Leading Resource for Legal Ethics
Past International Legal Ethics Conferences
Through these discussions, the conference deepened the collective understanding of the ethical practice of law and how lawyers can strengthen professional values, equal justice, and the rule of law in a period of significant instability and increasing inequality, but also one with new opportunities for lawyers to participate in movements to promote equity and inclusion.
Conference Organizer: Professor Scott Cummings, UCLA Law School
“Lawyers In Divided Times”
UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA, USA
June 23-25, 2020
ILEC 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was scheduled to take place at the UCLA School of Law.
“Legal Ethics in the Asian Century”
Melbourne Law School, Australia
December 8-10, 2018
- Program
- Detailed Schedule
- Report on ILEC 2018 published in Legal Ethics
Conference Organizer: Professor Julian Webb, Melbourne Law School
“Ethics and Regulation of Lawyers Worldwide: Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives”
Fordham Law School, New York, USA
July 14-16, 2016
- Schedule of Programs and Sessions
- List of Speakers (Alphabetically and by “stream”)
- Posted Papers
- Participants by Country
- Sponsors
- Conference Report in Fordham Law News
Conference Organizer: Prof. Bruce Green, Fordham Law School
Legal Ethics at a Time of Regulatory Change
City Law School, London, United Kingdom
July 10-12, 2014
In July 2014, exactly ten years after the first ILEC, ILEC 2014 returned to the UK to meet at City University Law School, London. Numbers had grown considerably, and this time, there were well over 230 participants with 140 presentations covering new themes, such as the impact of technology on ethical practice; law and religion; and also judicial ethics.
Perhaps most noticeable was the breakthrough to jurisdictions beyond the common-law world: this time, delegates came from over 35 countries with significant representation from eastern Europe (Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia) and the Middle East (Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Oman, and Turkey).
Contrasting common law views of ethics were well-represented by personal and thought-provoking parables delivered by Lord Justice Laws in his after-dinner speech held in the Great Hall of the Inner Temple, and Professor Deborah Rhode’s ethical sermon delivered the following morning at the Temple Church.
- Call for Papers (PDF)
- See also: R. Mortensen, “Legal Ethics at a Time of Regulatory Change: The Sixth International Legal Ethics Conference, London” (2014) 17 Legal Ethics 425. Sir John Laws, “Sydney’s Sketches, Sydney’s Fingers—After Dinner at The Inner Temple” (2014) 17 Legal Ethics 427; D. Rhode, “Watching the Muffins—The Temple Church Sermon” (2014) 17 Legal Ethics 430.
Conference Organizers: Professor Andy Boon and Professor Nigel Duncan, City University of London
“Merging Worlds, Emerging Discourses”
Banff, Alberta, Canada
July 12-14, 2012
LEC 5 met in Banff, Alberta, in July 2012, and was co-hosted by the University of Calgary and Dalhousie University. This meeting attracted over 200 participants from around 20 different countries and confirmed the study of legal ethics as a global movement, now bringing together not only legal scholars but also judges, legal regulators, and practitioners interested in debating the following key themes: empirical approaches to legal ethics; culture, ethics, and society; philosophy and legal ethics; regulation of the profession; and ethics and education.
- Report on 2012 ILEC V
- Program and Schedule
- Session Materials
- See also: A. Woolley and R. Devlin, “Merging Worlds, Emerging Discourses” (2012) 15 Legal Ethics 379
Conference Organizers: Professor Alice Wooley, University of Calgary, and Professor Richard Devlin, Dalhousie University
“The Legal Profession in Times of Turbulence”
Stanford Law School, Stanford, USA
July 15-17, 2010
ILEC 4 took place at Stanford Law School in California. It brought together around 170 legal ethicists from around the globe. Under the leadership of Professor Deborah Rhode, ILEC 4 gave further impetus to the fledgling international legal ethics movement by founding in July 2010 the International Association of Legal Ethics (IAOLE).
- Report on 2010 ILEC
- Agenda and Detailed Agenda
- Abstracts and Session Materials
- See also: Legal Ethics (Vol. 13, No. 2 and Vol. 14, No. 1) and the 2011 Journal of the Professional Lawyer
“Integrity in Legal Practice”
Griffiths University, Australia
July 13-16, 2008
ILEC 3, co-hosted by law schools at Griffith University and the University of Queensland, met in July 2008 on the Australian Gold Coast. The number of delegates had more than quadrupled, with delegates coming from a much wider geographical base, though still underrepresented from Asian, African, and Latin American countries.
ILEC 3 chose as its theme Integrity in Legal Practice and actively incorporated into the program judges, legal practitioners, regulators, and policymakers whilst bringing together eminent US and Australian keynote speakers.
ILEC 3 was a hugely significant milestone that gave invaluable momentum and publicity to the ILEC series.
“Professional Ethics and Personal Integrity”
University of Auckland, New Zealand
July 23-25, 2006
ILEC 2, with roughly double the numbers attending ILEC 1, was organised by Professor Tim Dare in Auckland in June 2006, taking as its theme Professional Ethics and Personal Integrity with Professor William Simon of Columbia as its keynote speaker.
