Professor Linda Mulcahy gives plenary lecture in Brazil

This week Linda Mulcahy from the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies gave the plenary lecture at the Brazilian Association for the Sociology of Law. Drawing on the findings of a UKRI-funded project on Enhancing Democratic Habits - An Oral History of the Law Centres Movement, Linda’s paper addressed ‘The Complex Concept of Community Lawyering’ and talked about the potential of community-based legal services to enhance democratic habits at local level. Reflecting on the experience, she said:

‘I was honoured to be asked to present the opening address at this important conference. Socio- legal studies is a much younger movement in South America and Brazilian scholars have so much to add to global concerns about issues that matter to us all, not least of which are debates about constitutional protections and democratic backsliding. We have much to learn from Brazilian lived experiences of fragile democracies, environmental change and multi-culturalism.’

This is Linda’s third trip to South America in the last twelve months and reflects a keen interest in building international links with socio-legal scholars in the global South. This interest is further evidenced in the work conducted by colleagues in the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and the content of the Centre’s blog, Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies.