Legal Academics Research Articles

Taking Law Seriously: The Challenges of Law as Research Data in Socio-legal Scholarship

‘Law-as-data’ is often understood in terms of computational data. This article reframes it around a research-centred notion of data, broadening the methodological possibilities available to empirical legal research. This approach transcends the qualitative/quantitative divide, identifying common challenges that arise when law is treated as research data. Methodological tools from the social sciences and examples from recently published socio-legal scholarship are used to demonstrate how law presents unique challenges at the stages of conceptualisation, operationalisation and coding. These challenges stem from factors such as the non-commensurability of legal texts, the fluidity and contested meaning of legal notions, the difficulty of systematically gathering legal data and the risk of bias towards data-driven research rather than law- or reality-centred inquiry. However, strategies and best practices can be developed to address or mitigate these risks. Legal academics are particularly well suited to this task, given the high level of expertise required to effectively leverage law as research data. The article argues that a true methodological naturalisation of law as research data, which embraces the unique characteristics and limitations of law as a data source, would greatly benefit legal studies by diversifying its methodological toolbox while preserving its specificities.

AI-driven corporate governance: a regulatory perspective

ABSTRACT The use of AI-driven or AI-assisted systems in corporate compliance is a novel topic in the business and management literature, only marginally considered by legal academia. While some scholarly pieces have explored the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems to support compliance in the financial sector (eg, for anti-money laundering purposes), the legal implications of deploying AI systems to fulfil corporate compliance tasks has not yet received the attention it deserves. This article approaches the use of AI in corporate compliance and governance through the eyes of a regulator. Its aim is to present how the use of AI compliance systems within corporations can be leveraged by the entities tasked with ensuring the good governance of firms. Concretely, it explores a not-too-distant future, where some of the regulation of corporations can be driven by a mandate to systematically deploy Automated Compliance Management Systems (ACMS) within corporations as a way to enforce and monitor good governance. The article suggests that several of the limitations that regulators are currently facing to ensure the prevention of fraud, corruption or other forms of corporate non-compliance, could be addressed if regulators offered firms the possibility of being continuously monitored by an automated AI-driven system which systematically tracks the corporation’s data footprint. We then explore what is required for such a regulatory approach to be feasible and effective. In our view, regulators must first establish the standards of reliability for those systems (ie, the legal meaning of ‘red flags’ issued by the system of potential violations) and, second, actively supervise how companies react to the outputs of those systems (ie, what companies do when a red flag is raised by the system). In the final part of the article, we offer a more concrete example to the reader. We suggest it could be possible to test such an approach in Australia through regulatory sandboxes for the mining sector, concretely, to monitor compliance with antibribery obligations overseas.

Good Lawyers, Good Sports?: The Professional Identity of Sports Lawyers Representing Not-For-Profit Entities

ABA accreditation standards require law schools to develop students’ professional identity, including by encouraging “an intentional exploration of” the legal profession’s “values [and] guiding principles.” This Essay invites legal academia as well as practitioners to explore issues of legal ethics, professionalism, and, especially, professional identity in the context of a new area of legal practice: sports lawyers’ representation of “NIL collectives,” which are not-forprofit entities that college boosters establish to enable college athletes to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness (“NIL”). The work of sports lawyers advising NIL collectives offers an interesting case study for considering how professional values might come into play when lawyers counsel clients and particularly when lawyers counsel not-for-profit entities. NIL collectives may be skirting the tax laws that require not-for-profit entities to serve a public, not private, purpose or circumventing the NCAA’s rules, which forbid its member universities from using NIL compensation to recruit athletes. Even if they are not breaking the law, the collectives may appear to be acting unfairly in how they use financial inducements to assemble winning teams. Lawyers advising NIL collectives might take different views of whether to prompt the client’s representatives to consider the rightness or fairness of the enterprise. Their decision whether and how to counsel their clients about “fair play” in this context will be informed by their sense of professionalism and their understanding of professional values, which are not fixed and uncontested. Among other things, this example illustrates that broadly accepted professional values are only a small subset of the values that shape individual lawyers’ professional identity, influencing how they conduct their work. Therefore, to a large extent, law schools’ role in developing future lawyers’ professional identity requires helping students ascertain their own professional values and how their values apply to particular work.

