2024 Wingarra Djuraliyin: Public Lecture on Indigenous Peoples and Law
2024-08-09 18:00 - 19:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Law Foyer, Level 2
2024 Wingarra Djuraliyin: Public Lecture on Indigenous Peoples and Law
Sydney Law School is proud to host the annual Wingarra Djuraliyin public lecture, which showcases Indigenous perspectives on law.
In-person event

Sydney Law School is proud to host the annual Wingarra Djuraliyin public lecture, which showcases Indigenous perspectives on law.
In 2024, the lecture is “Critical Legal Juxtapositions: Practice and Decision-Making”, delivered by Professor Val Napoleon (University of Victoria, Canada).
This event is being held to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, which is celebrated annually on 9 August.
2024 Lecture
Critical Legal Juxtapositions: Practice and Decision-Making
What happens when we rethink state legal decision-making regarding Indigenous lands through the practicalÂ application ofÂ the laws of an Indigenous legal order? This talk is intended to supportÂ learning about ways of approaching, understanding and working with substantive Indigenous lawsÂ through reimagined legal processes and decision-making. A focus will be placed on introducing perspectives, principles, and practices that can helpÂ think through questions and issues that arise when engaging with Indigenous laws. There is much workÂ to build needed public and state intersocietal legal capacities – what are the steps?
Program of events:

Welcome to Country: Uncle Charles (Chicka) Madden
Introductions: Professor Rita Shackel, Dean Sydney Law School
Opening Remarks: Teela Reid, Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman, Professor of Practice, Sydney Law School
Lecture: Professor Val Napoleon
Q&A facilitated by: Brendan Loizou, Warlpiri man and PhD candidate in Law
Closing Remarks and Vote of Thanks: Marlikka Perdrisat, Nyikina Warrwa and Wangkumara Barkindji woman, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Postgraduate Fellow

Friday 9 August, 6-7.30pm
CPD points =1.5

About the speaker
Professor Val Napoleon
Professor Napoleon is the Law Foundation Chair of Indigenous Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria, Canada. Professor Napoleon is from northeast British Columbia (Treaty 8) and a member of Saulteau First Nation. She is also an adopted member of the Gitanyow (Gitksan) House of Luuxhon, Ganada (Frog) Clan. Professor Napoleon’s major initiatives include the unique and ground-breaking JD/JID (joint JD and Indigenous law degree) program, and the establishment of the Indigenous Law Research Unit.

This event is presented by the University of Sydney Law School in collaboration with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy and Services) at the University of Sydney.

Protecting digital privacy while countering terrorism: A dialogue with two UN Special Rapporteurs
2024-08-15 11:00 - 12:00 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School
Protecting digital privacy while countering terrorism: A dialogue with two UN Special Rapporteurs
In-person event

Join us for the unique opportunity at The University of Sydney Law School to participate in a dialogue between Prof. Ana Brian NougrÃ¨res, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy and Prof. Ben Saul, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
As our digital lives expand our exposure to the world and the need to counter terrorism does not decrease, the use of public and private data by governments and agencies is becoming one of the key elements in the fight against terrorism. Boundaries about what is private and off-limits are becoming increasingly difficult to determine. Procedures to ensure that those limits are respected are even more challenging to enforce. Knowledge about how our data is used is progressively clouded by layers of systems and interventions. Differences among jurisdictions on what digital privacy entails in the anti-terrorism context in turn are more acute.
In a dialogue moderated by Dr. JosÃ©-Miguel Bello y Villarino (U. Sydney/ADM+S CoE), Prof. Brian NougrÃ¨res and Prof. Saul will discuss the status quo, the current debates and possible ways forward.
About the speakers
Prof. Ana Brian NougrÃ¨res: In July 2021, the Human Rights Council appointed Dr. Ana Brian NougrÃ¨res of Uruguay as the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy and she took up the mandate on 1 August 2021. A Professor of Law, Privacy and ICT at the School of Engineering, University of Montevideo and a Professor of Law, Data Protection and ICT at the School of Law, University of the Republic, Montevideo. She is also a practicing Attorney-at-law and Consultant on data protection. Her latest article, The Uruguayan law system facing security breaches, was published by LA LEY (Spain) in 2021.
Prof. Ben Saul: Since 1 November 2023, Ben Saul has been the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. He is the Challis Chair of International Law at The University of Sydney and has expertise in public international law, counter-terrorism law, human rights and refugee law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. He has taught at Oxford, Harvard, The Hague and Xiamen Academies of International Law, and in Europe and Asia; practised in international tribunals; advised governments, NGOs and the United Nations; and worked on international law in over 35 countries.
Dr. JosÃ©-Miguel Bello y Villarino: Senior Research Fellow at the Law School and the Institutions programme of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S). He is a member of the Diplomatic Corps of Spain (on leave) and previously worked in different capacities for the European Union. His current research focuses on regulatory approaches to ADM and Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially on how to deal with risks derived from the operation of AI systems from a comparative approach. In 2023 he received the Rita and John Cornforth Medal for Research Excellence at the University of Sydney, for outstanding achievement in research; in 2022 the Scotiabank Global AI + Regulation Emerging Scholar Award (joint award) and in 2021 he was a Fulbright-Schuman scholar at the Harvard Law School.
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Thursday 15 August, 2024
Time:Â 11am-12pm
Venue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus
CPD Points: 1 point
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This event is proudly presented by the University of Sydney Law School.

Book launch | Regulation-Making in the United Kingdom and Australia: Democratic Legitimacy, Safeguards And Executive Aggrandisement
2024-08-27 18:00 - 19:30 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School
Book launch: Regulation-Making in the United Kingdom and Australia: Democratic Legitimacy, Safeguards And Executive Aggrandisement

(Hart Publishing, 2024)
In-person event
The University of Sydney Law School is delighted to invite you to the launch ofÂ Regulation-Making in the United Kingdom and Australia: Democratic Legitimacy, Safeguards And Executive AggrandisementÂ by Associate Professor Andrew Edgar.
This book examines the legal frameworks supporting the democratic legitimacy of regulation-making in the UK and Australia. It emphasises that parliamentary scrutiny of regulations provides the primary support, supplemented by public consultation processes. Parliamentary scrutiny of regulation-making emerged in the twentieth century as the primary basis for the democratic legitimacy of regulations, however recent developments avoid or minimise this safeguard. This book contributes to public law by analysing executive over-reach in regulation-making, by reference to the historical development of parliamentary checks on regulation-making.
Find out more about the book and order it online here.
If purchasing the book online from Bloomsbury, use the code GLR AT5 for a 20% discount.

About the author
Andrew EdgarÂ is an Associate Professor in the University of Sydney Law School. He specialises in administrative law and, in particular, on administrative law-making. His recent publications focus on regulation-making processes and review of regulations by parliaments and courts. Andrew also has research interests in statutory interpretation and the implementation of international law in domestic law.
About the speaker
Senator Paul ScarrÂ was elected as a Senator for Queensland in 2019. He is the Chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee and is a long-term member of the Senate Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation Committee. [Full bio here:Â https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=282997]

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Tuesday 27 August 2024
Time: 6-7.30pm
Venue:Â Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus
This event is being held in-person at Sydney Law School.
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This event is presented by the University of Sydney Law School.

