The Baldy Center supports faculty research

Conferences, Workshops, Distinguished Speakers, and other events

Our events cover a broad array of topics including but not limited to human rights, courts, environmental governance, legal geography, international trade, intellectual property, social inequality, administrative regulation, state and urban government, the legal profession, family, religion, and cultural understandings of law.

The Baldy Center Multimedia

Conferences and Workshops

The Baldy Center sponsors conferences and workshops at the University at Buffalo that bring together international, national, and local interdisciplinary scholars to address critical questions in law and social policy. This page provides links to conferences and workshops sponsored by The Baldy Center since 2016.

We welcome your comments.

Spring 2026 Conferences and Events

Global Systemic Risks: War, Ecocide, and Rising Authoritarianism
8/14/26
September 4, 2026: Join us for the conference, Global Systemic Risks: War, Ecocide, and Rising Authoritarianism. The event addresses the urgent convergence of escalating armed conflicts, democratic erosion, and environmental destruction, while examining their implications for law, governance, human rights, and global sustainability. Bringing together leading scholars, legal experts, and practitioners, the conference will explore how these interconnected global dynamics reshape legal frameworks, institutional capacities, and policy responses at national and international levels. Particular attention will be given to the legal consequences of war, the emerging concept of ecocide, and the challenges posed by rising authoritarianism to constitutional governance and the rule of law.

Prison and Incarceration Research
8/14/26
FIRST MONDAYS: The Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR) Interdisciplinary Work-In-Progress (WIP) Speaker Series is designed to strengthen campus research on one of the most pressing legal and social challenges of our time, mass incarceration. Each speaker offers unique perspectives on prisons, mass incarceration, and broader implications for legal institutions, society, and social policy.