Using Corpus Linguistics as a Tool in Legal Interpretation

Over the past decade, the application of corpus linguistics in legal interpretation has received attention from a group of scholars that engage in legal academics and linguistics. When the law takes into account the distribution of language usage, the application of corpus linguistics can help with addressing legal challenges. Before concluding that corpus analysis is optimally persuasive, the study addresses four difficulties that need to be addressed: The distribution of language use among a certain community must be the primary focus of the legal problem; Second, what constitutes a "ordinary" reading should be determined by the court; Thirdly, while searching a corpus to determine a term's usual meaning, one must predetermine what to look for; Fourth, there are a variety of reasons that a given meaning may turn up weak in a corpus search, and they should be recognized. Through analysis, this paper finds that though drawing on academic research and the experience of foreign judicial practice, Chinese scholars can enrich the research methods of the interdisciplinary field of law and linguistics, and provide inspiration for the nascent movement and the development of judicial practice.

The Implementation of Advocate Immunity Rights in the Criminal Offense of Obstruction f Justice

Introduction: During the course of law enforcement, advocates may encounter interventions and face alleged threats and obstruction processes while defending their clients. This is addressed in Article 16 of the Advocates Law and Constitutional Court Decision No. 26/PUU-XI/2013. However, it is important to note that advocates can forfeit this right if they engage in the criminal offense of Obstruction of Justice. Objective: This research aims to explain how an attorney's immunity rights can be forfeited when they engage in the criminal offense of Obstruction of Justice. Method: This research employs a method commonly used in legal academia, focusing on statutory law and conceptual analysis. Results and Discussion: Understanding the importance of immunity rights is crucial for advocates as they carry out their profession. However, it is essential to be aware of the specific conditions that come with the use of these rights. Research Implications: The rules can be found in Article 16 of the Advocate Law. If advocates do not act in good faith and their actions are unrelated to their professional duties, they may be prone to committing acts of obstruction of justice. When fulfilling professional obligations, an advocate must prioritize the client's defense and act accordingly. In Article 16, the concept of good faith entails the fulfillment of professional responsibilities intending to promote justice and safeguard the client's interests following the law.

Law Reform Clinical Programmes Should be Promoted in Law Schools: An Explanation

This paper suggests that experiential education involving law reform is particularly suited to the academic stage of legal training. We review the current extent of clinics engaged in law reform, provide examples from our own practice, and then explain why law reform clinics are particularly beneficial. This is for several reasons. These include (i) the range of desirable graduate attributes and skills developed through involvement in law reform; (ii) the understanding that law reform is a career option; and (iii) the benefits to law schools and society generally from better laws, from legal academics using their skills to push for law reform, and from students being introduced to the civic obligation of the legal profession to be involved in seeking to improve the law. We also provide guidance from our own experience as to what can be done to establish a law reform clinic, whether as a dedicated course or as a way of running an existing course, and set out the steps that should produce good suggestions for reform.

Uniformity of Terminology and Limits of Assessment of its Features and Functions in the Development of the Concept of Criminalization of Acts involving Unmanned Vehicles

Unmanned aerial vehicles, regardless of their purpose and type, are of considerable interest to a legal scientist, law enforcement officer and legislator. The number of mentions of unmanned vehicles and their types in regulatory legal acts is large; however, academic papers constantly raise the issue of multiple terms and concepts existing in the field of unmanned technologies. Moreover, many papers on criminal law regulation raise the same question. Since the issue of unmanned aerial vehicles regulation is not the first one of a kind to be discussed among legal academia, the paper attempts to consider the problem by extrapolating from existing experience. In particular, the author suggests turning to the theory of technologies and using them as a starting point to answer the question of whether it is possible to identify a single system of signs of high generality for unmanned vehicles. Accordingly, is it possible to sufficiently abstract from the particular features of products and services in order to construct a general term? Using unmanned vehicles available on the market as an example, the author shows the breadth of variation in the functions of these vehicles and how this can lead to legal conflicts and the strengthening of particular cases when trying to build a general norm. Based on the analysis, the author draws a conclusion regarding the problem posed in the title of the article.

Legal Analysis of the Success of Mixue Franchise Schemes in Singapore, South Korea, and Japan Linked to the Success of Mixue Franchise Schemes in Indonesia and Vietnam

