Palmer receives Lifetime Achievement Honors from American Society of Comparative Law

Tulane Law School had a remarkable showing at this year’s American Society of Comparative Law (ASCL) annual conference, held this week at McGill University’s Faculty of Law in Montreal.

This year’s conference, themed “The Paris Congress at 125: Comparative Law’s Entanglement with Power from Paris to Today,” explored how comparative law has evolved from its idealistic origins at the 1900 Paris Congress to its complex intersections with political, economic, and global power structures today.

Among the conference’s highlights was the presentation of the ASCL Lifetime Achievement Award to Vernon Palmer, the Thomas Pickles Professor of Law and one of the world’s leading voices in comparative law. The award recognizes his extraordinary contributions to the field and his decades of scholarship that have shaped the discipline worldwide.

 “Professor Palmer’s work reminds us that comparative law is not simply a study of difference—it is a bridge between legal systems, a means to advance understanding and justice across borders,” said Law Dean Marcilynn Burke. “His enduring leadership has been pivotal in helping to establish Tulane Law as a leader in the field of comparative law.”

Palmer has written more than 50 books and articles focusing on his research in comparative law and legal history and is an iconic professor at Tulane Law, where he has taught generations of lawyers. A New Orleans native, earned his undergraduate and his law degree at Tulane, and later received a master’s and Phd in law from Yale and Oxford universities, respectively. Most recently, he is an invited scholar working on rewrites to the Constitution of Vietnam.

Co-Director of the Eason-Weinmann Center for International and Comparative law, he has specialized in comparative law and European and French civil law. Over the years, he has done extensive scholarly work abroad in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and Africa. He also has done extensive research focused on the roots of Louisiana law, and is one of the foremost scholars in the state's civil law tradition.

Tulane faculty members also presented original research as part of the academic program of the conference: Professor Jörg Fedtke presented “Constitutional Regulation of Economic Activity,” and Professor Mateusz Grochowski presented “Governing the Digital Consumer: Soft Power and Global Legal Orders.”

In recognition of their ongoing service to the Society, Professor Ron Scalise was re-elected Treasurer and Professor Sally Richardson was re-elected Parliamentarian, each for two-year terms.

And the best news of all: Tulane Law School has been selected to host the 2027 ASCL Annual Conference in New Orleans. Themed “The Future of Comparative Law in a Global (and Sometimes Anti-Global) World,” the conference will bring leading comparative law scholars from around the world to Tulane’s campus, continuing the Law School’s proud tradition as a global hub for comparative legal thought.