Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Prof. Dr. Philipp Dann

Law & Society Institute Berlin (LSI)

The Law & Society Institute Berlin (LSI Berlin) is a place for interdisciplinary legal studies at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. It was established in 2008 by Prof. Susanne Baer and awarded  Integrated Research Institute at HU Berlin in 2019, funded by the German Excellence Initiative.

The LSI Berlin aims to complement doctrinal legal research by the systematic inclusion of social sciences and the humanities, critically reflecting the opaque separation of knowledge by different academic disciplines. By its interdisciplinary approach, functions and interdependencies of law, as well as its regulatory force are examined in an integrative and methodologically reflected way. In doing so, the LSI considers itself as part of the international law and society movement that emerged from legal realism.

As Integrated Research Institute, LSI supports trans-faculty cooperation and, thus, serves as a framework for innovative approaches of socio-legal research from different academic denominations. It cooperates closely with national and international partners such as the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.

The Institute comprises different research areas with projects conducted both by the academic staff and associated researchers. Besides, LSI’s work is accompanied by a so-called project group and by visits of international guest speakers and researchers.