LEAFLETS Seminar Series
LEAFLETS is the seminar series for FIVE LEAF Institute for Law and Aesthetics where we examine key topics, issues, and methodologies in aesthetics.
For each seminar we are inviting leading experts to address the theme, as well as a commentator to reflect on the discussion. The seminars will be published in the LEAFLETS volumes on key topics in law and aesthetics, available from next year.
The FIVE LEAF Institute for Law and Aesthetics is proud to launch LEAFLETS, its seminar series in law and aesthetics, with:
Aesthetics in Legal Education
Date: Tuesday 9 June 2026
Time: 6pm-7.30pm followed by refreshments
Venue: Centre for Commercial Law Studies. 67-69 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JB
A very special discussion on the theme of aesthetics in legal education, the importance and contribution to learning and legal pedagogy. At a time where new technologies are having a significant impact on the legal education environment, this seminar is crucial for investigating and considering the importance of an aesthetic of understanding, engagement, and enquiry in contemporary legal education.
The Speakers
Professor Guilherme Vasconcelos is a Professor in the Law Department of ITAM, Mexico where his research interests include interdisciplinary and comparative thinking about the role of law in social ordering and its manifold relations to aesthetic and cultural media. With Maria Varaki, and for Cambridge University Press, Guilherme co-edited the book Ethical Leadership in International Organizations: Concepts, Narratives, Judgment, and Assessment, the first sustained discussion of the potential and limits of virtue ethics in international affairs.
Dr Rosie Fox is Lecturer in Legal Education at University of Leeds Law School. Rosie is an expert in audio-visual legal pedagogy, law and drag, doctoral legal education, and law and dress. Rosie’s research focuses on cultivating new and innovative approaches to how we teach and learn about law and criminal justice, and the aesthetics of law and legal experience, with a particular interest in visual approaches to teaching law, gamification of learning, and authentic, inclusive, and equitable assessment. With Dr James Greenwood-Reeves, Rosie heads up the “Law’s a Drag” research network, which connects drag artists and academics, empower and amplifies the voices of drag artists in drag-and-law related research, and seeks to connect meaningfully with drag artists and curate areas of research that are important to them and their experiences of law.
Eliza Platts-Mills (Discussant) is a Lecturer in Clinical Legal Education at CCLS, School of Law, as a member of qLegal, the award-winning pro bono legal clinic providing free legal advice, support and resources to entrepreneurs, start-ups and non-profits, and of course invaluable experiences for the students at CCLS. Prior to joining CCLS, Eliza was a Clinical Law Professor with the University of Texas School of Law’s Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic.
The discussion will be chaired by Professor Johanna Gibson, Director of the FIVE LEAF Institute for Law and Aesthetics, and Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London.
Read the Chair’s report on Aesthetics in Legal Education LEAFLET on LinkedIn.
Finance Aesthetics
- Date: Monday 11 May 2026
- Time: 6pm-7.30pm followed by refreshments
- Venue: Centre for Commercial Law Studies. 67-69 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JB
Overview
Join us for a very special discussion on the relation between law and aesthetics, through the aesthetic properties and experiences in finance and capital. In this seminar, we will explore the distinct insights that arise in approaching the cultural economy and financial dynamics through the lens of aesthetic experiences and objects.
The Speakers
Dr Emily Rosamond is Senior Lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she also serves as Head of Visual Cultures. Her research explores the implications of financialization and metrification for online identity and selfhood. Emily’s recent writings have explored volatility in finance, art, and culture; character in social impact investing; and YouTube personalities as platform infrastructure, among other topics. Emily is also Editor of Finance and Society and an Advisory Board member of Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory.
Dr Amin Samman is Reader in International Political Economy at City St George’s, University of London. Amin’s research explores the temporal, historical, and existential aspects of contemporary capitalism, with an emphasis on how these relate to the workings of money, debt, and finance. Amin is also co-founded and Editor-in-Chief of Finance and Society, as well as co-founder and Director of the Finance and Society Network.
Dr Kamala Dawar (Discussant) is Director of International Trade and Economic Law at the CCLS, School of Law. Kamala specialises in global economic governance, with a focus on international trade and sustainable development.
The discussion will be chaired by Professor Johanna Gibson, Director of the FIVE LEAF Institute for Law and Aesthetics, and Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London.