JSI Seminar: 'The Little Commonweale of my poore thoughts': nature, ownership, Cosmography, and the origins of the climate crisis in Richard Zouche, 1613-63
2024-08-29 18:00 - 19:30 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School
JSI Seminar:Â â€˜The Little Commonweale of my poore thoughts’: nature, ownership, Cosmography, and the origins of the climate crisis in Richard Zouche, 1613-63
In-person event
This seminar examines Richard Zouche’s legal thought on â€˜nature’ at some of the earliest origins of the climate crisis and the formation of international law. Zouche is usually remembered as the â€˜father’ of international legal positivism for his 1656 treatiseÂ An Exposition of the Fecial Law and Procedure, or of Law between NationsÂ where he influentially introduced the termÂ â€˜jus inter gentes’Â or law between peoples as the basis for his juridical system. In this work, Zouche deals extensively with questions of ownership in war and peace. He describes a tripartite right for princes and peoples as â€˜Plenary’, â€˜Hereditary’ or â€˜merely Usufructuary’ rights both to holding power and property. He also deals with questions of sea jurisdiction and appropriation by occupation, which he expanded on in his posthumous treatise on the Admiralty courts.
Most significantly, Zouche solidifies two major tenets of legal argumentation that provided the early architecture for claims and extraction that formed the early climate crisis. First was the â€˜jus inter gentes’ formulation that allowed for international law to be developed by consent between princes and peoples, referable to Augustinian concord but not bound by it or the law of nature. Second, Zouche’s modernisation of the disputation format gave â€˜both sides’ of each of these legal questions, both obscuring Zouche’s own views and giving princes and lawyers a handbook with the argumentative structures for claiming and resisting legal disputes around ownership, showing the vital importance of these legal questions in the early history of international law. But it is in Zouche’s juvenile cosmographical poemÂ â€˜The Dove’Â (1613) that an early vision of the political economy of the world and the importance of sight and ordering â€” the main tools of positivism â€” were first announced through the circling of Noah’s dove. Zouche called this poem â€˜the little Commonweale of my poore thoughts’.Â The DoveÂ provides an early announcement of the foundational commitments that thread through Zouche’s major juridical works. Throughout these works, Zouche’s engagement with nature and natural resources move quickly to questions of ownership and right, revealing the function of law to connect early forms of extraction, capitalism and empire.
About the speaker
Martin Clark is a lecturer at La Trobe Law School. His research focuses on the history of legal thought and international and public law. His work has been published in the Modern Law Review, theÂ British Yearbook of International Law, theÂ Leiden Journal of International LawÂ and theÂ Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, and he is finishing a book (with Dr Yoriko Otomo) on law and commodities,Â Eating the World: A Global History of Law and CommoditiesÂ (Counterpress). He was awarded his PhD in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science in May 2020 for a thesis on the history of the ideas of â€˜domestic’ and â€˜international’ in British legal thought. At LSE he was a Judge Rosalyn Higgins Scholar andÂ Modern Law ReviewÂ Scholar (2018 and 2019).
He is an Editor at theÂ London Review of International LawÂ and Web Assistant at theÂ Modern Law Review. Prior to joining La Trobe he was aÂ Modern Law ReviewÂ Postdoctoral Fellow, a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for International Law and the Humanities at Melbourne Law School, a Lecturer at UTAS Law, where he taught contract and legal theory, and a JD Teaching Fellow at Melbourne Law School, where he taught contract
Thursday 29 August 2024, 6-7.30pm AEST
Venue:Â Level 4, Common Room, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus
CPD Points:Â 1.5
This event is proudly presented by theÂ Julius Stone Institute of JurisprudenceÂ at The University of Sydney Law School.

A new explanation of China's patenting phenomenon with a focus on the patenting of traditional medical knowledge
2024-09-02 01:00 - 14:00 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School
A new explanation of China’s patenting phenomenon with a focus on the patenting of traditional medical knowledge
In-person event

This seminar will present how Dr Ben Hopper’s thesis explains why people are getting patents over traditional medical knowledge in a way that differs from (and adds to) the usual explanations for China’s â€œpatent boomâ€. These â€œusual (explanatory) suspectsâ€ are based on State interference (patenting subsidies, etc.), level of innovation and level of human capital. It will draw on his original fieldwork data comprising a survey of the approaches to patenting of 53 mostly ethnic minority traditional medical practitioners in China’s southwestern, relatively poor and isolated province of Guizhou. The analysis of those data involved a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. The seminar will conclude that a key (and, thus far, missing) ingredient in explaining patenting activity in China is the individual’s extent of marketisation, with more marketised individuals having a statistically significant higher propensity to get patents and to obey patent laws.

This event is part of the PhD/ECR presentation series hosted by the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law.

About the speaker
Dr Ben HopperÂ is a lecturer at Melbourne Law School. He teaches and researches in the areas of intellectual property, traditional knowledge, technology law, civil procedure, and legal ethics. He examines doctrinal developments in these areas of law, with a focus on intellectual property law. His research uses empirical methods to illuminate the â€œliving lawâ€, including people’s lived experiences of the law, and legal subjectivity. He draws on both legal theory and broader social theory to explain the results of his empirical research.
Ben’s current research focus is China, the locus of his PhD on patenting of traditional knowledge, and where he has completed projects on geographical indications in the tea industry and internal migration in Xinjiang. He has a J.D., B.A. (Hons), and D-Lang (German) from the University of Melbourne, and an LL.M. from Harvard University.
Commentator: Dr Olugbenga OlatunjiÂ (University of Sydney Law School)
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Monday 2 September, 2024
Time:Â 1-2pm
Venue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus
CPD Points: 1 point
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This event is co-sponsored byÂ theÂ Centre for Asian and Pacific LawÂ and theÂ Ross Parsons Centre.

What are the responsibilities of freedom and why do we need them?
2024-09-10 18:00 - 19:30 | Lecture Theatre 101, level 1, New Law Building F10A, Campderdown Campus
What are the responsibilities of freedom and why do we need them?
A thought provoking discussion on one of the abiding themes of our time as explored in Professor Kinley’s new bookâ€¯The Liberty Paradox.

In-person event

Sydney Law School is delighted to host a discussion on liberty and the dangers it faces today from the myopic demands of freedom without limit, as explored inÂ Professor David Kinley’sÂ new bookÂ The Liberty Paradox: Living with the Responsibilities of Freedom.
Join Professor Kinley in conversation with special guest Alexander Heffner, host of PBS’sÂ The Open Mind, in what promises to be a lively, engaging and thought-provoking discussion of the complexities that shape our society and challenge our perceptions of freedom and responsibility in today’s world.
Acclaimed by theÂ New York TimesÂ as â€œa thorough meditation on the complexities of negotiating our desires with those of other people,â€Â The Liberty ParadoxÂ offers some answers as we tackle life’s challenges of health, happiness, wealth, work, security, voice, respect, trust, love and death.
About the speakers
Professor David KinleyÂ holds the Chair of Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney. He is also an Academic Expert Member of Doughty Street Chambers in London, a founding member of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, and a board member ofÂ Cisarua, an Afghan refugee-led education centre located in Indonesia.
Alexander HeffnerÂ is the host ofÂ The Open Mindâ€”America’s longest-running current affairs TV programâ€”and the creator ofÂ Breaking Bread with AlexanderÂ on Bloomberg TV. He is also the co-author of the bestsellingÂ A Documentary History of the United States. He has been covering American politics and civic life since the 2008 presidential campaign.

