The Annual Gerald Gordon Seminar on Criminal Law
On the 11th and 12th of June 2009, a two-day seminar, followed by a public lecture by Lord Hope of Craighead, was held in honour of Sir Gerald Gordon CBE QC LLD. A Festschrift, Essays in Criminal Law in Honour of Sir Gerald Gordon, was published the following year.
Following the success of this event, a decision was taken to establish the Gerald Gordon Seminar on Criminal Law as an annual generalist criminal law seminar. These seminars have been supported by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education and the Faculty of Advocates, while the 2009 public lecture received additional support from W. Green. Full details of the 2009-2025 seminars can be found on this site. No seminar took place in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The seventeenth seminar will take place on Thursday 11 June 2026 on the University of Glasgow campus, where the following speakers will present:
- Dr Grant Barclay (Glasgow)
- Professor Hannah Bows (Durham)
- Dr Samantha Fairclough (Birmingham)
- Dr Rory Kelly (Galway)
- Dr Lewis Ross (LSE)
As in previous years, two presentation slots in the conference schedule have been reserved for doctoral students. Any interested student should submit a title and abstract (no more than 300 words) to laia.harman@glasgow.ac.uk by Monday 23 February 2026, noting what year of their doctoral programme they are in. In deciding betwen abstracts the selection committee may, in addition to the quality of the individual abstracts, take into account the extent to which students may have future opportunities to present at the seminar during their studies.
Papers may be in any area of criminal law, criminal justice or criminal procedure. Thanks to the suport of our sponsors, the Clark Foundation for Legal Education, we will be able to provide accommodation and cover reasonable travel costs (up to a maximum of £250) for the selected speakers. Registration for the seminar will open shortly after these final slots have been filled and the full programme finalised. Any questions can be directed to james.chalmers@glasgow.ac.uk.