Young on ‘Indigenous Rights in Freshwater: Mapping the Contest Space in Australia, New Zealand and Canada’

Professor Simon Young of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has co-written a new paper (along with Sarah Down and Sharon Mascher) titled 'Indigenous Rights in Freshwater: Mapping the Contest Space in Australia, New Zealand and Canada’.  The article appears in Volume 39 of the Environmental and Planning Law Journal.

Mortensen on ‘The Lost Lawyer regained: virtue, liberalism and citizenship in lawyers’ ethics’

Professor Reid Mortensen of the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice has published a new research paper titled ‘The Lost Lawyer regained: virtue, liberalism and citizenship in lawyers’ ethics’.  The paper appears in Julian Webb (ed), Leading Works in Legal Ethics (Routledge, Abingdon, 2023).  Here is the abstract:

"Anthony Kronman’s Lost Lawyer remains the central contribution of virtue ethics to the moral theory of the legal profession. It is a strangely dichotomised work. Part One is an Aristotelian account of how traditional forms of legal practice have a distinct capacity to nurture practical wisdom in lawyers and, in doing so, prepare ‘the lawyer-statesman’ for public life beyond the law – politics, government, diplomacy. The lawyer-statesman is praised ‘for his virtue and not just his expertise‘. As the subtitle of Lost Lawyer suggests, in Part Two Kronman then presents a gloomy account of the American legal profession in the 1990s, and its shrinking capacity to prepare lawyers for statecraft. His snapshot of trends in law schools, law firms and courts suggests that legal practice is often no longer structured in ways that encourage the development of moral character and the virtue that holds it together – practical wisdom or prudence (phronēsis).

This chapter will present Lost Lawyer’s theory as an important account of legal practice as a morally worthy undertaking. It will locate Lost Lawyer in the rise of virtue ethics in moral theory since the 1950s and therefore grapple with the critics (Dare) who object to Kronman’s theory precisely because it is virtue ethics. The chapter will also explore Kronman’s idea of phron?sis as the simultaneous exercise of sympathy and detachment in relation to client business and how, when compared with earlier efforts at bringing virtue ethics into lawyer’s ethics (Postema, Shaffer), it gives a more satisfying explanation of the connection between legal practice and the development of moral character. The gloom of Part Two will also be addressed. Kronman limited his critique to ‘a crisis in the American legal profession’, and this begs the question whether there has been a comparable crisis in other common law professions. The arguments that Part Two’s sociology of the American legal profession in the 1990s is exaggerated will also be investigated. They leave room to consider whether Lost Lawyer is not only a compelling and positive ethics for lawyers, but one that the contemporary lawyer can achieve."

Zhao on 'The Standing to Sue of NGOs in Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China: A Doctrinal Analysis of Laws and Cases’

Dr Bob Zhao, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland, has co-authored (along with Qi Gao and Quan Ke)  a new research paper titled 'The Standing to Sue of NGOs in Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China: A Doctrinal Analysis of Laws and Cases'.  The paper appears in the edited collection Environmental Public Interest Litigation in China (Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 2023).  Here is the abstract:

"Environmental public interest litigation filed by NGOs is an important legal breakthrough to improve the private enforcement of environmental law. Different from traditional standing rules, NGOs are allowed to sue even if their rights or legal interests are not affected by the acts or omissions in question. Since individual rights are considered as superfluous in actions vindicating environmental public interests, certain threshold requirements are applied to NGOs in Article 58 of Environmental Protection Law to ensure the professionalism of NGOs and prevent frivolous lawsuits. The year 2022 marks the 8th year of its implementation in practice and the judiciary has applied and interpreted this provision in numerous cases. Notably, the status quo of practice does not match expectations. Instead, NGOs are increasingly marginalized in this court-centred environmental movement. Although the Chinese courts have generally adopted a relaxed interpretation of Article 58 in individual cases, the standing to sue of the administrative agencies and procuratorates in environmental public interest litigation has a significant impact on the participation of NGOs. Moreover, it should be admitted that difficulties still exist in providing a sound doctrinal explanation for the application of relevant provisions. This is the dilemma faced by the rapid development of environmental judicial innovations driven by legal policies."

Jones on 'Human Rights and the Environment in the Ogiek Case: Implications for Property Rights in Queensland’

Dr Nicky Jones, a Senior Lecturer in the University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice, has published a new article titled 'Human Rights and the Environment in the Ogiek Case: Implications for Property Rights in Queensland'.  The article appears in Volume 39 of the Environmental and Planning Law Journal.