Conferences, since 2016

Prison and Incarceration Research
8/14/26
FIRST MONDAYS: The Prison and Incarceration Research (PAIR) Interdisciplinary Work-In-Progress (WIP) Speaker Series is designed to strengthen campus research on one of the most pressing legal and social challenges of our time, mass incarceration. Each speaker offers unique perspectives on prisons, mass incarceration, and broader implications for legal institutions, society, and social policy.
Mass Adjudication in a Changing Administrative State
6/23/26
JUNE 18, 2026: Join us for the conference, Mass Adjudication in a Changing Administrative State. The event aims to put scholars of all three mass adjudicatory agencies in conversation about the future and challenges of mass adjudication in a time of bureaucratic change.
Boundaries Unbound: Private International Law of Employment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
6/11/26
Johannesburg, June 30, 2026: Boundaries Unbound: Private International Law of Employment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence is a workshop that brings together leading international scholars to examine the supply chains, particularly within the Global South. The academic workshop explores how private international law and conflict of laws can address regulatory gaps affecting workers in AI-driven employment environments. Co-sponsored by The Baldy Center, the event is hosted by the University of Johannesburg Faculty of Law.
Every Day is Sunday: Exploring Public Sector Policy Investment Choices in Pro Sports Facilities
10/27/25
Panel discussion: Every Day is Sunday - Exploring Public Sector Policy Investment Choices in Pro Sports Facilities. On November 14, 2025, panelists Nellie Drew, Ken Belson, and Richard Tobe discussed the legal, political and business practices and policies that have driven massive public sector investment into facilities for privately owned professional sports teams.
Reclaiming Constitutional Law: Limiting Executive Power Overreach, Expanding Shields
6/16/25
May 30 and 31, 2025 CLC workshop: Reclaiming Constitutional Law: Limiting Executive Power Overreach, Expanding Shields. This is the second of a three-part series on Teaching Constitutional Law in a Time of Retrenchment. The series goal is to explore and develop materials and insights for teaching constitutional law, including web-based materials, art, music and projects.
Alison Des Forges 2026 International Symposium
7/6/26
April 16, 2026: The Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee presents its annual symposium, Peace and Justice in the Taiwan Strait. This symposium will explore the complex cultural, historical and political interactions among the Republic of China, People’s Republic of China and the United States with a view to maintaining de facto peace and defending human rights on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The international symposia, 2013 to present, honors the life and work of human rights activist Alison Des Forges (1942-2009). Visit ADFMC event page.
The Human Right to Truth and Truth Commissions
6/16/26
Conference: The Human Right to Truth and Truth Commissions (Summer 2025) The event examines how the emergence of the victim's right to the truth marks a revolution in the relationship between law and historical understanding. Per the traditional conception, the legal truth was to be determined in judicial procedures governed by rigid rules, whose main goal was to safeguard the rights of the accused. An alternative conception emerged with the Nunca Mas (Never Again) Report from September 1984 drafted by the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Spanish: Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas, CONADEP) - the first successful truth commission in history.
Mapping Scholarly Communications in Law Libraries
5/9/25
MAY 23, 2025: Scholarly communications work is an emerging area in law school libraries in the United States. The conference, Mapping Scholarly Communications in Law Libraries, will present a keynote about the first major survey describing the extent of scholarly communications work being performed in academic law libraries in the United States. The program will consist of presentations of papers written by members of the study team and other scholars.
Alison Des Forges International Symposium
7/6/26
Symposium April 3, 2025: The Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee presents its annual symposium, Israel and Palestine: Human Rights and Configurations for the Future. This symposium addresses the human rights implications raised by the current conflict between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah. It will examine the limitations of the international system that has sustained the conflict. We ask what alternative configurations can be imagined to secure political and human rights for both Israelis and Palestinians? This symposium, honors the life and work of human rights activist Alison Des Forges (1942-2009). See ADFMC event page.
70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education
7/6/26
To mark the 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (BOE) in 2024, The Baldy Center sponsored a community forum organized by LaGarret King The event opened with Jillian Hanesworth, Buffalo poet-laureate, performing a spoken-word poem commissioned for the occasion. The panel discussion, moderated by Anthony White, consisted of Kathleen “Kathy” Franklin Adams, Nanette Massey, Donette Ruffin and Mario Workman. Marcus Watson provided a forum summary with closing remarks.
Transnational Legal and Political Theory
7/6/26
May 17 and 18, 2024: The workshop, Transnational Legal and Political Theory, gathers leading legal scholars for an intensive discussion on original work about theoretical, doctrinal, and political issues created by putative forms of legal phenomena beyond the state, such as indigenous and customary law, international law, international and regional human rights law, the European Union, transnational legal orders, and global legal phenomena. Papers will be published in a special issue of the Buffalo Law Review.
8th Biennial Meeting of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society
7/6/26
RESEARCH NEWS: Jacobs School to host international conference of Alcohol and Drugs History Society. Read the article by Bert Gambini, here.
Resilience Before Disaster
7/6/26
On April 19, 2024, the workshop, Resilience Before The Disaster Arrives: Deploying Inter-University Multisectoral Convergent Collaboration Toward a New Disaster Preparation and Response Ethic, will bring together academic and community-based experts with emerging scholars and storytellers, including a core who have been collaborating since before Hurricane Maria.
Critical (Legal) Collective Inaugural Convening
7/6/26
NOVEMBER 10 to 12, 2023: The Baldy Center is pleased to co-sponsor the Critical (Legal) Collective's Inaugural Convening, “Organizing for Democracy and Liberation: The Right to Learn, The Right to Teach, The Right to Thrive”. Hosted by Duke Law School's Center on Law, Race & Policy, conference organizers include Athena D. Mutua, Professor, UB School of Law, a founding member of the Critical (Legal) Collective.
