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).
 

The next general meeting and conference: 5th ILLA General Conference (Sept. 7-9, 2021, Alicante, Spain)
 

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

 
 Last Update: July 6th, 2020

 

News

Important dates, forthcoming events and publications:

  • 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

  • Focus Conference: Spotlight on Courts: Judges and their Discourse from a Multidisciplinary Perspective
    **NEW DATE** March 4th-5th, 2021, University of Lodz, Poland
    » Read more
     
  • First ILLA Colloquium for PhD students
    September 24th, 2020, University of Lodz, Poland
    » Read more

  • Focus Conference: Innovative Teaching and Research in Legal Language Education
    **The original date has been postponed. Tentative date: July, 2021 (to be confirmed later this year)**
    China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China
    » Read more

  • Post Conference 2017 Volume: Legal Linguistics Beyond Borders: Language and Law in a World of Media, Globalisation and Social Conflicts (Ed. by Friedemann Vogel)
    » All contributions open access