IRJS - Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne

What IRJS - Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne does

IRJS - Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne is a nonprofit academic legal research institute founded in 2001 and embedded within Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris, France. Originally established as Institut TUNC through the consolidation of private law research centers, three public law centers, and the Centre d'histoire et de théorie du droit, it now operates 12 specialized legal research departments covering contract law, family law, tax law, criminal law, environmental law, international private law, and financial law, among others. The institute is administered by a small core team (13 staff) under Director Anne-Marie Leroyer and supervises a research community of 115 affiliated researchers and 460 doctoral students, producing approximately 50 doctoral graduates per year.

The institute's core outputs are academic in nature. It operates IRJS Éditions, its own publishing imprint producing theses, conference proceedings, and essays across named collections (Bibliothèque André Tunc, Mélanges, Les Voies du Droit, Éthiques et normes de la finance, Annales de la régulation, Les Humanités du Droit) totaling roughly 160 catalog publications. It also publishes the Revue Juridique de la Sorbonne (Sorbonne Law Review), an open access peer-reviewed digital journal launched in 2020 under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license, with 12 issues released to date. Additional dissemination channels include IRJS médias (a video platform hosting series such as 'Polawmique! Le consentement' and 'Les Rendez-vous du Droit'), the Centre de documentation André Tunc, and seminars (déjeuners-débats, théorie du droit, Oudropo, e-doctrine).

IRJS's business model is academic rather than commercial: it is funded primarily through its parent university and (implicitly) French public research budgets, with marginal revenue from book sales priced at €22–€49 per unit through the university bookstore and online retailers. It serves teacher-researchers in law, doctoral students, and international visiting scholars, and maintains strategic research partnerships with Université de Bucarest, Aix-Marseille Université (Allix network), Université Paris Panthéon-Assas, the Cour de cassation, and AEDBF. The institute has no AI/ML capabilities, no commercial product roadmap, and no funding rounds, positioning it as a stable academic unit rather than a scaling entity.

Name

IRJS - Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne

Legal name

Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne

Website

https://irjs.pantheonsorbonne.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

IRJS is a nonprofit academic legal research institute within Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris, operating 12 legal departments, supervising 460 doctoral students, and publishing through IRJS Éditions and the open access Revue Juridique de la Sorbonne to serve the French and European legal academic community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Research and Academic Publishing

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Law School Research Centers & Institutes (e.g., Law & Economics, Human Rights) (EDAHAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Law & Legal Studies Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAG)

Keywords

• Legal research institute
• Academic law publishing
• Doctoral legal education
• Open access law journal
• Comparative law seminars

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Publishing Sales: Sale of academic publications including theses, conference proceedings, and essays published by IRJS éditions, with books priced from €22 to €49
2. Academic Research Funding: Public university research institute funded through Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and potentially government research grants

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

IRJS is a university-affiliated legal research institute that conducts interdisciplinary legal research across 12 departments, publishes legal scholarship through its in-house publishing house (IRJS Éditions) and the open-access Revue Juridique de la Sorbonne, supervises a doctoral program producing 50 doctorates per year, and runs collective seminars and colloquia on contemporary and comparative law. Its mission is to support the convergence of legal disciplines and to engage with the Europeanization and globalization of law through integrated research, academic publishing, and graduate education.

Product overview

IRJS - Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne is a legal research institute at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne offering academic publishing and research services. Its core offerings include IRJS éditions (publishing house for legal theses, colloquia, and essays) and the Revue Juridique de la Sorbonne (a peer-reviewed open-access journal). The institute publishes through several named collections including Bibliothèque de l'IRJS - André Tunc, Mélanges, Les Voies du Droit, Éthiques et normes de la finance, Annales de la régulation, and Les Humanités du Droit. Additional services include IRJS médias (video platform with series like Polawmique! Le consentement and Les Rendez-vous du Droit), documentation centers, seminar programs, and the annual Prix de Thèse Paris 1 award.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• IRJS Éditions: Publishing house of the institute publishing theses, conference proceedings, and essays on contemporary law
• Revue Juridique de la Sorbonne

Products and services

• IRJS Éditions The institute's academic publishing house that publishes theses, colloquia, essays, and collections on contemporary legal developments and pedagogy, with books priced from €22 to €49, producing approximately 160 publications.
• Revue Juridique de la Sorbonne (Sorbonne Law Review) A peer-reviewed digital journal in open access publishing legal research from IRJS members and external scholars, covering all areas of law. Available free of charge under Creative Commons (BY) (NC) (ND).
• IRJS médias A media platform hosting video series including 'Polawmique! Le consentement', 'Les Rendez-vous du Droit', conference recordings, and legal discussions for general and academic audiences.
• Centre de documentation André Tunc The institute's main documentation center providing legal research resources, supporting academic research activities of affiliated members.
• IRJS Doctoral Program Doctoral education and research supervision program affiliated with the institute's 12 departments, producing approximately 50 doctoral graduates per year and supporting 460 affiliated doctoral students.