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Tuesday 10 September 2024
Time:Â 6-7.30pm
Venue: Sydney Law School, Lecture Theatre 101, Level 1, New Law Building (F10A), University of Sydney, Camperdown campus
CPD points = 1.5
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About the book
Copies of Professor Kinley’s new bookÂ The Liberty Paradox: Living with the Responsibilities of Freedom will be available for purchase at the event, courtesy of Gleebooks.
**Please note that the event will be recorded for broadcast in the US and online**

This event is presented by the University of Sydney Law School.

JSI Seminar | Taking Power Seriously in Constitutional Law: A Materialist Approach to Constitutional Law, Executive Power, and the British State
2024-09-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School
#N/A

CANCELLED A new era" of Chinese law: The theoretical origins of Xi Jinping Legal Thought
2024-09-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School

Book launch | Research Methods in Private International Law: Educating the Next Generation of Conflicts Lawyers
2024-09-23 18:00 - 19:30
Book launch | Research Methods in Private International Law: Educating the Next Generation of Conflicts LawyersOnline event

Research Methods in Private International Law: A Handbook on Regulation, Research, and Teaching

This incisive research handbook provides valuable insights into the various methodological approaches to Private International Law from regulatory and educational perspectives. It comprehensively unpacks central themes in the field including international jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement, and scrupulously analyses core debates whilst addressing legislative and policy issues.

In collaboration with the editors Xandra Kramer (Erasmus School of Law/Utrecht University) and Laura Carballo PiÃ±eiro (University of Vigo), this online book launch will feature contributions from eminent speakers, focusing on global insights in teaching Private International Law.

Speakers and discussion topics

Laura Carballo PiÃ±eiro/Xandra Kramer

Methods in private international law are not only important for the purpose of regulation and research, but also for societal and educational purposes. To continue developing and fulfil its regulatory and societal functions, private international law requires the nurturing of strong scholarship and thus research on creating a suitable learning environment for it to be diversified. Highlighting perspectives from university teaching in different countries, laypersons, colonialism, and feminism enriches the development of private international law and increases awareness of its role as a global governance tool.

Veronica RuizÂ Abou-Nigm

Private international law matters for everybody. Why then is it perceived to be so marginal? We identify three distorted perceptions: irrelevance, impenetrability, and indifference. Private international law is considered to be irrelevant, because relevant decisions are taken in substantive law. It is considered impenetrable because many of its doctrines appear strange and general intuition offers little guidance towards the correct solution. And it seems indifferent to questions of values and questions of political economy. We address each of these perceptions in turn. We demonstrate that private international law, far from being irrelevant, is an indispensable part of private law. Whoever wants to make full use of private law must think of private international law as well. We suggest that private international law can seem impenetrable because it requires a whole different way of thinking: thinking between legal orders. Lawyers and non-lawyers alike are used to thinking within one order that is relatively coherent. That thinking is of little help in resolving issues that take place in-between such coherent orders. And we describe what we view as the ethical minimum of private international law: responsivity, cultural humility, and intercultural competence. These attitudes, which are not confined to the law, raise the possibility that private international law could teach something of relevance to everyone beyond its own disciplinary boundaries. Putting these insights in practice can, we hope, be transformative towards Private International Law for Everyone.

Ramani Garimella

The human catastrophe witnessed in Bhopal, India, remains pertinent for the domain of private international law. The US court ruled against the forum’s jurisdiction as being forum non conveniens and return it for the jurisdiction of India’s courts. Adherence to a formalist/positivist approach that believed in the public-private distinction allowed the court to avoid a discussion on the immense public interests that were involved in the suit. Such approach dwarfed the nature and magnitude of loss for the victims and demonstrated how far the ideas of territoriality and jurisdiction moved away from the notion of â€˜unified international law’. The author suggests revisiting this distinction from a methodological perspective – historicity – to understand the reasons for the survival of this distinction, especially in the third world countries as a vestige of the colonial law. This research, exemplifying through India, explores the zealous adherence to the colonial law on the rules of private international law including the methodology of the domain, and the absence of any significant local contribution to the domain. The research argues that the distinction emerged as an expression of the positivist international law (often non-representative/non-participative) that had helped further the legitimation of colonialism. The research suggests a historicity-based methodology for identifying the domain’s content so as to ensure a justice-centric regime that takes note of the rights of the victims of human error.

Chukwama Okoli/Abubakri Yekini

Many African countries aim to capitalise on globalization to enhance cross-border trade and commerce. This necessitates an effective private international law framework to resolve frictions that inherent in cross-border transactions. While scholarly work often focuses on PIL’s role in facilitating cross-border trade, the teaching of PIL and the preparedness of budding lawyers to tackle modern issues have been largely overlooked. This chapter addresses this gap by examining the effectiveness of PIL education in Nigeria. Through empirical research involving questionnaires administered to 75 undergraduate students from seven universities, the study provides insights into the current curriculum and teaching methodologies. The findings suggest that existing approaches are inadequate for producing transnational lawyers equipped with the necessary hands-on skills. The paper recommends a multi-method teaching approach, with a strong emphasis on clinical education and comparative law.

Aukje van Hoek

An inventory of (online) course descriptions of courses in private international law at different European universities show a diversity in approaches to teaching PIL. Which choices are made when developing a specific course, will depend on the staff teaching the course and the wider â€˜Umfeld’ in which the course is situated. Three approaches will be discussed and put in context.

Moderator: Dr.Â Jie (Jeanne) Huang, Co-chair of ASIL PIL Interest Group and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Law School.

About the book
Research Methods in Private International Law- A Handbook on Regulation, Research and Teaching

Edited byÂ Xandra Kramer, Professor of Private Law, Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Professor of Private International Law, Utrecht University, the Netherlands andÂ Laura Carballo PiÃ±eiro, Professor of Private International Law, Universidade de Vigo, Spain.

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Monday 23 September 2024
Time: 6pm-7.30pm AEST
You will receive Zoom details closer to the date of the webinar.
CPD points = 1.5

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This event is jointly presented by the American Society of International Law Private International Law Interest Group and the University of Sydney Law School.

Beyond Punishment Seminar: Are the aims of sentencing realised in practice?
2024-10-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Law Foyer, Level 2
Beyond Punishment Seminar: Are the aims of sentencing realised in practice?

In-person event

Much ink has been spilled over what the proper aims of sentencing should be, and it seems that different aims have become more or less prominent over time. The rehabilitative aim gave way to more retributive approaches in the 1970s in many countries and perhaps to approaches with more focus on dangerousness in recent times. But how well are the aims of sentencing realised in practice?

This Beyond Punishment Seminar will consider how the aims of sentencing as contained in the law matches up with reality of actual criminal justice practices. So, does rehabilitation really have a significant place in current approaches to criminal sanctions? How is this impacted by issues of funding or discretion? Is the reality of the response to offending largely punitive and how much does it reduce the capacity to reoffend? Do the sentences imposed by the courts or the experiences of sanction really deter? If there is discrepancy between stated aims and the practice how should this discrepancy be addressed, and which parts of the discrepancy are most troubling?

This seminar will address these and other questions.

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential.

