Courts and constitutions: interpretation and judicial review 250 years after the Declaration of Independence
Hybrid
Date & time: 14 Oct 2026, 18:00 – 19:15
Speakers: Prof David Feldman and Denis Edwards
About the event
The American Declaration of Independence in 1776 set off the long-running experiment of a federal USA with a codified Constitution. Its implications have been continuously controversial and different from constitutional developments in the UK over the period. To mark the USA’s 250th anniversary celebration and the publication of David Feldman’s Key Ideas in Constitutional Law, Denis Edwards and David Feldman will discuss some recent developments in US constitutional law, focusing on freedom of speech and federalism in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, 606 US 461 (2025) and citizenship rights in Trump v. Barbara, 609 US ___ (2026). They will consider what the judgments reveal about the nature of US constitutional law, interpretation, and intensity of judicial review in the fields of federalism and constitutional rights, as compared with some possibly analogous developments in the UK.
About the speakers
David Feldman, KC (Hon), FBA, is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of English Law, University of Cambridge, Honorary Professor in the University of Manchester, and Academic Associate of 39 Essex Chambers.
Denis Edwards is a Barrister of Middle Temple and an Advocate. He is a member of Temple Tax Chambers, Normanton Chambers and in Scotland 1 Six. He is Vice-Chair of the Statute Law Society.
Ticket fees
Online and In-person Ticket price: £8
Lectures are free of charge for individal and institutional members of the Statute Law Society (SLS) and UCL Staff & Students.
From Agreement to Adjudication: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Good Friday Agreement
Hybrid
Date & time: 26 Nov 2026, 18:00 – 19:15
About the speaker
The Right Honourable Dame Siobhan Keegan became the first female Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland on September 2, 2021, making her the country’s most senior judge. Born in Newry in 1971, she graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 1993, was called to the Bar in 1994, and became a Queen’s Counsel in 2006, specializing in family and criminal law. She made history in 2015 as one of the first two women appointed to the High Court, later serving as Presiding Coroner for Northern Ireland (2017–2020)—where she led the high-profile Ballymurphy Inquest—and as Senior Family Judge until her elevation to lead the judiciary and chair the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission.
Ticket fees
Online and In-person Ticket price: £8
Lectures are free of charge for individal and institutional members of the Statute Law Society (SLS) and UCL Staff & Students