An article written by Kent legal academic Professor Amanda Perry-Kessaris has been shortlisted for the Socio-Legal Article Prize 2015.
The article, ‘The Case for a Visualised Economic Sociology of Legal Development’, originally published in the journal Current Legal Problems (Vol. 67), is one of three that has been shortlisted by the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) as an outstanding piece of socio-legal scholarship.
In the article, Professor Perry-Kessaris explores how an interdisciplinary, econo-socio-legal approach to legal development could be radically improved using graphic design techniques such as typography and information design.
It is the second consecutive year an academic from Kent Law School has been shortlisted for the Socio-Legal Article Prize; last year, the prize was won by PhD student (and alumna) Sarah Keenan for her article ‘Property as governance: time, space and belonging in Australia’s Northern Territory intervention’ in the Modern Law Review.
This year’s winner will be announced during the SLSA’s forthcoming annual conference.
The field of legal development is a major focus of Professor Perry-Kessaris’s current research. She has a particular interest in exploring the potential of visual communication at every stage of the legal research process. Examples of her work with graphic design can be found on her blog, Approaching the econo-socio-legal, and on her online design portfolio.
Professor Perry-Kessaris is also the academic coordinator for a collaborative project called Thinking into | about practice which asks academics and practitioners to use images and text to reflect upon their experience in the field of law and development.
Professor Perry-Kessaris studied law, economics, ethnography and graphic design before joining Kent in 2013. To learn more about her publications and research, visit her staff profile page.
In 2014, the SLSA also awarded the Hart Socio-Legal Book Prize to Dr Emilie Cloatre from Kent Law School, for her book Pills for the Poorest: An Exploration of TRIPS and Access to Medication in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was the third consecutive year that the prize, awarded in recognition of outstanding socio-legal scholarship, had been won by an academic from the School; Senior Lecturer in Law Dr Nicola Barker, won the award in 2013 for her book Not the Marrying Kind: A Feminist Critique of Same-Sex Marriage, and Professor Didi Herman was awarded the prize in 2012 for her book An Unfortunate Coincidence: Jews, Jewishness, and English Law.