Professions Network. This Network is designed to bring together academics from across the university interested in, broadly defined, the professions. The new network has two substantive aims: To bring Lancaster academics together to share expertise and ideas; and to generate interactions between Lancaster academics and practitioners. Members of the network are drawn from across the University. 2008- . See, further, http://www.lancs.ac.uk/professions/
He has been awarded research and allied funding from the following sources:
· The Arts and Humanities Research Council.
· The American Council for Learned Societies.
· The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.
· The British Academy.
· The British Council (Chile).
· The Council of Europe.
· The Davis Center for Historical Studies, Princeton University, USA.
· The European Agency for Fundamental Rights.
· The European Court of Human Rights.
· The European Science Foundation (HERA).
· The European Union, Grotius Programme.
· The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Studies, London University.
· Lancaster University, the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Institute of Advanced Studies.
· The Law Society.
· The Law and Society Association.
· The Leverhulme Trust.
· The Nuffield Foundation.
· The Program in Law and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA.
· The Republic of Chile, Ministry of Justice, Denfensoria Pública.
· The Society of Public Teachers of Law.
· The Socio-Legal Studies Association.
· The Twenty-Seven Foundation (Institute of Historical Research, London University).
Responses to Massive Violations of Human Rights (Law 311)
Law and Society, 1750-1950: Culture, Gender and the Visual (Law 215)
Lawyers and Society (Law 264)
Courts, Law and Politics in a Comparative Perspective (Law 307)
International Terrorism and the Law (LLM 215)
International Criminal Law (LLM 236)
Research output: Exhibits, objects and web-based outputs › Blog
Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Press/Media: Research