Reproductive Justice Conference Post Dobbs: It's Not Just Abortion
7/6/26
OCTOBER 20 & 21, 2023: Reproductive Justice Conference Post-Dobbs: It's Not Just Abortion, co-sponsored by: The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy; the UB School of Law; the UB Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and, the WNY Coalition for Reproductive Justice. Facilitator: Lucinda Finley (UB School of Law). VISIT CONFERENCE WEBSITE.
Buddhism and Law: Third International Conference
7/6/26
September 29, 30, and October 1, 2023: The Baldy Center sponsors the Third International Conference on Buddhism and Law. The conference, hosted by the journal, Buddhism, Law & Society, focuses on the many features of Buddhism, and how law and the state relate to Buddhist actors, institutions, and texts.
Critical Encounters with Habermas' Legal Theory
7/6/26
May 26 and 27, 2023: The Baldy Center conference, Critical Encounters with Habermas' Legal Theory in Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy is dedicated to re-examining the principal work on legal theory by the eminent German philosopher, Jürgen Habermas.
While Waiting for Rain: Community, Law and Economy in a Time of Change
7/6/26
April 28, 2023: The Baldy Center presents a conference discussing the book by John Henry Schlegel, While Waiting for Rain: Community, Law and Economy in a Time of Change. The book is about the economic history of the United States as well as that of Buffalo, New York: an appropriate stand-in for any city that may have seen its economy start to fall apart in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Interventions in Social Reproduction: Labor, Social Justice, and the Value of Human Life
7/6/26
2022-23 Conference Events: Social Reproduction Theory (SRT) is the theme of the year-long conference hosted by the UB Gender Institute as a series of lectures, panel table discussions, and reading groups. The events will highlight the most recent feminist contributions and SRT developments as core concerns of political economy and social policy.
Alison Des Forges Annual Symposium
7/6/26
April 26, 2023: The Baldy Center is pleased to co-sponsor the 2023 Alison Des Forges Annual Symposium, “The Russo-Ukrainian War: Achievements and Limitations of Today’s International System". This symposium will examine the Russo-Ukrainian war and what it tells us about the strengths and weaknesses of the contemporary international system. It will explore war crimes, crimes against humanity and alleged genocide arising from the conflict. It will also revisit the enduring dichotomy between Russian authoritarian imperialism and Ukrainian democratic nationalism.
The State of Democracy and Rise of Autocracy
7/6/26
OCTOBER 28 and 29, 2022, join us for the conference, The State of Democracy and Rise of Autocracy in view of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. The event includes presentations on democracy, authoritarianism, law, and illiberalism. Participants aim to illuminate environmental policies and political problems of weakening democratic sustainability with the simultaneous growth of autocracies worldwide.
Visionaries and Troublemakers: Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at 50
7/6/26
OCTOBER 28 and 29, 2022, join us for the workshop, "Visionaries and Troublemakers: Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at 50". The event has the dual aim of critically reflecting on fifty years of women's studies at UB and examining how the teaching and research conducted by faculty and students has been part of broader struggles to promote the rights of women and sexual minorities.
Exploring The Law and Political Economy Difference
6/5/22
LPE Workshop, June 9 & 10, 2022: Exploring The Law and Political Economy Difference. The multiple crises of the 21st century — covid, climate, financial instability, inequality, and rising authoritarianism – have spurred a new intellectual movement, Law and Political Economy (LPE).
Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia
7/6/26
April 29 and 30: The University at Buffalo is proud to present the 2022 Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia by reflecting upon the rich history of South Asia and its connection to present-day conditions.
Legacies of Suffrage: Women's Activism, Then and Now
7/6/26
Friday, March 6, 2020: The symposium, Legacies of Suffrage: Women's Activism Then and Now, marks the ratification centennial of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Organized by Carrie Bramen, the symposium brings together scholars to explore the lessons of hard-won voting rights, the need for civic engagement, and, the role of trailblazers in the suffrage movement.
Looking Back, Moving Forward: Law, Policy and Environmental Justice
7/6/26
April 22 and 23, 2022: Join us online for the conference, Looking Back, Moving Forward: Law, Policy and Environmental Justice. The two-day virtual event critically examines the past, present, and potential future roles of the law and legal strategies to advance environmental justice (EJ) policy and action.
Workshop on Marx, Law, and the Administrative State
5/18/21
June 25, 2021, Marx, Law, and the Administrative State, workshop organized by Matthew Dimick. The online event is sponsored, in part, by: The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy; the University at Buffalo School of Law; and Legal Form.
Medical Posthumanities: Governing Health Beyond the Human
7/6/26
April 14, 15 & 16, 2021: While medical humanities have tended to focus almost exclusively on humans, a medical posthumanities, by contrast, would take seriously the role of "more-than-human" actors to explore the complex entanglements of human, animal, and ecological health.
Serious Fun: A conference with & around Schlegel!
7/6/26
The Del Cotto Professorship, The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, and the Buffalo Law Review are pleased to announce publication of the symposium issue Serious Fun: A conference with & around Schlegel! Essays focus on legal and economic history, legal scholarship, and teaching. Serious Fun is being planned. The 2021 symposium issue is here.
The Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law
7/6/26
September 26 to 28, 2019: The Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law. Hosted by the journal Buddhism, Law & Society, this conference focuses on the many legal features of Buddhism, and how law and the state relate to Buddhist actors, institutions and texts.
Journal of Law and Political Economy: Developing the Field
7/6/26
The Baldy Center Workshop, October 11 & 12, 2019, marks the launch of The Journal of Law and Political Economy (JLPE). The peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary online publication seeks to promote multi- and interdisciplinary analyses of the mutually constitutive interactions among law, society, institutions, and politics. Its central goal is to explore power in all its manifestations (race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, global inequality, etc.) and the relationship of law to power.
