Welcome

 
The International Language and Law Association (ILLA) was founded by legal linguists Peter Tiersma†, Lawrence Solan and Dieter Stein in 2007. Their initiative was to create a network of linguists and lawyers around the world working on the language matrix of law. In that framework, language is not simply seen as a subject in the legal context or an object of forensic analysis, but as the central medium of modern constitutional states, as the mediator of social conflicts and the core of legal methodology.

After an initial period of gestation, it was now time to relaunch the ILLA, to reconfigure the society on the basis of the experiences up to this point and to give it a new sustainable structure. Therefore, from September 7th-9th, 2017 about 150 scholars from linguistics, law, social and culture sciences have relaunched the International Language and Law Association (ILLA) in Freiburg, Germany. Regarding the overall topic "Language and Law in a World of Media, Globalisation and Social Conflicts" there were 50 talks, keynotes and workshops discussing the constitution of law by language and media in the context of multilingualism, digitalization and social conflicts around the world. The congress ended with the relaunch of the association, electing the lawyer, Prof. Dr. Frances Olsen (UCLA, USA), and the linguist, Prof. Dr. Friedemann Vogel (Freiburg, Germany) as first presidents. As members of the steering committee has been confirmed: Prof. Dr. Anne-Lise Kjær (Copenhagen, Denmark), Prof. Dr. Ralf Poscher (Freiburg, Germany), Prof. Dr. Lawrence Solan (New York, USA) and Prof. Dr. Dieter Stein (Düsseldorf, Germany).

 

   
ILLA Freiburg 2017 (Photo: Tony Franzky)   Post ILLA 2019 (Open Access)  

 Last Update: 28 October 2024

 

6th ILLA General Conference (Sept. 20–22, 2023, Kraków, Poland)

LAW, LANGUAGE AND LEGAL KNOWLEDGE. Global processes and local practices

 

Photo Gallery

» Conference website

 

News

Important dates, forthcoming events and publications:

 

  • ILLA Focus Conference: Allgemeinsprachliche Äußerungen und ihre Bedeutung vor Gericht
    29 November 2024, Heidelberg, Germany
    » Read more

  • ILLA Focus Conference: A foreign language effect on legal decisions?
    11 April 2025, University of Maastricht
    » Read more

  • ILLA Focus Conference: Corpus linguistics applied to extremist narratives: what are the implications for cybercrime analysis?
    11–12 June 2025, CY Cergy Paris université
    » Read more

  • CALL FOR PAPERS: 5th ILLA Focus Conference on Forensic Linguistics: Language as evidence
    2 September 2025, University of Kaunas, Lithuania
    » Read more
    » Downlad Call for Papers as PDF


  • CALL FOR PAPERS: 7th ILLA General Conference: Language and Law in an Age of Uncertainty and Transition
    3–5 September 2025, University of Kaunas, Lithuania
    » Read more
    » Downlad Call for Papers as PDF

  • Launch of new platform: SOULL - Sources of Language and Law
    The newly launched online platform SOULL provides selected information about past and recent research activities in legal linguistics world-wide.
    » Go to website