SLSA registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Following a unanimous resolution of the membership at the 2019 AGM, the SLSA Executive Committee has been working towards changing the legal status of the Socio-Legal Studies Association, and registering the SLSA as a charity.

We are delighted to announce that on 14 November 2019 the Socio-Legal Studies Association became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), Association model, registered in England and Wales, number 1186333. The new constitution is in the form that was circulated at the AGM and is available to download here. Members and office holders of the SLSA Executive Committee have become the initial trustees of the new CIO.

Much of the work of the SLSA will continue as normal, with the key difference being that our objects have changed to:

'The object of the CIO is for the public benefit to advance education and learning in the field of socio legal studies and to promote research, the useful results of which shall be published for the public benefit, teaching and the dissemination of knowledge in the field.'

In recognition of our change in legal status from an unincorporated association to a CIO, we are undertaking a refresh of all of the rules, guidance and policies that we use for all of our activities. Please do be careful, therefore, to check the most recent version of the various documents with regard to the SLSA’s grant schemes, seminar competition and prizes.

All existing members of the SLSA will become members of the CIO. As a CIO, we are required by law to keep a register of members, and to hold data on all members until 10 years after they cease to be members of the SLSA. We will, of course, keep this information in ways that comply with our obligations to safeguard personal data under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

The first Annual General Meeting of the Socio-Legal Studies Association CIO will take place, as usual at our Annual Conference, on 2 April 2020 at the University of Portsmouth.