Transnational Law as Socio-Legal Theory : The Challenges for “Law in Context” in a Divided World

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy at the University of New York at Buffalo, School of Law. In tribute to the legendary contributions by the Baldy Center and its members and affiliates over the years, the paper both revisits and engages some of the core areas and orientations of the scholarship, policy and advocacy work that has been carried out as part of the largely U.S. centered Law & Society Movement (LSM) over the past decades. The paper offers a number of contextualizations in which law & society scholarship should be seen, when adopting a comparative and transnational perspective. In that regard, the paper draws connections with postcolonial legal studies, critical legal advocacy and critical work on financial capitalism