Annual Conference

The Nineteenth Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies will be held October 24-25, 2025 at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

For more information, click here (coming soon).

2025 CELS Co-Presidents

David Hyman
Neel U. Sukhatme
Joshua C. Teitelbaum

CELS Poster Award Winners

CELS 2024 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Arna Wömmel, “Public Attitudes Toward Algorithmic Risk Assessments In Courts: A Deliberation Experiment”
Wömmel Poster here.

CELS 2023 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Janka Deli, “How Much Does the Rule of Law Matter for International Trade?”
Deli Poster here.

CELS 2022 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Ranae Jabri, “Algorithmic Policing”

CELS 2019 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Uyen Le (with Greg DeAngelo, Maryah Garner, and Shuichiro Nishioka), “Lost Jobs, Lost Lives: The Effects of Unemployment Shocks and Gun Laws on Suicides”.

CELS 2018 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Natasha Sarin (co-authored with Vladamir Mukharlyamov), “The Impact of the Durbin Amendment on Banks, Merchants, and Consumers.” Sarin/Mukharlyamov Poster here.

CELS 2017 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Greg Buchak, “The Mechanisms of Reputation in Extralegal Enforcement.” Buchak Poster here. Buchak Paper here.

2017 Honorable Mention:
Michelle Drouin and Christopher Stein, “Cognitive Bias in the Courtroom: Combating the Anchoring Effect in Criminal Sentencing.” Drouin/Stein Poster here.

CELS 2016 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Aazam Virani with Zhiyao Chen, Hamed Mahmudi, and Xiaofei Zhao, “When a Buyer Gets Cold Feet: What is the Value of a Bidder Termination Provision in a Takeover?” Virani/Chen/Mahmudi/Zhao Poster here. Virani/Chen/Mahmudi/Zhao Paper here.

CELS 2015 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winner:
Dane Thorley, “Randomness Pre-Considered: Recognizing and Accounting for ‘De-Randomizing’ Events When Utilizing Random Judicial Assignment.” Thorley Poster here.

CELS 2014 Theodore Eisenberg Poster Prize Winners
Kyle Rozema and Nicolas R. Ziebarth, “Behavioral Responses to Taxation: Cigarette Taxes and Food Stamp Take Up”. Rozema/Ziebarth Poster here. Rozema/Ziebarth Paper here.

CELS 2013 Poster Winners
Megan S. Wright, Samantha Kluth, and Dana Dobbins, “Mock Jurors’ Assessments of Blind Experts in Criminal Trials”. Wright/Kluth/Dobbins Poster here. Wright/Kluth/Dobbins Paper here.

CELS 2012 Poster Winner
Yilian Xu, “Does Mortgage Deregulation Increase Foreclosures?: Evidence from Cleveland”. Xa Poster here. Xa Paper here.

CELS 2011 Poster Winner
Yun-Chien Chang, “Tenancy in ‘Anticommons’? A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of Co-Ownership”. Chang Poster here. Chang Paper here.

Conference History

The annual Conferences on Empirical Legal Studies (CELS) were launched in 2006, in response to the growing level of empirical scholarship in law schools and elsewhere. It has thus far been held at University of Texas (2006), NYU (2007), Cornell Law School (2008), USC (2009), Yale (2010), Northwestern (2011), and Stanford (2012), Penn (2013), UC Berkeley (2014), Washington University School of Law in St. Louis (2015), Duke University Law School (2016), Cornell Law School (2017), University of Michigan Law School (2018), Claremont McKenna College (2019), Toronto Law School (March 2022), University of Virginia Law School (November 2022), University of Chicago Law School (2023), in each case with generous support from the host school.

The founding organizers of CELS are Bernie Black (Northwestern), Jennifer Arlen and Geoffrey Miller (NYU), and Ted Eisenberg and Michael Heise (Cornell).

Journal of Empirical Legal Studies