Register here

Panellists

The Honourable Justice Yehia was appointed to the Supreme Court in June 2022 having served as a District Court Judge for 8 years. In addition to her service as a judge of the District and Supreme Courts, her Honour holds a number of positions including Board member and previous Chair of Diverse Women in Law, Board member of the AIJA, Chair of the Ngara Yura Committee and member of the Bugmy Bar Book Committee. Her Honour is also a member of the Judicial Commission’s Sentencing Bench Book Committee and became an Adjunct Professor at the UNSW Law School in 2023, where she teaches an advanced course on sentencing law.

Jennifer Galouzis is the Assistant Commissioner of Strategy & Policy, Corrective Services NSW. Currently in the final year of her PhD at the University of Melbourne, her research focuses on “A rehabilitative prison environment: Accountability, complexity and the possibility of therapeutic prisons.” With over 20 years of experience in prison and correctional research, Jennifer’s work encompasses the ecology of prison environments, the social and cultural climate of prisons, and the measurement of prison performance. She has published in the areas of rehabilitative design, preventing prison violence, sex offender treatment, and the role of corrective services in reducing reoffending

The Honourable Geoffrey Bellew SC was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006 and in 2011 he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He served continually as a Judge of the Common Law Division until February 2023. Upon his retirement Mr Bellew was appointed by the Attorney-General as the Chairperson of the State Parole Authority. He is the author of a number of texts published by Lexis Nexis, including Uniform Evidence Law, Principles and Context, a substantive text on the law of evidence. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law, a member of the Law Advisory Board, and a sessional lecturer, at Notre Dame University, Sydney.

Dr Mindy Sotiri is Executive Director, Justice Reform Initiative and has worked in criminal justice system settings as an advocate, community sector practitioner, academic, and researcher for more than twenty-five years. During this time, much of her work has been focused on advocacy around decarceration and building sustainable community-based and community led pathways outside of prison settings. Mindy completed her PhD in 2003 (looking at the purpose of imprisonment in NSW); completed a Churchill Fellowship in 2016 (looking at evidence based community led re-entry and post-release programs) and is a senior visiting fellow at UNSW.

Chair

Dr Allan McCay is Co-director of the Sydney Institute of Criminology and an Academic Fellow at the University of Sydney’s Law School. He coordinates the Legal Research units at the Sydney Law School, and lectures in Criminal Law. Much of his work as focused on neuroscience, neurotechnology, and the criminal law. He is also interested in free will and punishment, ethical issues related to emerging neurotechnologies, and the future of legal work. His first coedited book Free Will and the Law: New Perspectives is published by Routledge (2019) and his second, Neurointerventions and the Law: Regulating Human Mental Capacity is published by Oxford University Press (2020).

Tuesday 8 October 2024

Time: 6-8pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building (F10), University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points = 2

This event is presented by the Sydney Institute of Criminology at Sydney Law School in conjunction with Corrective Services NSW.

Ross Parsons Corporations Law Lecture 2024:The significant origins of the modern corporation
2024-10-09 18:00 - 19:30 | Law Foyer, Level 2
Ross Parsons Corporations Law Lecture 2024:The significant origins of the modern corporation

In-person event

It is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged that the modern corporation is a separate legal entity from its shareholders. But what does it mean when we describe a corporation as an entity and how separate is the company really from its shareholders?

By casting an historical lens over its earliest origins, this lecture will unpack the pieces that make up what has been described as “amongst mankind’s greatest inventions”. The lecture discusses why those hybrid origins are significant, why they have led to the tension between shareholder’ interests and broader interests inherent in corporate law, and how the potential and perils of the corporation can be best realised once we understand what exactly it is.

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential.

Register here

About the speaker

Professor Susan Watson is the Dean of the University of Auckland Business School. She holds joint chairs in the Faculty of Business and Economics and the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland.

Susan researches corporate law and corporate governance with a particular interest in the corporate form. In her research she considers corporations and their features from multiple perspectives seeking to understand the reasons for their economic, societal and environmental impact. Her monograph The Making of the Modern Company (Routledge, 2022) traces its origins back to 1657 and in doing so identifies what might be the key features that make the modern company the omnipresent business form across the globe.

In 2016 Susan won the Legal Research Foundation Sir Ian Barker Published Article Award. She was elected president of the Society of Corporate Law Academics (SCoLa) in 2020; the first person from outside Australia. She is the only person appointed a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) to date.

Commentator: Justice Ashley Black, Supreme Court of New South Wales

Chair: Professor Jason Harris, Professor of Corporate Law, Sydney Law School

Wednesday 9 October 2024

Time: 6-7.30pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building (F10), University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points = 1.5

This event is proudly presented by the Ross Parsons Centre for Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law at the University of Sydney Law School.

Constraining the Use of Force: A Chinese Project in International Law?
2024-10-15 18:00 - 19:30 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School
Constraining the Use of Force: A Chinese Project in International Law?

In-person event

Over the course of decades, the People’s Republic of China has consistently expressed a relatively strict interpretation of core legal norms constraining the use of force. These include its positions on Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, the customary international law of self-defense, and controversial topics such as humanitarian intervention or the “unwilling or unable” doctrine.

Part of this advocacy involves a claim that China is a uniquely peaceful great power; a notion often rooted in exceptionalist language regarding traditional Chinese civilization. In reality, however, the origins of China’s stances on the use of force can be traced to a specific set of experiences and initiatives beginning at the turn of the 20th century and extending to the present. In turn, a more granular understanding of the history of Chinese views on the use of force facilitates better comprehension of the current parameters of the Chinese jus ad bellum.

Ultimately, the nuances of China’s modern practice reveal a “zone of legalism” for restricting war and warlike uses of force, combined with a “zone of struggle” including various forms of de minimis force, intervention, and reprisal. Amidst continued lack of global consensus on key aspects of the use of force, China’s distinct model may increasingly influence customary international law.

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential.

Register here

About the speaker

Ryan Martínez Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Tuesday 15 October 2024

Time: 6-7.30pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points = 1.5

This event is proudly co-presented by the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence and the Sydney Centre for International Law at The University of Sydney Law School.

Public lecture: A Human Rights Act for NSW
2024-10-17 18:00 - 19:30 | Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building (F10), University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus
In-person event

The NSW Bar Association and the Human Rights Act for NSW Alliance invite you to attend a public lecture on ‘A Human Rights Act for NSW’, hosted by the Sydney Law School at the University of Sydney.

Why should NSW enact a human rights act and what rights could be protected? How would it make a difference to the lives of people in NSW and why is a State human rights act needed in addition to a Commonwealth human rights act? Join our esteemed speakers for an engaging discussion about the benefits of a State human rights act, lessons learned from other jurisdictions and how to promote community engagement to achieve this reform.About the speakers

The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG – Michael Kirby is an international jurist, educator and former judge. He served as a Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (1975-83); Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission (1975-84); Judge of the Federal Court of Australia (1983-4); President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal (1984-96); President of the Court of Appeal of Solomon Islands (1995-96) and Justice of the High Court of Australia (1996-2009). He is Editor-in-Chief of The Laws of Australia (2009 – ).

Hugh de Kretser – Hugh de Kretser commenced his five-year term as President of the Australian Human Rights Commission on 30 July 2024. Before joining the Commission, he was the CEO of the Yoorrook Justice Commission. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre and Executive Officer of the Victorian Federation of Community Legal Centres. Hugh has also served as a Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and a Director of the Sentencing Advisory Council.