- Report on 2006 ILEC
- Program
- Abstracts
- See also: L. Haller, “Professional Ethics and Personal Integrity: Report from the International Conference on Legal Ethics, Auckland, New Zealand” (2006) 9 Legal Ethics 13.
Conference Organizer: Professor Tim Dare, University of Auckland
“New Perspectives on Professionalism: Educating and Regulating Lawyers for the 21st Century”
University of Exeter, United Kingdom
July 23-25, 2006
The First International Legal Ethics Conference (ILEC 1), held at Exeter University in July 2004, took as its theme New Perspectives on Professionalism: Educating and Regulating Lawyers for the 21st Century.
Professors Julian Webb and Kim Economides, as Founding Editors of the international journal Legal Ethics, felt that more needed to be done in Europe to bring together a growing international community of legal scholars who were publishing, yet not physically discussing or sharing critical and scholarly ideas for the development of legal ethics as an emergent sub-discipline.
Despite the attraction of Professor Robert Gordon from Yale as our keynote speaker, only about 40 delegates attended, most coming from the Antipodes and North America, with a minority from the UK and Europe, which broadly reflected the provenance of material submitted to Legal Ethics.
ILEC 1 was seen as a means of bringing together legal ethicists and practitioners so that we could learn from each other about how best to promote ethical awareness within, but also beyond, the law curriculum.
The conference was considered a success, and although numbers were modest, the quality of the papers and discussion was sufficiently high that it was decided to meet biennially and institute the ILEC series.
- Report on 2004 ILEC
- Program
- Abstracts
- See also: S. Nelson, “Reflections from the International Conference on Legal Ethics from Exeter” (2004) 7 Legal Ethics 159.
Conference Organizers: Professor Julian Webb, University of Westminster, and Professor Kim Economides, University of Exeter
[The reports on ILEC 1-6 were prepared by Professor Kim Economides].
Positions of conference organizers are given for the year the conference took place.
Broken link? Have a suggestion? Send it to Professor Laurel Terry, who can be reached at lterry@psu.edu.
Call For Expressions of Interest: 2026 Onwards
The ILEC Board of Directors is seeking expressions of interest from host institutions for the biennial ILEC conferences from 2026 onwards. We shall be flexible as to the size and location of these conferences as we aim to encourage cross-cultural dialogue by experimenting with a range of different venues and conference formats. Please explain in your proposal how you think your conference will enable us to engage with new audiences to increase understanding of the nature and meaning of contemporary legal ethics in your region or country. Please also indicate if you have a preference for hosting a conference in a specific year (e.g., 2026, 2028, 2030).
ILEC usually runs for three days in July, but other months will be considered. In 2018, for example, the conference was hosted in the southern hemisphere and ran in December.
ILEC hosts are expected to further the mission of the IAOLE, particularly where they seek financial support from the IAOLE. It is not a condition that ILEC makes a profit, but where a profit is made, it is expected that funds will be directed toward facilitating participation by providing travel assistance. Any grants made must take into account the Association’s “…interest in ensuring the geographic and demographic diversity of participants and the value of enabling individuals from underrepresented groups and regions to pursue interests related to legal ethics.”
Relevant considerations are:
- a strong local team of organisers, supported by their Dean(s);
- a venue capable of catering for up to 250 delegates (please indicate the number of delegates you expect to attend);
- sufficient overnight accommodation for all those attending;
- a range of types of accommodation close to the conference venue, including low-cost options;
- a reasonably accessible location, preferably near an international airport;
- approximately 7-10 good quality seminar rooms within walking distance of each other;
- reliable wi-fi in all venues;
- a central area suitable for registration, publishers’ stands, poster displays, and coffee/tea and lunches;
- plans for a conference dinner and/or plenary;
- adequate administrative and financial support;
- ability to provide a conference website (ideally with direct editorial control);
- capacity to promote the conference through local and wider networks;
- competitive pricing of delegate registration packages.
In recent years, local teams have often been supported by a university conference office or department, and there also has been co-hosting between adjacent institutions in order to share the burden and risk of running the conference.
Anyone wishing to have an informal chat about the possibility of hosting the conference should contact the IAOLE President, Matthias Kilian, at matthias.kilian@uni-koeln.de or any Board member within or near their geographic region.
The International Association of Legal Ethics encourages and supports regional conferences dedicated to legal ethics. These regional conferences complement the bi-annual International Legal Ethics Conferences.
In Australia/New Zealand (“ANZLEC”) and in Japan (“ILEST”), these conferences are well-established and usually take place in uneven years when no ILEC is scheduled. In other regions of the world, legal ethics conferences are organized as one-off events.
As one of the missions of the IAOLE is the promotion of teaching, research, vocational training programs, and policy initiatives concerning legal ethics, the Association will consider applications to sponsor or collaborate with other conferences and colloquia concerning legal ethics. For further details, please see the co-sponsorship section of this website.
Upcoming regional conferences the IOALE has endorsed are:
Australia and New Zealand Legal Ethics Colloquium 7
Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia – 20 and 21 July 2023
International Legal Ethics Symposium
Tokyo, Japan – 11 March 2023