Reza Banakar was born in Shiraz in 1959. During his early years in the 1970s he went to Great Britain and studied mathematics at the University of Aberystwyth in Wales. In 1986 he moved to Lund, Sweden, to study the sociology of law. He completed his doctorate on conflict management there (in 1994) and subsequently spent two years as lecturer in sociology of law. During 1997–2002 he was a research fellow at Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, before moving to London where he was appointed Professor of Socio-Legal Studies at the Department of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of Westminster (2002–13). In 2013 he returned to Sweden and was appointed Professor of Legal Sociology and Director of Research in the Sociology of Law Department, at Lund University.Footnote 1
Professor Banakar’s work focused on socio-legal methodology and the sociology of law, on Iranian legal culture, and more recently on politics and law. He made significant contributions to socio-legal methodology and his book on the topic (co-edited with Max Travers) “remains a classic text in the field.”Footnote 2 He was also an active member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association and the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law. Reza Banakar wrote extensively on a variety of topics relating to the sociology of law and legal theory, forensics, sociological methodology, legal culture, ethnic discrimination, ombudsmen, and rights.
On a personal note, although I never had the pleasure of meeting Professor Banakar, from time to time we corresponded on matters of mutual interest and shortly after I began my term as this journal’s editor, I invited him to join the general editorial board, which he graciously accepted. Subsequently my editorial colleagues and I frequently relied on his scholarly advice, acumen, and expertise. Professor Banakar passed away in Lund on 28 August 2020.