Franchising is a system of marketing goods and services and technology, which is based on closed and continuous cooperation between independent actors (meaning the franchisor and individual franchisee) and is separated both legally and financially, where the franchisor grants rights to the individual’s franchisee and imposes an obligation to carry out its business following the franchisor’s concept. The franchise business that is currently going viral is the Mixue franchise, which offers luxury ice cream at very cheap prices. Mixue became a franchise that had very rapid growth during the 2020 pandemic. In the 2020–2023 period, its outlets reached 1000 in Indonesia. So it is called the angel that takes away empty shophouses because the rapid development of Mixue also helps the property business. Even though it targets third and fourth-ranked cities, Mixue dominates provincial capitals in Indonesia. Mixue’s phenomenal success in Indonesia, after having had great success in Vietnam since 2018, has caused Mixue to expand to Singapore, South Korea, and Japan. In this research, the author will analyze the franchise laws from a legal perspective and compare them with those of the three countries, which may be a factor in the success of the Mixue franchise, which was previously achieved in Indonesia and Vietnam. This research is normative juridical research that uses secondary data in the form of primary legal materials, namely various relevant laws and regulations, and secondary legal materials, namely books and legal literature. The approaches used are statutory and conceptual. Results from research are hoped to provide one-stop article input for entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and legal academics regarding the comparison of franchise law, especially in Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, which Indonesia and Vietnam also complement.

풍력발전 터빈의 폐블레이드 재활용에 관한 자원순환법상 입법정책적 연구

There was a time when the development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power was thought to be at the cutting edge of environmental protection. However, putting aside various social conflicts related to its location, concerns related to the efficiency of energy production, etc., legal and social agreements regarding the disposal or recycling of these renewable energy power generation facilities were ignored, and the era of introduction and commercialization continued. come. It was a phenomenon not only for us but also around the world. Many European and Western countries are facing their own risk of environmental destruction and are coming up with various policies and plans regarding this. Regarding the problem of disposal of waste solar panels and waste electric vehicle batteries, It is well known that we have taken steps to resolve this issue through legislative and administrative policies. However, in response to the aging of wind power generation facilities, especially waste blades, which have recently received the most attention among renewable energy materials, the EU and representative wind power countries such as Germany and Denmark are paying great attention to the government and industry regarding waste disposal, especially recycling, and solutions to the problem. has been pursued and is now coming to fruition. Unlike the case of Korea, which is stuck with the solution of simple landfill, global renewable energy companies such as Siemens Gamesa of the United States and Germany and Vestas of Denmark, which are actively introducing the use of materials as cement, are developing new products that can recycle blades at the disposal stage from the beginning. We are making progress to the point where we are developing technology to manufacture materials and announcing our success and plans for zero waste by 2040. In response to this situation, our government is not only reorganizing the basic laws for the recycling of waste wind blades, which are already causing environmental problems, but also establishing laws to promote research for technology development such as reuse and recycling, which are lagging behind Europe and the United States. Legal academia will conduct research on the limitations of the Producer Responsibility Recycling (EPR) system, which has already been introduced in the resource recycling law, and ways to overcome it, on the aspects of fiscal legislation such as the introduction of incineration taxes, and on local autonomy for cooperation with local communities. Efforts should be made to identify ways to improve the legal system.

Courting controversy: the use of trigger warnings in teaching human rights law

ABSTRACT This article explores how legal academics approach sensitive topics in human rights law, specifically how content is chosen, curated and discussed with students. It draws on data collected as part of a small pilot study which looked at how human rights academics approach “controversial” topics and how their views on controversy and sensitivity may be reflected in their curriculum. It focuses on the wider debate around trigger warnings in higher education and explores how academics use them. It concludes that, despite their negative reputation, “trigger warnings” can play a necessary and welcome role in navigating sensitive material.

Animal welfare as the basis of One Health: A UN convention on animal welfare, health, and protection poses a realistic solution to improved animal welfare and human health

Abstract Animal welfare is closely linked to animal health and human welfare and health, as the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) emphasizes in its Global Animal Welfare Strategy of 2017. As a result of recent pandemics, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the WOAH have created the One Health High Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP), committed to animal health and human health in the One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026) and pledged to “[work] together for the Health of Humans, Animals, Plants and the Environment.” Despite these important acknowledgments and efforts from leading world organizations, including the One Health quadripartite, the latter has so far been reluctant to actively pursue the adoption of a legally binding commitment to improve the protection and welfare of animals globally. Animal welfare remains without relevant provisions. In the following, it is argued this must be integrated into the OHHLEP in addition to the creation of an “Animal Think and Do Tank” in the form of a technical working group, which would finalize a UN Convention on the issue, as proposed, e.g., in the drafted UN Convention on Animal Health and Protection (UNCAHP) 2018. The “Animal Think and Do Tank,” within its One Health context, must manifest a transdisciplinary approach, since – unlike globally binding legislation – policies, agreements, and declarations of various world organizations do not suffice to bring about a fundamental change in animal welfare. Acknowledging that animal protection is a complex and multifaceted issue involving ethical, cultural, social, religious, political, economic, and scientific dimensions (GAL Association, 2018 , Preamble), these aspects must be represented within the decision making process regarding the Convention’s content. Besides veterinarians, experts of further disciplines related to One Health must be consulted – such as lawyers and legal academics specializing in animal, international, and UN law, competent representatives of the animal welfare and animal rights movements, and ethicists and economists. Measures must be taken to improve transparency and overall confidence in the dialogue between the actors, including competent and not specifically scientific representatives of the animal protection and animal rights movement as elements of civil society to advocate for the fundamental interests of animals. One Health impact statement This article proposes that a UN Convention on Animal Health and Protection would further the enforceability of a One Health approach to human, environmental, and animal health. Science has proven that these elements are intertwined, but they remain disparate at a legislative level in many jurisdictions. It is suggested that placing animal welfare provisions on a UN-Convention footing by utilizing the positioning of the WOAH and UNEP is the most effective way of rendering One Health policy a global reality. Cooperation between professionals is imperative: scientists, policy makers, and lawyers must work together.