Quantifiable outcome

• 50 doctoral graduates per year
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonnecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2001Parent institution hosting the IRJS research institute. The institute was created in 2001 through the regrouping of research centers from the university, combining private law centers, public law centers, and the History and Theory of Law Center. The university provides institutional support and affiliation.
• Université de BucarestmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing partnership between IRJS and University of Bucharest comparing French and Romanian civil law. Partnership has produced multiple volumes on contract law, obligations, civil liability, and securities law. The 7th and 8th sessions focused on special contracts.
• Allix Network (Aix-Marseille Université)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Allix network, comprising the Centre d'études fiscales et financières (Aix-Marseille Université) and the Sorbonne Fiscalité & Finances Publiques department of IRJS, organizes annual colloquia on public finance topics. The third colloquium focused on 'Le recouvrement de l'imposition'.
• Université Paris Panthéon-AssasmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with the Centre de recherche sur la justice et le règlement des conflits (CRJ) of Assas University for the organization of the annual 'Rencontres de procédure civile' conferences held at the Cour de cassation, coordinated with IRJS's 'Sorbonne Justice et Procès' department.
• Cour de cassationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for hosting the annual 'Rencontres de procédure civile' conferences in the Grand'Chambre of the Cour de cassation, bringing together scholars from multiple French universities including IRJS, Assas, and other institutions.
• AEDBF (Association Études Banques Finances)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership between the Sorbonne-Affaires/Finance department of IRJS and AEDBF for the conference on '40 ans de dématérialisation des titres en France', celebrating the 40th anniversary of dematerialization of securities in France.
• École de Droit de la SorbonnecoreOthersThe research institute is integrated within the École de Droit de la Sorbonne (Law School) of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, sharing faculty and serving the same academic community.
• International research institutions (various)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIRJS maintains international agreements and partnerships with foreign structures, documented in their international agreements table. The institute welcomes foreign researchers through a dedicated program and provides welcome letters for visiting scholars.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Sciences Po — Law School research centers: Major French institution with active legal research and doctoral programs overlapping IRJS's domain (public law, regulation, international law); comparable scholarly output and conference activity, but at larger institutional scale and broader social-science remit.
• Hague Academy of International Law: Internationally renowned center for advanced legal research and teaching; comparable as a long-established legal research and publication organization, but focused on international law and operating at a global rather than French university level.
• Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law: Heidelberg-based premier European institute for comparative and international legal research; comparable as a large, well-funded legal research organization producing scholarly publications and hosting international researchers, but at greater scale and with broader geographic reach.
• Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), University of London: UK national resource center for legal research supporting doctoral and postdoctoral scholars; comparable as a legal research institute with documentation center, publication output, and international visiting researcher program, but broader in scope than IRJS's single-university model.
• European University Institute — Department of Law: EU-level academic institution with a law department producing internationally cited research and doctoral training; comparable as a European legal research and doctoral education hub, but operating at a supranational rather than national-university level.
• CNRS — Section de droit (INSHS): France's national scientific research center, which co-tutors UMRs that conduct legal scholarship alongside IRJS; comparable as a publicly funded research ecosystem, but at much larger scale and across all scientific disciplines.
• University of Cambridge — Faculty of Law: Major international law faculty with extensive research centers, doctoral programs, and high-impact legal publications; comparable as a university-based legal research and publishing operation, but with global English-language reach and significantly larger resources.

Direct peers

• Centre de Recherche sur la Justice et le Règlement des conflits (CRJ), Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas: French university-based legal research center and confirmed IRJS partner for the annual 'Rencontres de procédure civile' held at the Cour de cassation; directly comparable as a Paris-based, public university law research institute with conference and publication output.
• Centre d'Études Fiscales et Financières (CEFF), Aix-Marseille Université: Confirmed IRJS partner within the Allix network, jointly organizing annual colloquia on public finance and tax law; directly comparable as a French university-affiliated legal research center with publication output.
• Institut des Sciences Juridique et Philosophique de la Sorbonne (ISJPS): Sister research institute (UMR 8103) hosted at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne alongside IRJS, conducting interdisciplinary legal and philosophical research with affiliated doctoral students and publications — a structurally identical model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/UnivParis1
• Facebookfacebook.com/UnivParis1PantheonSorbonne
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/irjs
• Instagraminstagram.com/paris1pantheonsorbonne

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about IRJS - Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne