Call for Papers: Symposium on Personalized Law

Presented by the University of Chicago Law Review and the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics

April 27-28, 2018

We are pleased to announce the 2018 University of Chicago Law Review symposium on “Personalized Law.” The event will be co-sponsored by the Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics and aims to explore questions surrounding the potential for personalized law.  With the rise of big data, the costs associated with creating and administering personalized legal rules tailored to specific individuals or circumstances have decreased significantly. Rules that currently apply uniformly—rules like standards of care in tort law; default and mandatory rules in contract law; disclosure mandates; sentencing rules; tax laws; and legal procedures—now face the possibility of becoming personalized in nature.

Scholars working in the field are invited to submit their work to the conference and for publication in the Law Review. The symposium will feature several panels representing diverse viewpoints on the value, feasibility, and implementation of personalization of various legal areas. Would such a system be moral or democratic? How would the implementation of personalized law take place? What are the benefits and drawbacks of shifting from uniform to personalized law? How would increased granularity of legal norms affect the legal system as a whole? Would it make the system more efficient, fair, or equal? Or would it serve to undermine the legitimacy of the legal system and infringe on individual privacy? 

The University of Chicago Law Review invites authors exploring these and related issues to submit proposals for papers. Selected proposals will be developed into approximately 7,500-word papers for presentation at the Law Review’s annual Symposium, which will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28, 2018. Once authors have incorporated feedback from the panels, we plan to publish the final versions in Volume 86 of the Law Review.

We welcome both traditional and interdisciplinary approaches, including insights and methodologies from the social sciences, data sciences, and political philosophy, among others.  A proposal may be as short as a two-page précis or as long as a full draft. We recommend that authors of empirical proposals include preliminary results.

Proposals should be submitted to Anagha Sundararajan at anaghasundar@uchicago.edu no later than September 30, 2017. Submissions must be exclusive, and the organizers’ decisions will be communicated no later than October 31, 2017.

Travel expenses are eligible for reimbursement. Please direct any inquiries to Anagha Sundararajan, Book Review and Symposium Editor (anaghasundar@uchicago.edu) and Professor Omri Ben-Shahar, Director, Coase-Sandor Institute for Law and Economics (omri@uchicago.edu).