Call for participation
A global forum for Saudi legal researchers
Contents
Every line below is a link: press it and the booklet opens at that page.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 2The symposium
The first edition brought Saudi legal researchers in the United States onto one stage; the second widens the map.
Held under the patronage of the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the USA and WashU Law, and reported by the Saudi Press Agency, the Ministry of Education, Al-Yaum and Al-Madina.
A serious academic room, run by students and free for everyone, stays as it was. What changes is the map: Saudi researchers are welcome from Saudi Arabia and from anywhere in the world.
Saudi researchers studying law, in the Kingdom and in any country in the world, now share one program.
A track of its own for undergraduate students.
More papers accepted, and more time for discussion after each one.
Every field of law is welcome — public or private, domestic or comparative, doctrinal or empirical. What the committee looks for is a clear question and a serious attempt to answer it.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 3Submit an abstract if you are a Saudi researcher enrolled in a law or law-related programme, in Saudi Arabia or abroad.
The countries above are examples, not a limit: wherever you are studying, you are welcome.
Graduated within the past 24 months? You are welcome to take part, in the track of the degree you graduated from.
Abstracts are submitted and papers presented in Arabic or in English.
A finished paper is not required: an abstract now, and slides once you are accepted.
No fee to submit an abstract, to moderate a session, or to register to attend.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 4Attending
Registering to attend is open to everyone, needs no affiliation, costs nothing, and takes one short form.
Of law and of any other field, at any stage of study, of any nationality.
Advocates, in-house counsel, legal consultants and trainee lawyers.
Judges, prosecutors, regulators and government legal departments.
Faculty members, supervisors, researchers and research centres.
Anyone at all, without exception — no affiliation and no legal background required.
Presenters and moderators receive a certificate from the association, and attendees may ask for a certificate of attendance in the registration form, where its conditions are set out.
Presenting a paper or chairing a session is a different route, with its own deadlines in
the key dates.
The agenda reaches every registered attendee by email — insha’Allah — before the
symposium begins.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 5Choose your track on the form; recent graduates choose the track of their degree.
Research produced during graduate legal study: thesis chapters, dissertation proposals, articles under preparation and empirical work. A completed paper is not required.
Master's degrees (LL.M., MLS), J.D. (professional doctorate), PhD, S.J.D. or J.S.D.
Research produced during undergraduate legal study. Work in progress is accepted, and a completed paper is not required.
Bachelor of Law, LL.B., legal diploma or pre-law programme.
Both tracks are read by the same panel of legal experts and judged by the same criteria. The difference is that graduate papers are weighed against graduate papers, and undergraduate papers against their peers.
More than 470 people from eight countries registered for the first edition.
A panel of legal experts, at least two reviewers for every abstract, and discussion after each session.
A paper presented at an international symposium, with a certificate to show for it.
Your name and paper title in the published agenda and across the association's channels.
The Saudi legal researchers you will practise, debate and publish alongside.
The registration form carries an option by which you allow your paper — if accepted — to be referred to Young Legal Leaders, an initiative launched by the Misk Foundation, which then selects a few of the referred papers to sponsor: guidance for the researcher in developing the work, and help bringing it before the institutions concerned.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 6How to submit
The form opens on 1 November 2026, and its link will be published on all of our channels.
300 – 500 words in Arabic or English: your question, how you approach it, and what your answer adds. Keep your name out of the abstract itself, because review is anonymous.
The form asks for them one field at a time: institution, programme, graduation date, country of study and a correct email address you check.
A confirmation email reaches you the moment the form is sent. If it does not, look in your spam folder; if it is not there either, write to us and we will look into it.
This step is for those who submitted a paper or applied to chair a session — attendees wait for nothing. Every submission receives a reply on the date in the schedule.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 7Every abstract is read by legal experts who never see who wrote it — and these are the rules we ask you to keep.
Every abstract is read by at least two reviewers drawn from a panel of legal experts. Review is anonymous: the reviewer does not see who wrote the abstract.
Each person submits one abstract and appears on the programme once.
A paper may be written and presented by more than one author, and the eligibility conditions apply to the submitting author alone.
Review is anonymous, so no names appear inside the abstract itself.
The work must be researched and reasoned by you. Any use of artificial-intelligence tools must be confined to language editing and must not extend to substance. The committee may withdraw any submission whose substance is found to have been generated by artificial intelligence, at any stage of the symposium.
Present in the language you submitted in, take part in the orientation, and send your slides by the date in the schedule.
You are welcome to chair a session: introducing the speakers, keeping time and steering the discussion. The door is open to Saudi legal talent — practitioners, academics and students. The team looks at your legal background and any experience running meetings; you need not have chaired a session before, and having done so is an advantage. Applying takes a few minutes, in the registration form itself.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 8Key dates · stage one
Deadlines close at 11:59 pm Saudi Arabia Time.
The form goes live across all of our channels.
PresentersFor Saudi legal professionals — practitioners, academics and students.
ModeratorsFree, and open to anyone anywhere in the world.
EveryoneSubmissions close on this date, so send your abstract before it.
PresentersEvery submission receives a reply: accepted, waitlisted or declined.
PresentersPlaces not confirmed by this date pass to the waiting list.
PresentersSaudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 9Key dates · stage two
Every application receives a reply: accepted, waitlisted or declined.
ModeratorsPlaces not confirmed by this date pass to the waiting list.
ModeratorsHow the sessions run, what presenters and moderators each do, and a technical run-through on Zoom.
Presenters & moderatorsOr earlier, if the platform reaches capacity.
EveryoneTwo days, two tracks, online.
EveryoneSaudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 10The questions we expect to hear most often.
Arabic or English only, for the abstract, the slides and the discussion alike.
No. There is no submission fee and no attendance fee. A certificate of attendance is optional, and its conditions are set out in the registration form.
No. An abstract is enough to be considered, and accepted presenters send slides before the symposium.
Yes. A paper may have more than one author, and the eligibility conditions apply to the submitting author alone.
Yes, within 24 months of graduating, in the track of the degree you graduated from.
Every country does. Presenting is open to Saudi researchers studying anywhere in the world; the countries named in this booklet are examples only.
Sessions are recorded, and the committee may publish the recordings on the association's and the symposium's channels for educational, documentary and promotional purposes. This is arranged with the participants before the symposium.
Yes. Presenting is limited by the eligibility conditions; attending is open to anyone.
Ask for it in the registration form; it reaches you after the symposium once the conditions set out there are met.
A confirmation email arrives as soon as you register; the joining link and the agenda reach you by email before the symposium.
Chairing is open to Saudi legal professionals — practitioners, academics and students — and applications run from 1 November to 29 December 2026.
Each person submits one abstract and appears on the programme once.
Twenty-five minutes in all, covering the presentation and the discussion that follows.
A panel of legal experts; at least two of them read every abstract, and the reviewer never sees the author's name or details.
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 11The institutions that lend it their patronage, and the partners who support it in knowledge and in media.
Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the USA
Ministry of Education
Washington University School of Law
Young Legal Leaders
Wazen
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 12Contact
Saudi Legal AssociationWashington University in St. Louis
For submissions, registration, certificates and partnerships.
#SILS2027
Saudi Legal Association
Washington University in St. Louis
Saudi International Legal Symposium 2027Page 13