Queering Private Law Conference

Day 1

9:45-10:00 — Arrival
10:00-10:15 — Welcome
10:15-11:15 — Keynote 1: Darren Rosenblum (McGill University)
11:15-11:30 — Break

11:30–12:30 — Panel 1: Questioning the cis-tem
Hila Keren (Southwestern Law School) — Queering the Freedom of Contract
Marco Poli (University of Turin) — Queering Generative Property: A Response to Trans Exclusion from Gamete Disposition in Italian Law
Johnny Hardman (University of Edinburgh) — Queering Corporate Law

12:30-13:30 — Lunch

13:30-14:30 — Panel 2: Torts
Chiara Mori Passoni (Fundação Getulio Vargas) — Queering Tort Law: Constructing LGBTQ+ Discrimination in Brazilian Courts
Thomas Kadri (University of Miami) & Brenda Dvoskin (Washington University in St. Louis) — Consent Creep
Oliver James Francis-Jones (The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn) — Defamation Law

14:30-15:00 — Break

15:00-16:15 — Panel 3: IP
Michael Goodyear (New York Law School) — The Binary Problem in Trademark Law
Alvaro Fernandez-Mora (King’s College London) — Queering Trademark Law: Paternalism, Exploitation and the Politics of Brand Regulation
Susanna Kallio (Hanken School of Economics) — The Queer Case of Fan Fiction and Copyright Law
Andrew Gilden (Southwestern Law School) — Trans Patents

16:15-16:40 — Break
16:40-17:40 — Keynote 2: Sonia Katyal (UC Berkeley)
17:40-18:30 — Reception

10:00–10:15 — Arrival

10:15–11:15 — Panel 4: Families
Alex Maine (City St George's, University of London) & Arnau Nonell (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa) — Non-Conjugal and Non-Traditional Families
Sam Bannister (University of Nottingham) — The Common Intention Constructive Trust
Mihir Rajamane (University of Oxford) — Equality Law and the Public/Private Divide

11:15–11:30 — Break

11:30–12:30 — Panel 5: Children
Hannah Hirst (University of Sheffield) — Exploring Young People's Participation in Clinical Decision-Making about Gender-Affirming Treatment
Frederique Joosten (Royal Holloway) — The Welfare Principle in English Child Law
Susanna Roßbach (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law) — Queering motherhood – Perspectives from Germany

12:30-13:30 — Lunch
13:30-14:30 — Keynote 3: Nicholas Allen KC (Deputy High Court Judge; 29 Bedford Row Chambers)
14:30-15:00 — Break

15:00–16:00 — Panel 6: Normativity across time and space
Jack Enman-Beech (University of Alberta) — The Normative Conditions of a Flourishing Queer Space
Horatia Muir Watt (Sciences Po) — The Shadow Version of Private International Law
Katie Jukes (Manchester Metropolitan University) — Queering Legal Education

16:00–16:15 — Closing remarks

This conference is co-led by Haim Abraham (UCL), Philip Gavin (UCL), Eden Sarid (KCL), Andrew Gilden (Southwestern Law School), Michael Goodyear (New York Law School) and  Niamh Connolly (UCL), with funding from BA/Leverhulme Trust and UCL Faculty of Laws. 

For more information on the Queering Private Law Project, please visit: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/queering-private-law 

Standard Tickets: £100 (two days including catering), £70 (one day inc catering)

Full Time Academics: £40 (two days inc catering), £28 (one day inc catering)

Full Time Students: £25 (two days inc catering), £18 (one day inc catering)

Book your spot here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/queering-private-law-conference-tickets-1988912899021

Students, underrepresented groups, and people without funding and/or experiencing financial hardship can apply for a waiver by emailing Queering Private Law on queering.law@kcl.ac.uk

These conference sessions are designed to support professional learning and development. UK‑based legal professionals may be able to record attendance at eligible sessions toward their CPD or continuing competence requirements, subject to the rules of their relevant regulator. Participants are responsible for determining eligibility and maintaining their own records. 

CPD Learning Outcomes:

This conference qualifies for self-certified continuing professional development. Participants will be able to:

• Identify how core doctrines across private law (including contract, tort, equity, property, corporate, and family law) embed assumptions about normativity, identity, and relationships, and explain how these assumptions shape legal outcomes
• Evaluate current private law doctrine in light of equality and human rights obligations, identifying areas of potential legal development or reform
• Apply critical perspectives drawn from queer theory to doctrinal problems, including in the construction of legal arguments, and the interpretation of case law and statutory provisions.
• Recognise areas of doctrinal uncertainty or development where these insights may be relevant to litigation strategy, advising, or policy work.
• Analyse how heteronormative and cisnormative frameworks operate within specific areas of private law and recognise where they may produce anomalous, unjust, or legally contestable results for clients whose lives and relationships fall outside assumed norms
• Reflect on assumptions in legal pedagogy and professional practice that may affect how private law is taught, interpreted, and applied