On the 11th and 12th of June 2009, the University of Edinburgh hosted a conference and public lecture in honour of Sir Gerald Gordon CBE QC LLD. Full details of the 2009 conference can be found on this website via the links on the right of this page. A Festschrift, Essays in Criminal Law in Honour of Sir Gerald Gordon, was published in late 2010.

Following the success of this event, a decision was taken to establish the Gerald Gordon Seminar on Criminal Law as an annual generalist criminal law conference.

The second seminar, supported by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education, took place in Old College, University of Edinburgh on Thursday 10th June 2010. The speakers were:

• Dr Liz Campbell (Aberdeen): "DNA databases and criminal justice: lessons from Scotland"
  
• James Chalmers (Edinburgh) and Dr Fiona Leverick (Glasgow): "Retrial after a quashed conviction: 401 cases in search of a thesis"
  
• Professor Pamela Ferguson (Dundee): "The criminalisation of smoking"
  
• Professor Tim Jones (Swansea): "Transferred intent and unintended objects"
  
• Professor Vanessa Munro (Nottingham): "Knowing it when we see it? The role of non-consent, coercion and exploitation in recent criminal justice responses to sexual violence"
  
• Findlay Stark (Edinburgh): "Recklessness: an 'utter disregard' for clarity in definition?"
  
• Professor William Wilson (Queen Mary): "Dealing with criminal attempts"

The third seminar, supported by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education and the Faculty of Advocates, took place in the Sir Charles Wilson Seminar Rooms at the University of Glasgow on Tuesday 7th June 2011. The speakers were:

• Clare Connelly (Glasgow): "Killing violent men"
  
• Christine Kelly (Glasgow): "Sheriff William Watson of Aberdeen: pioneer of diversionary systems for young offenders in Victorian Scotland"
  
• Professor Clare McGlynn (Durham): "'I just wanted him to hear me': rape and the possibilities of restorative justice"
  
• Jane Scoular (Strathclyde): "Regulating prostitution: beyond criminal law"
  
• Professor Bob Sullivan (University College London): "Causation and criminal responsibility"
  
• Dr Sarah Summers (Zurich): "The confession as a mitigating factor and the right to a fair trial"