Annual Report of the Section on the Sociology of Law

October 19, 1998
_________________

Council Meeting

	The Council and Section Business meetings were held on August 23 
during the annual American Sociological Association meetings in San 
Francisco.  [See attached agenda for the Council meeting which also 
served as an agenda for the business meeting.]  At the Council meeting, 
most members and committee chairs attended.  Nearly forty members 
attended the business meeting.  Continuing the practice of the last 
chair, Lauren Edelman, all committee chairs were asked to submit written 
reports on the work of the committee and raising questions for discussion 
by the Council and section members.  Several items were added to the 
agenda reflecting concerns or suggestions of the committees.

	Section Chair Frank Munger thanked outgoing officers and members 
of the council and announced the results of the section elections:  Robin 
Stryker, chair, and Kitty Calavita, secretary/treasurer.  New council 
members are Mark Suchman, John Sutton, and Joachim Savelsberg.  Susan 
Silbey, Chair-elect, will be the section chair during 1998-1999.

	Section by-laws require that a Nominations Committee chair and 
co-chair chosen from among the members of the section council.  John 
Hagan, past co-chair, was confirmed as the new Nominations Committee 
chair and Mark Suchman was elected the new committee co-chair.  Last 
year, the section approved a nomination procedure that will be used in 
future elections.  The procedure is as follow: The Nominations Committee 
will solicit nominations (including self-nominations) through an 
announcement in the Newsletter and through the Sections listserv, and 
Nomination 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 in 
to the section.  After ranking the candidates and verifying their 
willingness to serve if elected, the Committee submits a slate to the ASA 
election coordinator.

	Prize awards were announced by the appropriate committee chairs.  
Joachim Savelsberg, chair of the biennial book prize committee announced 
this years winners:  Bryant Garth and Yves Dezalay, Dealing in Virtue:  
International Commercial Arbitration and the Construction of a 
Transnational Legal Order.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  Other 
members of the committee were Jo Dixon, Wendy Espeland, and Bob Kidder.  
Jerry Van Hoy, chair of the graduate student essay prize committee, 
announced this years winner: Stacy Burns, UCLA Department of Sociology, 
for her paper This Your Blackest Thoughts and Darken Them: Worst Light 
Depictions, Predictions, and Evaluations in Judicial Mediation of Large 
Money Damage Disputes.  Other committee members were Carol Seron, Robert 
Dingwall, Austin Turk and Brian Gran.

	At the suggestion of the book prize committee chair, Joachim 
Savelsberg, the Council proposed and the membership confirmed a change in 
the book award window from two to four years (i.e. any book published in 
the past four years will be eligible).

	Secretary/Treasurer Robin Stryker presented the budget report to 
the membership.  The surplus was discussed, and several suggests for its 
use were discussed, including funding graduate students to help conduct 
research that would enhance section outreach.  No decision was reached 
for its use.  [An annual budget report is attached.]  The membership 
approved the budget report including the proposed budget for 1998-1999.

	The Membership Committee, chaired by Mathieu Deflem (other 
members: Catherine Connolly, Jill McCorkel, Alfonso Morales, Robert 
Emerson), was very active this year, and recommended continuing outreach 
to keep the Section membership over 300.  Several suggests for building 
membership are discussed below.

	The Chair gave particular thanks to the Publications Committee 
and its chair Matthew Silberman (other members: Marlynn May, Jill 
McCorkel, Robert Kidder, M.P.Baumgartner).  The Committee has published a 
newsletter several times a year and maintains both a website and a 
section listserv.  Under Matthews guidance the newsletter, Amici, has 
made a great contribution to the section both by disseminating 
information and by building interest outside the section by exchanging 
information with other section newsletters.

	Over the past several years the section has attempted to build 
connections with other sections to enrich the program for section members 
and to attract new members to the section.  Robin Stryker reported on the 
planning of a joint reception with the Section on Crime, Law and 
Deviance.  The two sections have a large number of members in common.  
Susan Silbey, the program chair, reported on the planning of two section 
panels co-sponsored with other sections, one with the Section on Sex and 
Gender and one with the Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work.  
She also reported on commitments to continue joint planning of panels 
with other sections.  Several other panels were also organized by 
sociology of law section members.  Although the ASA permits only two 
panels to be listed as section panels, the sections has typically been 
involved in planning more than two panels.  It was agree that ASA should 
be approached about listing additional panels as section activities in 
the program.  Plans were announced by incoming section chair Susan Silbey 
for working with the incoming ASA president Joe Feagin to organize a 
thematic session on race and the law.

	Lauren Edelman reported on one of the Sections most innovative 
activities, the mentoring program that matches assistant professors with 
senior mentors at other universities.  She reported on the continuing 
progress of the program.

	Outgoing chair Frank Munger thanked the outgoing officers and 
committee chairs and brought the meeting to a close. 


Respectfully submitted,



Frank Munger
Section Chair, 1997-1998