Dr Ruth Higgins SC – Ruth Higgins SC is a commercial and public law silk, practising nationally. Ruth is a member of the Takeovers Panel, President of the NSW Bar Association, a director of the Australian Bar Association, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, an Assistant General Editor of the Australian Law Journal, and a Fellow of ACICA and on its panel of Arbitrators.

Trent Glover SC – Trent Glover is the Chair of the NSW Bar Association’s Human Rights Committee. At the bar, Trent has a diverse practice concentrating primarily on public law litigation at first instance and appellate level around Australia.

Carmel Lee – Carmel Lee is a barrister specialising in commercial law, equity, conflict of laws, and human rights. She is a member of the Human Rights Act for NSW Alliance and the NSW Bar Association Human Rights Committee.

Thursday 17 October, 2024

Time: 6-7.30pmVenue: Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building (F10)CPD points = 1.5Category: Social justice events

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential. Register

Please note – due to unforeseen circumstances, Auslan interpreters will not be available.

This event is proudly presented by the NSW Bar Association and the Human Rights Act for NSW Alliance in partnership with the University of Sydney Law School .

Responders Lab sessions
2024-10-22 13:00 - 15:00 | Sydney Law School, Law Lounge, Level 1, New Law Building Annex (F10A)
Responders Lab sessions

In-person event

Sydney Law School and Insight Exchange invite you to participate in a Responders Lab session, supported by the Sydney Policy Lab.

The Responders Lab is designed to support you in exploring and building on your understanding of domestic, family and sexualised violence, and how this influences what you might notice, think or do in your responses. The use of violence and abuse continues to be a serious problem globally and locally. National, state and territory definitions of domestic, family and sexualised violence and criminal codes vary, however violence and abuse is never acceptable in any community, family, institution, place or context. There is no one preference or path for support. Every responder, community and industry matters.

But the demands in our lives are many – studying, working, caring and more. And our days fill with so much to do and so much to care about.

Is it too noisy to think? To think about our responses to violence and abuse?

Too little space to think or permission to pause?

‘Time’ to think is one thing. ‘Room’ to think is another.

When it comes to violence and abuse, thinking about our responses is important, intentional and essential.

At the Responders Lab you will have the opportunity to reflect and exchange insights by:

drawing on your own thinking and contextual expertise

critically thinking about your assumptions, observations, actions, and inactions as a responder

reflecting on what these insights (content & conversations) reveal to you and your peers

Watch to find out more.

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential.

Register here

Responders Lab sessions will be held on the following dates and you are invited to sign up to one of these:

22 October: 1-3pm14 November: 1:30-3:30pm

You will receive Zoom details closer to the date of the session.

This event is co-hosted by the Sydney Law School and Insight Exchange and supported by the Sydney Policy Lab.

Symposium: Financial crime in different contexts
2024-10-23 17:00 - 19:00 | Sydney Law School, Law Lounge, Level 1, New Law Building Annex (F10A)
In-person event

Financial crime poses many challenges and affects a multitude of sectors, in Australia and globally. As offenders become more sophisticated, new vulnerabilities emerge, and law enforcement has to adapt. While the criminal justice responses have been swift and emphatic in some sectors, they have been cumbersome and lethargic in others. Variations in criminalisation and enforcement can also be discerned geographically with many law-making initiatives originating in the EU rather than other parts of the world.

Against this context, this symposium will examine different aspects of, and global perspectives on, financial crime, namely 1) policing welfare fraud; 2) cultural property crime; 3) federal proceeds of crime; and 4) civil recovery of criminal property.

Speakers

This event brings together experts from the Sydney Institute of Criminology who have recently published books on these fascinating contexts of financial crime:

Dr Scarlet Wilcock – Policing Welfare Fraud | The Government of Welfare Fraud and Non-Compliance (taylorfrancis.com)

Prof. Saskia Hufnagel – Cultural Property Crime and the Law: Legal Approaches to Protection, R (routledge.com) & Global Perspectives on Cultural Property Crime – 1st Edition – Michell (routledge.com)

Prof. Simon Bronitt – Federal Proceeds of Crime Law – Thomson Reuters Australia

Prof. Colin King – Civil Recovery of Criminal Property – Colin King, Jennifer Hendry – Oxford University Press (oup.com)

Wednesday 23 October 2024

Time: 5-7pmVenue: Sydney Law School, Law Lounge, Level 1, New Law Building Annexe(F10A), University of Sydney, Camperdown campusCPD points = 2

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential.Register

This event is presented by the Sydney Institute of Criminology at Sydney Law School.

UNCITRAL RCAP Symposium: Navigating transparency and confidentiality in international arbitration
2024-10-31 16:30 - 18:30 | Online event
PLEASE NOTE:

This event is being held online only.

UNCITRAL RCAP Symposium: Navigating transparency and confidentiality in international arbitration

The UNCITRAL RCAP Symposium on ‘Transparency in Arbitration’ brings together distinguished experts to explore the critical balance between confidentiality and transparency in international arbitration, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Featuring insights from world-renowned scholars such as Prof. Luke Nottage, Dr. Caroline Kenny KC, and Dr. Nick Gallus, the symposium will examine key tensions and emerging trends across both commercial and investor-state dispute settlement contexts.

Discussions will address regional developments in Australia and Japan, the interplay between transparency and confidentiality in commercial arbitration, and transparency considerations in arbitration involving states. A/Prof. Jeanne Huang, a leading authority on international arbitration and cross-border digital trade, will provide commentary, offering her unique perspective on how these issues impact the future of arbitration in an increasingly digital world.

The symposium promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking event, moderated by Inma Conde, Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law National Coordination Committee for Australia (UNCCA).

Co-Hosted by:The University of Sydney, Sydney Law School and UNCITRAL RCAP.

Organised by:

CAPLUS: Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney

SCIL: Sydney Centre for International Law

UNCCA: United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) National Coordination Committee for Australia

Thursday 31 October 2024

Time: 4.30-6.30pm AEDTCPD points = 2

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential. RegisterYou will receive Zoom details closer to the date of the webinar.

This event is jointly presented by The University of Sydney, Sydney Law School and UNCITRAL RCAP.

Documenting war crimes from the field
2024-11-11 13:00 - 14:00 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
In-person event

In this seminar, Belkis Wille (Associate Director in the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch) will discuss her extraordinary experiences in documenting war crimes across the world.

Over the course of her career, she has been documenting laws of war violations in Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Israel and Palestine. Belkis has also spearheaded the organization’s work investigating the harms stemming from personal data collection, including biometrics, in humanitarian contexts. This work has included investigations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Jordan, and Kenya. She has also led the organization’s work on the preservation of content taken down by social media platforms that is vital to war crimes investigations.

About the speaker

Belkis Wille

Associate Director, Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division

Follow belkiswille

Belkis Wille is an associate director in the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch. Belkis was previously Human Rights Watch’s senior Iraq researcher for three-and-a half years, and its Kuwait, Qatar, and Yemen researcher, based in Sanaa, for over three years.

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Belkis worked with the World Organisation Against Torture in Libya. She has an LLM in human rights and humanitarian law from the University of Essex, a graduate diploma in law from City University London, and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. Belkis speaks English, German, French, and Arabic.

Monday 11 November 2024

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

This event is co-hosted by Sydney Law School and Human Rights Watch.

