The founding director of the IISL, André-Jean Arnaud, had bronze plaques put on the walls of the renaissance building with the names of some of the forefathers of modern sociology of law: Montesquieu, Henry James Sumner Maine, Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Henri Lévy-Bruhl, Achille Loria, Leon Petrażycki, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, Eugen Ehrlich, Karl Renner, Karl N. Llewellyn, Theodor Geiger, Georges Gurvitch, Nicholas S. Timasheff.
The IISL has four "official languages": English, French, Spanish and Basque.
It houses a famous library/documentation centre covering socio-legal literature in all major and many minor languages.
The Institute organises socio-legal workshops and an international Master's Program in the Sociology of Law, including student scholarships.
Applications to host a workshop, residence grants for visitors wishing to use the library, and to study on the Masters programmes are usually due mid-February.