Leeds academic convenes sub-group and presents at the International Working Group on the Legal Profession 2026
In June Professor Hilary Sommerlad participated in the 2026 meeting of the International Working Group on the Legal Profession, which was held at Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
Professor Sommerlad has been a member of this group for over 20 years, which brings together scholars from across the world working at the forefront of this field, and in 2006 was invited to establish a sub-group on Legal Professional Values and Identities. The theme of this year’s meeting – what it means to be a lawyer in an era marked by global crises, shifting societal expectations and rapid technological change – was particularly relevant for Professor Sommerlad’s sub-group, which held four sessions and heard from 17 presenters.
In a session titled “Authoritarianism, values and identities”, Professor Sommerlad presented on research which she has been conducting with social justice lawyers into the difficulties posed by the evisceration of legal aid and government and media hostility; the title of her paper was “The struggle over the Rule of law: human rights lawyering under pressure in the UK.”
In another of the sub-group’s sessions, she discussed her ongoing project with Professor Ole Hammerslev (University of Southern Denmark),“Decolonialising the sociology of the legal profession”, which draws on data from 46 jurisdictions, and highlights the Western-centric nature of legal professions theory.
In addition to convening and presenting in her subgroup, Professor Sommerlad was also invited to act as a discussant in a plenary session on the Research Handbook on the Sociology of Legal Ethics (Cummings et al., Edward Elgar 2025).
Commenting on the visit, Professor Sommerlad said:
The Working Group on the Legal Professions provides a vital forum for learning about legal professions research and engaging with the most eminent scholars working in this area; it is therefore always an important and extremely enriching intellectual experience.
Further information
Professor Hilary Sommerlad is the Co-Director of the Legal Professions Research Group.
