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10 books by women to read before starting Law School

Update: August 2017 This post was originally written around this time last year (2016) and since then some great suggestions have come in on the comments too.

Earlier this week, Martin Partington shared a list of “the top 10 essential books for aspiring lawyers” on the OUP Blog. The books on the list are all perfectly interesting and good recommendations for students (and others) interested in law, society and justice. However, I couldn’t help but notice that nine of the ten were written by men, and the tenth by “Anon” (it is a 13th Century Icelandic saga about a blood feud, so it is to be expected that there is no attributed author). Thus, on my short train trip to work this morning I rapidly assembled a list of ten books by women that aspiring law students might find useful and interesting to read. I won’t call them essential, but they are certainly stimulating and, in many cases, harrowing. They also, of course, reflect my own tastes in books and ideas about where and how we ‘see’ narratives about law and justice.

Other ideas and suggestions welcome in the comments. Continue reading “10 books by women to read before starting Law School”

Public Lecture in Hong Kong: A Rule of Law Crisis in Europe?

EDIT (1.9.16): It seems there is quite a bit of interest in this topic, so the location of the lecture has been changed to Room 724 & 725, 7/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong. Registration is still open!

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I will spend next week as a visitor at the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong. While there, I will be participating in a workshop and collaborating with colleagues in the CCPL, meeting with doctoral researchers and discussing their work with them, and also giving a public lecture on Friday, September 3rd.

The lecture, “Is there a Rule of Law Crisis in Europe?”, will take place at 5:30pm on the Centennial Campus of HKU (Small Moot Court, Room 723 Room 724 & 725, 7/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower). Registration is free but encouraged, as there is a registration limit of 50. If you are in Hong Kong at the time you can register here. Continue reading “Public Lecture in Hong Kong: A Rule of Law Crisis in Europe?”

Defending academic freedom in Turkey

In the wake of last week’s failed coup, President Erdoğan of Turkey has been taking ‘decisive’ steps against those he claims or suspects were involved in the organisation of the coup or otherwise supported it. This has included people involved in the education sector: 21,000 teachers have had their licences revoked, over 1.5 thousand university deans have been instructed to resign, and a ban on international travel for professional purposes has been placed on all university academics.

There is, of course, concern that these activities are not only oriented towards removing ‘plotters’ from public life, but also quietening all opposition to the Erdoğan regime and, thus, greatly undermining critical democratic spaces represented by universities and other educational settings. I spoke about this yesterday on the Russia Today news channel and the interview and associated news story is available here.

I have also started a petition, which so far has over 600 signatures, directed specifically towards expressing solidarity to our academic colleagues in Turkey and asking President Erdoğan to rethink and revoke the travel ban. Please do consider signing it and share it widely.

There is also an open letter here, condemning the purge in Turkish universities, which I would also encourage people to sign.

The more support our colleagues in Turkey get from their international colleagues, the better.

Proposed new surveillance laws in Ireland

Last Wednesday the Irish Times carried a long article by Elaine Edwards on the proposal to extend surveillance and intercept laws in Ireland to social media accounts and web-based text messages. I am quoted in the story, noting how important it is that effective safeguards and oversight would be built into any such proposed law to ensure its compliance with fundamental rights. The whole story can be accessed here.