Annual Report of the Sociology of Law Section
December 4, 1997

The Council and Business Meetings of the Sociology of Law Section were
both held on August 10, 1997 in Toronto, Canada. Eleven people attended
the Council Meeting about 40 people attended the 1997 Business Meeting of
the ASA Section on the Sociology of Law. Each Section Committee had
submitted a written report to the Chair prior to the meeting and these
reports were presented and discussed at the Council and Business Meetings.
In addition, each committee chair submitted a description of their
committee's responsibilities and procedures for carrying out those
responsibilities. These descriptions will be passed on to future committee
chairs. 

The Nominating Committee, chaired by David Greenberg (Members: Bill
Felstiner, Mark Suchman, Joachim Savelsberg, Susan Silbey) reported the
following election results: President Elect: Susan Silbey, Council
Members: John Hagan, Kitty Calavita, Robert Kidder).  The Council elected
John Hagan as Chair-elect of the Nominations Committee. 

The Section also approved a nomination procedure, which was submitted by
Nominations Committee Chair David Greenberg.  The procedure is as follows.
The Nominations Committee will solicit nominations (including
self-nominations) through an announcement in the Newsletter and through
the Section's listserv, and Nominations Committee members may also make
nominations. In preparing a slate of candidates, the Nominations Committee
should take steps to assure that the slate of candidates represents the
full diversity of the membership on attributes such as race, sex, and
academic interests.  Council nominations may also be used to help
integrate younger members into the Section. After ranking the candidates
and verifying their willingness to serve if elected, the Committee submits
a slate to the ASA election coordinator. 

The Membership Committee, chaired by Pat Steinhoff and Patricia Ewick
(Members: Kiyoshi Ikeda, Patricia Gwartney, Mathieu Deflem) announced that
our membership numbers are up 10%, to 320 members.  We discussed a number
of ideas for encouraging new members, including an electronic flyer
designed by Mathieu Deflem, promoting co-membership with the Crime, Law
and Deviance Sections, encouraging use of our listserv and websites, and
encouraging members to present gifts of membership to their graduate
students.

The winners of the Section's two awards were announced.  The Sociology of
Law Section's Distinguished Article Award was selected by a committee
chaired by Ronen Shamir (Members: Kevin Delaney, Peter Manning, Kim
Scheppele, Penelope Canan).  The prize was split between two articles:
Arthur Stinchcombe's "Lustration as a Problem of the Social Basis of
Constitutionalism," which appeared in Social Science Inquiry, Volume 20;
and Donald Black's "The Epistemology of Pure Sociology," which appeared in
the same volume. The Student Paper Prize was selected by a committee
chaired by Christopher Uggen (Members: Cathy Connolly, Elizabeth
Chambliss, Richard Leo) and was also split between two papers.  Brian Gran
won for her graduate student paper called "A Bugaboo for Social Policy:
The Influence of Legal Systems on Public Pension Development," and Megan
Morgan won for her undergraduate paper titled "Battered Woman Syndrome:
Women's Experiences, Expert Evidence, and Legal Discourse."  The Council
recommended that, in accordance with ASA rules, future prizes should not
be split.

The Publications Committee, chaired by Matt Silberman (Members: Robert
Kidder (Newsletter Editor), Larry Ross, Mary Pat Baumgartner, Marlynn May,
Jill McCorkel) put out two issues of Amici this year, set up and
maintained the Section homepage, and has now put a directory of members on
the homepage. The Council noted that the newsletter has improved
dramatically in both content and style. 

The Mentoring Program, which matches assistant professors with senior
mentors at other universities, has now been in existence for one year.
Seven mentees have been matched with mentors and there are more requests
for mentors.  At the Business Meeting, both mentors and mentees expressed
support for the program, and the membership agreed that it should be
continued and Lauren Edelman agreed to serve as Mentoring Coordinator for
another year. 

Frank Munger, Program Chair for 1996-1997 and Section Chair for 1997-98,
has been working hard at coordinating various functions with related
sections.  Together with Susan Silbey, Program Chair for 1998, Frank
arranged for two joint sessions at the ASA Meeting, one with the Sex and
Gender Section, and one with the Organizations, Occupations, and Work
Section. 

Robin Stryker, Secretary/Treasurer, reported on the Section's budget at
both the Council and Business Meetings.  Based on the ASA's new policy of
providing each section with an allocation of revenues and receiving a
budget from the section, the Council de cided to allocate $1000 to
newsletter expenses, $700 for our share of next year's projected joint
reception with the Crime, Law, and Deviance Section, and $150 for new
membership outreach and small items such as prize plaques.  The Council
also voted to provide  a dues increase of $2 for non-student members (from
$10 to $12) to compensate for ASA's increase of $2.  The budget was
approved at the Business Meeting and the membership voted to approve the
$2 increase in dues for non-student members.

The new ASA proposed rule changes were discussed at both the Council
Meeting and the Business Meeting.  Both Council members and the membership
generally expressed concerns over the ASA's proposed rule that sections
will not be allowed to issue public policy statements on their own and at
the proposed rule that would raise the floor for section membership to 300
members.  After the Business Meeting, Lauren Edelman and Frank Munger
attended the meeting for section chairs and expressed the Section's
concerns.

Lauren Edelman, Section Chair, thanked all the outgoing officers and
committee members for their services.  She also thanked Robin Stryker for
her excellent work as Secretary/Treasurer and Frank Munger for making
great progress in coordinating with other sections in his role as Program
Chair.  During the last part of the Business Meeting, Frank Munger
discussed his plans for the Section, which will include continuing to
promote ties with other sections.  After a few final announcements, the
Sociology of Law Section's Business Meeting Adjourned.

The Sociology of Law Section of the ASA notes with great sadness the
recent death of our friend and colleague, Larry Ross.  Larry has been an
important figure in the Sociology of Law, and we will miss him.


Respectfully submitted,



Lauren B. Edelman
Section Chair, 1996-1997