The changing landscape of EU competition law - Competition law as an instrument of protectionist policy
2024-11-13 18:30 - 19:30 | Common Room, Level 4, Sydney Law School
This seminar will discuss recent developments in European competition law.

Speakers

Speaker: Professor Dubravka Akšamović, Faculty of Law Osijek, Croatia

Commentator: Prof. Yane Svetiev, Sydney Law School

Chair: Prof Jason Harris, Sydney Law School

Wednesday 13 November, 2024

Time: 6.30-7.30pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Camperdown Campus

CPD points = 1

Register here

This event is proudly presented by the Ross Parsons Centre for Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law at the University of Sydney Law School, and the Faculty of Law Osijek, University of J. J. Strossmayer in Croatia.

Regulating disruptive technologies
2024-11-21 12:30 - 13:30 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
In-person event

This presentation on disruptive technologies regulation, including artificial intelligence, will provide an overview of the various regulatory options available, their pros and cons, as well as possible outcomes in terms of technological advancement and social progress.

Part of the lecture will present the author’s own three-level categorization of AI interference in human decision-making, a topic strongly related to some current projects on both UTS and The University of Sydney’s ADM+S Centre.

About the speaker

Leonardo Parentoni

Professor Parentoni is a Senior Lecturer and UFMG’s/Brazil’s leading expert on technology law, with more than 20 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. His research interests include artificial intelligence, big data, data science, personal data protection, blockchain, IoT, ISP liability, regulating disruptive technologies, legal techs and the future of legal market, human rights and telecom infrastructure. He has published his works in 5 languages and more than 8 countries.

His ResearchGate profile is the most visited of all professors at the UFMG Law School and one of the most popular in Brazil, with over 65,000 views. He also holds a permanent position at Brazil’s Attorney-General’s Office (AGU), serving as head of legal in a research facility focused on nuclear-based medicine and new materials, such as graphene.

Thursday 21 November 2024

Time: 12.30-1.30pm

Venue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential.Register

Professor Parentoni is a visiting scholar at UTS and the University of Sydney Law School. This event is co-hosted by the University of Sydney Law School, ADM+S and UTS: Law, Technology and Intellectual Property Research Cluster.

Sydney Law School Social Justice celebration
2024-11-26 17:30 - 19:00 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
At Sydney Law School, we think teach, research, and engage in the social justice dimensions of law. We appreciate the social context in which law operates, and law’s potential to both enable and constrain, to both liberate and oppress. This event will celebrate many of the social achievements from the year and showcase work of students, including those working on the Just Cause podcast, practitioners-in-residence, including a presentation from Liz Snell (current practitioner-in-residence), and staff.

The Kim Santow Law and Social Justice Essay Prize will also be announced at this event.

About the presenter

Liz Snell is interested in researching and better understanding the mechanisms required to ensure and support successful implementation of recommendations in inquiries with a focus on inquiries responding to gender-based violence. Liz has worked as the Law Reform and Policy Co-ordinator at Women’s Legal Service for over a decade. Women’s Legal Service is a specialist community legal centre run by and for women that aims to achieve access to justice and a just legal system for women in NSW.

Tuesday 26 November 2024, 5.30-7pm AEDT

Venue: New Law Building (F10), Level 4, Common Room, Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus

Registration

Complimentary, however registration is essential.Register

This event is proudly supported by the Kim Santow Law and Social Justice Fund.

New directions in financial crime
2024-11-29 09:00 - 18:00 | Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building (F10), University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus
Financial crime is a global issue that has a significant impact on Australia’s society and economy. Related offences come in different forms (e.g. bribery, corruption, fraud, money laundering) and are committed by different actors, with various motivations. The different sectors involved range from small businesses to large banks and from the real estate to the art market. Unsurprisingly, financial crime has been the subject of significant academic study for decades, as well as being an area of national and international concern for policymakers, regulators, and law enforcement. The aim of this symposium is to bring together different experts to discuss a wide variety of contemporary issues and challenges in this context.

Speakers

AUSTRAC – TBC.

Katie Benson, University of Manchester, UK – AML Reflections from the UK.

Liz Campbell, Monash University – Legal Professional Privilege and Corporate Liability.

David Chaikin, University of Sydney – Lawyers and Tranche 2.

Jonathan Clough, Monash University – Topic TBC.

Derwent Coshott – The Risk-Based Approach (Cayman Islands developments).

Penny Crofts, University of Technology Sydney – Corporate Financial Crime and Euphemism.

Olivia Dixon, University of Sydney – AML and Lawyers.

Louis de Koker, La Trobe University – Risk and the FATF’s Risk-Based Approach.

Susanna Ford, Arnold Bloch Leibler – Foreign Bribery.

Radha Ivory, University of Queensland – Corporate Criminal Liability Reforms.

Doron Goldbarsht, Macquarie University – Personal Liability of Directors.

Hannah Harris, Macquarie University – The Forest-Finance Nexus: Addressing the Connection between Forest Crime and Financial Crime.

Anton Moiseienko, Australian National University – AML Developments.

Rachel Southworth, Bank of Queensland (provisionally confirmed).

Megan Styles, Monash University – Asset Forfeiture.

Yane Svetiev, University of Sydney – FATF MERs and Developing Countries.

Mitali Tyagi, APG – The Infrastructure of the FATF System.

View the program here

Friday 29 November, 2024

Time: 9am – 6pmVenue: Law Foyer, Level 2, New Law Building, University of Sydney

This event is proudly presented by the Sydney Institute of Criminology at the University of Sydney Law School.

Does compliance with the global anticorruption regime require the use of artificial intelligence?: The case of managing global critical raw material value chains
2025-01-21 13:00 - 14:00 | The University of Sydney Law School, Boardroom, Level 4, New Law Building F10
Hybrid event

Business firms constantly hear that artificial intelligence has changed the world and that they must either utilize artificial intelligence or fall behind. By extension, this would be true of regulatory compliance as well as operations. This article challenges the mantra of artificial intelligence as a ubiquitous agent of change. It does so through the lens of the global anticorruption regime, a transnational web of laws, regulations and norms that work together to reign in corruption. As this article demonstrates, the global anticorruption regime imposes on business firms a requirement to implement effective and up-to-date antibribery programs.

Given the prevailing conception of artificial intelligence as the newly-critical tool for business, it would be easy to interpret “effective” and “up-to-date” as requiring the use of artificial intelligence. To determine whether in fact the global anticorruption regime does, this article undertakes two analyses. First, it carefully determines the systems requirements of the type of artificial intelligence most applicable to antibribery programs – systems that can distinguish between honest and corrupt actors and transactions – and determines the regulatory constraints on the use of artificial intelligence in that way. This article then asks specifically what tasks artificial intelligence would be asked to do as part of an antibribery program, and evaluates the capacity of artificial intelligence to perform those tasks given the already determined system requirements and constraints. These analyses yield a surprising conclusion: in some instances the use of artificial intelligence would be helpful, but for most business firms, particularly for smaller firms or firms that have not experienced bribery, the use of artificial intelligence would not be helpful and could be harmful. Regulators and legal scholars must not think of artificial intelligence as a panacea; its potential use must be analyzed in the context of objectives and the capacities, needs, and limits of artificial intelligence.

About the speaker

Dr. Philip M. Nichols is the Joseph S. Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility in Business and Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was Co-Chair, UN/CEFACT Law Group (United Nations experts committee on electronic commerce and trade facilitation), 1998 to 2005.

