in partnership with the
VI Law & Public Policy Brazilian Conference
Conference Chair · UNIFESP
Professor of Law and Public Policy, UNIFESP; Conference Chair, CELS Global Brazil 2026
Empirical legal studies and law and public policy should not run on parallel tracks. They should enter into deliberate conversation. CELS Global Brazil 2026, held jointly with the VI Brazilian Conference on Law and Public Policy, was built around that conversation.
Conference Chair · FD/USP
Associate Professor, Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo (USP)
As founder of the Brazilian Research Network on Law and Public Policy, I see CELS Global Brazil 2026 as a chance to deepen the dialogue between empirical legal research and the institutional design of public policy. Bringing the international CELS community together with the VI Brazilian Conference on Law and Public Policy holds promise for transforming the way governmental action is studied and conducted.
Keynote · Stanford
C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Conducts empirical evaluation of law and policy on issues that range from civil rights and employment discrimination to criminal justice, firearm regulation, and the death penalty. At CELS Global Brazil 2026, Donohue will reflect on the successes, failures, challenges, and opportunities of empirical evaluation in law and policy.
Keynote · FEA-USP
Full Professor of Economics, Faculty of Economics, Business, Accounting and Actuarial Science, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)
CELS brings together cutting-edge empirical work, methodological refinement, and interdisciplinary collaboration around the questions that policy makers actually face. I look forward to a conversation in which careful measurement, causal inference, and real-world data inform policy design directly.
Keynote · Chicago Law
Dean and Howard G. Krane Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
Chilton's research applies empirical methods to comparative and international law, with particular attention to constitutional design. At CELS Global Brazil 2026, Chilton will present evidence on why constitutional drafting processes so often fail to improve countries' outcomes.
June 8–10, 2026
Pre-conference workshop: June 11, 2026
In-person sessions in São Paulo, Brazil
USP Largo São Francisco (main) and Insper (closing session)
English — CELS scientific sessions and keynotes
Portuguese — CBDPP working groups and research reports
39 CELS papers accepted across 13 parallel sessions
194 CBDPP submissions across 10 working groups
CELS Global Brazil 2026 is hosted across two São Paulo institutions, in dialogue with the city's long-standing traditions of legal scholarship and applied social-science research.
Main Venue
Largo de São Francisco, 95 · Centro Histórico
Plenary sessions, keynotes, and the majority of CELS scientific sessions and CBDPP working groups take place at the historic Largo de São Francisco building, the oldest law school in Brazil.
View on Google Maps →Closing Session
Rua Quatá, 300 · Vila Olímpia
The conference closes at Insper, a leading institution in economics, business, and law in Latin America. Only the closing session is held at this venue.
View on Google Maps →Three international scholars open the central plenary sessions of CELS Global Brazil 2026, joined throughout the program by leading voices from Latin America, Europe, Asia, and North America.
John J. Donohue III
C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law
Stanford Law School
Empirical Evaluation of Law and Policy: Successes, Failures, Challenges and Opportunities
Fabiana Fontes Rocha
Full Professor of Economics
FEA-USP
Federal Subsidies and the Quiet Art of Public Spending
Adam Chilton
Dean and Howard G. Krane Professor of Law
University of Chicago Law School
Why Constitutions Fail
CELS Global Brazil 2026 and the VI Brazilian Conference on Law and Public Policy bring together a coalition of organizing committees, scientific committees, and advisory boards from across Brazil and the international empirical legal studies community.
The Centro de Estudos da Ordem Econômica (CEOE) at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) is the lead organizing center for CELS Global Brazil 2026. Its standing strategic and international councils convene scholars from law, economics, public policy, and the medical sciences.
The Brazilian Network for Research on Law and Public Policy (RedeDPP) is the convening organization for the VI Brazilian Conference on Law and Public Policy. Its executive board was elected at the General Assembly of August 28, 2024, for a four-year term ending August 27, 2028.
The current administration of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), the host institution through CEOE.