Environmental Justice in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank
7/6/26
Workshop: Environmental Justice in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank. Fifty years into the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, it is important to understand the lesser known aspects of this apparatus. The focus of the workshop is on the administration of environmental injustice in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Dates: February 7 and 8, 2019.
Tempering Power
7/6/26
On November 10, 2018, we hosted "Tempering Power", The Baldy Center's 40th Anniversary Conference held in conjunction with the Mitchell Lecture. On November 9, the Mitchell Lecture was delivered by John Braithwaite, the prolific and highly distinguished professor at Australian National University. His working title is “Tempered Power, Variegated Capitalism, Law and Society”. The talk was complemented by the Baldy Center's day-long conference.
Addiction as a chronic illness? Promises and perils of a new drug policy paradigm
7/6/26
On September 21 and 22, 2018, we hosted the symposium, Addiction as a chronic illness? Promises and perils of a new drug policy paradigm. Activists and physicians have worked hard to end punitive responses to addiction and recast it as a chronic illness treatable, in part, with medications like buprenorphine. But the “chronic illness” paradigm raises new questions: How to avoid the stigma and social limitations associated with chronic illness? How to prevent pharmaceutical industry influence over medication assisted treatment (MAT)? This symposium brings together leading scholars of addiction, pharmaceuticals, and chronic illness to explore the promises and perils of applying this paradigm to drug dependence and addiction.
Universities, Innovation, and Development
7/6/26
This invited workshop will focus on the internal and external facilitators and barriers of the transactional, developmental, and hybrid roles of the research university, in an effort to address the absence of systematic quantifiable measures of university-based research that address broader developmental aspects. Participants in this workshop will share their current work on this topic as well as plan for future collaboration.
Dates: April 7 and 8, 2018
Disability and Higher Education
7/6/26
For most people familiar with the process of seeking accommodations through institutional channels, we know that there is often a disconnect between following the letter of the law and maximizing the learning experience for everyone involved. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires us to provide reasonable accommodations for students and workers with disabilities. When is it not enough? What can universities do better? This discussion will bring together scholars, students, and advocates to discuss the particulars of succeeding as a student, teacher, and researcher while disabled. Date: April 11, 2018
Global Glyphosate: New Challenges in Regulating Pervasive Chemicals in the Anthropocene
7/6/26
November 11 & 12, 2021: Global Glyphosate: New Challenges in Regulating Pervasive Chemicals in the Anthropocene.
Buffaronto Sociolegal Conversations
7/6/26
Join us on Saturday, September 23, 2017, for Buffaronto Sociolegal Conversations. The event will bring together scholars from Buffalo and Toronto for informal, wide-ranging discussion of pressing issues in sociolegal research. We invite you to participate in this conversation, which we hope will be the first of an ongoing series.
Trump and the Law Speaker Series
7/6/26
Fall 2017: The Trump and the Law speaker series seeks to create a space for discussion, inquiry, and action as we enter new and ever more turbulent legal and political waters. To that end, we are hosting a series of speakers who will engage in public discussions of the policies and politics of the current administration. The talks are organized around particular policy or legal issues and bring to campus distinguished scholars, lawyers, and others engaged with the issues of the day.
The Changing Climate: Reflections on Current Law, Policy, Justice, and Regulation
7/6/26
Join us, March 10 and 11, 2017, for a conference that explores the legal challenges for climate change advocacy, alternative policy approaches, and the stumbling blocks for existing and proposed legal theories.
Ocean Legalities: The Law and Life of the Sea
7/6/26
February 23 and 24, 2017, join us for a two-day workshop that examines the limits of legal frameworks rooted in humanistic and terrestrial assumptions. The event brings together legal scholars, geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, environmental scholars, and historians to expose the biopolitical hierarchies naturalized through modes of classification and operation by exploring a new subject of inquiry: ocean legalities.
From Protest to Politics: Women's Movements and Strengthening Democracies
7/6/26
Conference: “From Protest to Politics: Women’s Movements and Strengthening Democracies.” For the last sixty years, there has been a consistent pattern of the growth of democratic governments produced by engaged citizens working together in social movements. Often led by diverse women, these social movements won the expansion of civil rights, political participation, and new laws to ensure equality. However, we now face a global rise in authoritarian politics and a rising concern over the future of liberal democracies. Our conference brings together scholars to analyze the current moment. Dates: April 11 & 12, 2019.
Global Governance and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
7/6/26
Join us on Saturday, November 5, 2016, for Global Governance and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Symposium. The goal of this one-day symposium is to critically evaluate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Billed as a “21st century trade agreement,” this far-reaching accord seeks to harmonize and, in some instances, to deepen the transnational governance of labor, the environment, and intellectual property, among other areas.
Gene Editing: Life and Law Beyond the Human
7/6/26
October 21 and 22, 2016, join us for a groundbreaking workshop that will bring together scholars from a diverse range of disciplines to contemplate the cultural, scientific, regulatory, and normative implications of gene editing technologies for the future of life.
Buddhist Law and State Law in Comparative Perspective
7/6/26
Building on the edited collection, Buddhism and Law: An Introduction (Cambridge, 2014) by Rebecca French and Mark Nathan, the two-day conference will also serve as the official launch of the first issue of the new peer-reviewed, academic journal, Buddhism, Law & Society (William S. Hein Publishing).
Redistribution: Politics, Law, and Policy
7/6/26
Spring 2016 workshop: Redistribution: Politics, Law, and Policy. The theme of this gathering is the redistribution of income, with particular focus on questions that concern preferences, taxation, and state capacity.