Moderator: Professor Hans Hendrischke, Sydney Business School.

Tuesday 21 January 2025

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Boardroom, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

Register here

This event is jointly sponsored by the Sydney Centre for Asian and Pacific Law and the Sydney Netzero Institute.

It is part of the first meeting of the UN/CEFACT working group on the white paper of ‘Addressing Conflict of Laws and Facilitating Digital Product Passports in the Critical Raw Material Value Chains’.

The next chapter of IBC: Innovations and expectations for India’s insolvency framework
2025-02-03 18:00 - 19:00 | New Law Building (F10)
In-person event

This seminar will discuss developments in India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 over the past year, including creditor recoveries of over $40 billion and major real estate resolutions that have safeguarded homebuyer interests and facilitated the completion of stalled projects, supported by innovative frameworks like the ‘Reverse CIRP’. The seminar will also discuss continuing controversies under the IBC including the absence of a framework for non-corporate debtors, the use of ADR within the IBC and cross border insolvencies and the IBC.

The IBC’s achievements in 2024 underscore its critical role in India’s economy. However, the next chapter will require bold reforms to tackle unresolved issues, including cross-border insolvency, non-corporate debtor inclusion, and sector-specific resolutions, ensuring a more inclusive and robust insolvency regime.

This seminar explores the challenges that lie ahead for India and what to expect in the coming year.

About the speaker

Preeti Nalavadi is a qualified and admitted corporate lawyer from India with over 15 years of experience. She has worked in different capacities both in Australia and in India including working as an Inhouse Counsel at Canara Bank (for 11 years), one of the leading Banks in India.

She is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Adelaide Law School under the supervision of Associate Prof Dr Sylvia Villios, Emeritus Prof Chris Symes and Associate Prof David Brown. Her thesis topic is Comparative and functional study of corporate rescue in three countries- US Australia and India. She had been awarded Commonwealth and Zelling Gray Scholarships. She is a Sessional Academic for undergrad and postgrad courses and mainly teaches Commercial and Business laws at Adelaide Law School.

During her candidature she has been invited to present her research at various international conferences organised by the Australian Corporate Law Teachers Association (Scola), Australia and New Zealand Law History and Society, Ross Parson Centre at Sydney Law School and Prof Bob Wessels’ PhD Conference (Leiden University). She is working on publications for peer reviewed journals. She had been a guest speaker at Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Delhi, a flagship institution under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

She is a member of INSOL ERA (the UK), American Bankruptcy Institute (the US), Australian Asian Lawyers’ Association (Australia), Australasian Law Academic Association (Australia), Society of Corporate Law Academics (Australia). She is co-convenor of Emerging Scholars Committee at Insolvency Law Academy (India).

Chair: Professor Jason Harris, Sydney Law School

Monday 3 February 2025

Time: 6-7pm

Venue: Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

Register

This event is proudly hosted by the Ross Parsons Centre at the University of Sydney Law School.

2025 George Winterton Memorial Lecture: The evolving electoral system as an ongoing constitutional process
2025-02-19 17:30 - 19:00 | Banco Court, Supreme Court of NSW (184 Phillip Street, Sydney), 184 Phillip Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Speaker: The Honourable Stephen John Gageler AC, Chief Justice of Australia

About the lecture

The form of popular sovereignty empowered by the Australian Constitution was framed to be government by “the people” in constitutive and routine manifestations, both sustaining and sustained by the system of government it called into existence. It was framed to be dynamic, the design of the electoral system according to which the people would act in those distinct manifestations having been entrusted to development by ordinary law made by the Commonwealth Parliament. And it can be seen to have evolved: through the development of a broad franchise to be exercised by the people today in fact comprising the large portion of the community entitled to vote at federal elections and at constitutional referenda; and through the establishment of a system of compulsory voting by which the people today in fact exercise that broad franchise. The form of popular sovereignty empowered by the Australian Constitution can accordingly be seen today to be government by “the people” writ large. Chief Justice Gageler traces this evolution as a process by which ordinary law has built out the constitutional structure empowering popular sovereignty.

About the speaker

Stephen Gageler AC was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia on 6 November 2023, having served as a justice of the High Court from 2012. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2000 and Solicitor-General of Australia in 2008. In 2017, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. His Honour is a graduate of the Australian National University and Harvard University.

George Winterton Memorial Fund

The George Winterton Memorial Lecture was established to commemorate the outstanding and lasting contribution of Professor George Winterton to constitutional law scholarship and our understanding of constitutional law. It is funded through the George Winterton Memorial Fund. The Fund exists to support advancing constitutional law at Sydney Law School through teaching, research, and community engagement in memory of Professor Winterton.

For those interested in making a gift to the George Winterton Memorial Fund, please contact Dr Joel Harrison, Convenor of the Fund and Winterton Lecture series (joel.harrison@sydney.edu.au). Your gift will be gratefully used for sustaining the Winterton Memorial lecture series, supporting a PhD and research scholarship fund, and developing new research in constitutional law.

Wednesday 19 February 2025

Time: 5.30-6.45pm (Registration from 5pm, cocktail reception to follow)Venue: Banco Court, Supreme Court of NSW (184 Phillip Street, Sydney)

Register here

This lecture is proudly hosted by The University of Sydney Law School and The University of Western Australia Law School.

White boxing the administrative state: Machine learning algorithms and the duty to give reasons in administrative law
2025-02-26 13:00 - 14:00 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
In-person event

This presentation uses contemporary examples of automated systems operating in the UK and Australia to examine the duty to give reasons and the extent to which automated systems currently in use in the administrative state give effect to the duty.

The discussion seeks to answer three questions: [1] what are the purposes of the duty to give reasons in administrative law, [2] what information must be disclosed in order to satisfy those purposes, and [3] are machine learning algorithms capable of providing information that can satisfy those requirements? The analysis distinguishes between interpretable machine learning algorithms where the features determinative to the prediction are knowable and inscrutable machine learning algorithms where they are not. The argument is that interpretable machine learning algorithms (in conjunction with human decision-makers) can provide reasons that meet legal standards of justification, whereas inscrutable machine learning algorithms cannot satisfy such a duty.

The talk explores the legal implications of these findings given the context of increasing government adoption of AI in the administrative state.

About the speaker

Alexandra Sinclair is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Centre for Automated Decision-making and Society (ADM+S) at Sydney Law School. She has recently come from the London School of Economics and Political Science where her PhD thesis examined using public law as an accountability mechanism for automated decision-making. Alexandra spent the last five years working for a legal NGO in London where she worked extensively on proposed policy reforms to AI regulation in the UK. Her work on frontline automated decision-making in government was covered by the Guardian and in 2023 she gave oral evidence to the House of Commons on proposed changes to the UK’s data protection law. She has recently published a piece in the journal Public Law on automated decision-making and government opacity in the UK state.

Chair: Professor Lisa Burton-Crawford, Sydney Law School

Wednesday 26 February 2025

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

This event is co-hosted by the University of Sydney Law School and ADM+S.

2025 Sydney Centre for International Law "Year in Review"
2025-02-28 09:00 - 17:00 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
The Sydney Centre for International Law at Sydney Law School is delighted to present the tenth International Law Year in Review Conference, to be held at the Law School on Friday 28 February 2025.

