Economics Professor Delivers Keynote Address at the European Society for Empirical Legal Studies Annual Conference

By Brian Laubscher
July 2, 2026

Peter Grajzl, the John F. Hendon Professor of Economics at Washington and Lee University, delivered a keynote address at the European Society for Empirical Legal Studies (ESELS) annual conference held June 18-19 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Grajzl's talk, "MLLLMing Legal History," drew on his past and ongoing scholarship using machine-learning (ML) and large language models (LLM) to study the evolution of English law in the early modern and industrialization eras as well as the law's impact on the economy.

"My presentation highlighted a range of non-technical, substantive insights from my research in recent years, demonstrating how combining diverse tools and methods for the analysis of text-as-data with conventional econometric modeling can yield new interpretations of legal and economic history," said Grajzl. "Empirical research on law, including the application of computational methods to the study of legal texts, has gained considerable momentum around the world, with ESELS emerging as an especially vibrant scholarly association. It was an honor to deliver a keynote address, particularly in my native Slovenia."

Grajzl has been a member of the economics faculty at W&L since 2009. He is a research network fellow at CESifo in Munich and a non-resident visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of Maryland, College Park. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and a doctorate in economics from Maryland.

Founded in 2021, ESELS brings together individuals and organizations engaged in research, education or practice in empirical legal studies (ELS), creating a multi- and interdisciplinary society at the European level. Its mission is to foster empirical legal scholarship and encourage exchange and cooperation among those working in the field, while promoting a methodologically pluralist, intellectually open and disciplinary inclusive academic culture.

If you know a W&L faculty member who has done great, accolade-worthy things, tell us about them! Nominate them for an accolade.