This annual ‘year in review’ conference gives participants insight into the latest developments in international law over the preceding year, including those most salient for Australia.

This all-day, event features Professor Aaron Fellmeth of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law as keynote speaker and includes insights on important legal developments in 2024. Nick Bryant, one of the BBC’s finest foreign correspondents, joins us for a literary lunch where he will discuss his latest book The Forever War.

The conference will traverse recent developments in areas such as public international law, private international law, international criminal law and international environmental law. Speakers will include leading academics, practitioners and government lawyers.

Participation will enable lawyers and non-lawyers alike to remain abreast of important trends in international affairs.

Friday 28 February 2025

Time: 9am – 5pmVenue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, University of Sydney

View the program here

Registration$50 for full day attendance$25 for full day student attendance

Register here

This event is proudly hosted by the Sydney Centre for International Law at the University of Sydney Law School.

The environmental damage of rare earth mining: Regulatory challenges in China
2025-03-05 13:00 - 14:00 | Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown, NSW, 2006, Australia
In-person event

Rare earth elements (REE) are critical raw materials essential for manufacturing wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles. As nations strive to meet net-zero emission targets under the Paris Agreement, the global demand for REE is expected to surge in the green energy transition. However, rare earth mining and processing often result in significant and sometimes irreversible harm to the ecosystem.

China, the global leader in REE extraction and production, has dominated the industry for decades, largely on the strength of historically unregulated mining practices. This seminar will explore the environmental damage of REE extraction and production in China and examine the regulatory challenges in the implementation of permit control, environmental impact assessment, and eco-environmental remediation. By engaging with case studies involving courts, agencies and procuratorates as well as the central and local governments, we will gain a better understanding of the real-world complexity and the Chinese approach to pollution prevention and environmental remediation.

About the speaker

Yuhong Zhao is an associate professor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law. She teaches Chinese Civil Law and Chinese Environmental Law on both the LLB and the LLM programmes. Her research interests are Chinese environmental law, climate law and policy, and comparative environmental law. She is the author of Chinese Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and has published extensively with prestigious academic law journals on issues of climate change, environmental enforcement, environmental impact assessment, environmental dispute resolution, land contamination, and biodiversity conservation.

Wedneday 5 March

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Room TBC, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

This event is proudly co-presented by the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney Law School, and The China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

JSI Seminar | Democracy’s people
2025-03-06 18:00 - 19:30 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
In-person event

In the Voice Referendum, one major reason for voting No was the conviction among some Australians that the Australian people ought to be seen as single and undivided; for these Australians, the recognition of divisions within the polity would be inconsistent with the equal, democratically-grounded citizenship of all Australians.

In this seminar I explore the relationship between democracy and how one defines “the people”. A common approach suggests that “the people” ought to be defined only by the scope of the institutions themselves. On this view, for the purposes of democratic governance, the people are a purely institutional creation, formed by the rules that determine the boundaries of the state (“the institutionalist position”). A second common approach treats “the people” as formed exogenously. Peoples are defined pre-politically, typically in cultural terms. Those peoples possess the right to self-determination; they determine their own political structure (“the culturalist position”).

Each of these positions is over-simplified. I advance a “hybrid position”, which recognizes (in response to the culturalists) that there are often multiple potential definitions of the people, that “the people” is not purely pre-political, and that the value of democratic self-government can help us to weigh those potential definitions; and (in response to the institutionalists), that democratic self-government is inevitably shaped by cultural factors, and thus, for reasons internal to democratic theory, the structure of democratic institutions can legitimately include certain adaptations to those factors.

About the speaker

Jeremy Webber is Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Victoria (Canada) and Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He has written widely in legal theory, constitutional theory, Indigenous rights, federalism, cultural diversity, and constitutional law in Canada and in relation to other countries (especially Australia).

Professor Webber began his career at McGill University (1987-1998), was Dean of Law at the University of Sydney (1998-2002), then Canada Research Chair in Law and Society at the University of Victoria (2002-2014), until he surrendered that chair to become Dean of Law at UVic (2013-2018) and finally Professor Emeritus from 2023 until now. He was appointed a Fellow of the Trudeau Foundation in 2009, Fellow of Royal Society of Canada in 2016, and Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne in 2023.

Thursday 6 March 2025, 6-7.30pm AEDT

Venue: Level 4, Common Room, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1.5

This event is proudly presented by the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at The University of Sydney Law School.

JSI Seminar | Polyvocal constitutionalism
2025-03-14 13:00 - 14:00 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
In-person event

Constitutional theory increasingly recognizes that constitutional norms are shaped and implemented by a broad range of actors – at different levels of government, across different institutions, and from the “top down” and “bottom up”. Polyvocal constitutionalism of this kind also has a range of advantages: it has potential epistemic benefits, can enhance the political and sociological legitimacy of the process of constitutional construction, and increase support for core democratic norms. At the same time, there is clear scope for debate about how constitutionalism should work in a polyvocal world: should poly-vocalism, for example, be premised on ongoing constitutional contestation or a preference for the resolution of constitutional controversies? And within this spectrum, what values or ethos should guide courts as they engage with other actors: for example, deference, collaboration or democratic responsiveness? This article explores these questions, and offers a partial defence of responsiveness as the most desirable model of polyvocal constitutionalism, in a world of rich choice.

About the speaker

Rosalind Dixon is a Scientia Professor and Director of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law Sydney.

Friday 14 March

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

This event is proudly presented by the Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence at The University of Sydney Law School.

Professionalising bank culture
2025-03-18 13:00 - 14:00 | Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus, New Law Building, Camperdown, 2006, Australia
In-person event

This talk is a critical examination of the cultural impact of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) in the UK and the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR), recently expanded into the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR), in Australia. Though various reports in the UK and Australia have determined that these IARs are already starting to have a positive impact on the culture of the financial services sector, there are also some indications to the contrary, which are often minimised.

Drawing on legal and regulatory theory, criminological theory, and behavioural psychology, this talk explores how these IARs can work better in practice, setting out a normative roadmap for both regulators and financial institutions to consider when implementing and executing these regimes. It explores, for example, the case for implementing a “process sandbox” to provide guidance on the operation and implementation of IARs, where there is a lack of clarity as to how provisions of the IAR will be interpreted by regulators. This would provide the opportunity to increase mutual understanding of regulatory expectations thereby enhancing the probability that regulatory objectives will be met.

In addition, the talk explores the case for further professionalising the banking sector, as recommended by the UK Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2013 and the Australian Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry in 2019. In particular, it employs regulatory theory (meta-regulation), behavioural psychology (groups as moral anchors), and criminological theory (stakes in conformity), to explore how increased professionalisation is a form of control and attachment, creating particular group dynamics which can inform individual decision-making processes and help to generate more ethical actions to prevent wrongdoing. It is argued that professionalism can be enhanced by educational requirements that emphasise members’ commitment to serve a positive social purpose, beyond profit-maximisation, and through mechanisms for members to be disciplined by their community for failing to honour their duties.

About the speaker

Joe McGrath is an Irish Research Council Scholar, an Ireland-Canada Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, and an Associate Professor of Law at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, Ireland. He researches corporate governance, financial regulation, and white-collar crime. He is the author and editor of several books and publishes in the leading-peer reviewed journals in Ireland, Europe, Australia, and the USA.

Tuesday 18 March

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

This event is proudly presented by the University of Sydney Law School.