ARBITRATION AND COURT-LIKE MECHANISMS IN INVESTMENT LAW: A PARADIGM SHIFT IN RESOLVING INVESTORS’ DISPUTES

This paper examines the movement in paradigm towards arbitration as a means of settling conflicts between investors in the field of investment law. The research evaluates the efficacy, equity, and influence of arbitration on state sovereignty and investor rights by examining the feedback of 300 professionals engaged in investment arbitration, such as lawyers, arbitrators, and legal academics. The quantitative analysis provides an impartial assessment of the success of arbitration in comparison to traditional litigation, emphasising its perceived efficiency and flexibility. Nevertheless, apprehensions regarding its influence on state sovereignty and divergent perspectives on equity and safeguarding of investors are apparent. The report also analyses the impact of worldwide economic and legal patterns on arbitration processes and predicts forthcoming modifications prompted by inclusion, technology, and legislation. Arbitration encounters difficulties in upholding impartiality, transparency, and accountability, notwithstanding its advantageous aspects. The results indicate the necessity for continuous adjustment and flexibility to address changing global circumstances and legal norms. This study enhances comprehension of international investment law by providing valuable perspectives on the present condition and future direction of arbitration as a means of resolving disputes.

The Intersectional Race and Gender Effects of the Pandemic in Legal Academia

The Intersectional Race and Gender Effects of the Pandemic in Legal Academia

Legal Academia's White Gaze

Legal Academia's White Gaze

Whose International Law Is It Anyway? The Battle over the Gatekeepers of Voluntarism

Whose International Law Is It Anyway? The Battle over the Gatekeepers of Voluntarism Authors Shelly Aviv Yeini, University of Haifa Abstract International law has been ruled by the theory of voluntarism for the course of the last two centuries. It is currently being challenged by competing theories, which do not see states’ consent as the main justification for international law. The theories of naturalism, international constitutionalism, and communitarianism all consider justification for international law to lie elsewhere than the realm of consent. While each theory provides a different framework for explaining the validity of international law, they all seek to justify their dissent from consent. Naturalism, international constitutionalism, and communitarianism view states as participators in the making of international law alongside international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, international tribunals, and legal academia. Such entities harness the competing theories to dilute and nullify the traditional voluntarist doctrines of international law. This article aims to portray such phenomena and show how the theoretical supremacy debate is reflected in the contestation between states and non-governmental entities over the validity of the gatekeeper doctrines—the specially-affected states doctrine, the persistent objector doctrine, and the monetary gold principle. Diluting or reconstructing the gatekeeper doctrines may alter the way in which rules of international law are made, developed, and apply. This article argues that while the contestation may aid in the legal development of international law as parties take time to articulate and refine their legal positions regarding the gatekeeper doctrines, it has also created radicalization of positions and uncertainty regarding the gatekeeper doctrines’ content and applicability.

Andemic, Maternity, and Inter- national Lawyers from the Global South: a Call for an Intersectional Approach

What are the impacts of virtualisation on mothers from the Global South who are international law scholars and practitioners? This article argues that it created both challenges and opportunities. It starts with a general overview of international legal academia and states that the Divisible College of International Law is a predominantly male global-north college. Next, it provides some data on the pandemic and how it has affected output in academia in unequal ways by using Brazil as a case study. On that basis, the paper finds that motherhood requires distinct attention as against other performative identities. As a remedy, the paper applies TWAIL feminisms as the approach and framework to revisit this debate and render mothers from the Global South visible, especially in the post-pandemic context. Synthesising these findings, the article finally calls for an intersectional approach, namely a TWAIL matricentric feminist approach to international law.

PORTUGUESE IMPERIAL BUILDING IN THE KOTTE KINGDOM OF SRI LANKA AS A REFLECTION OF 16TH CENTURY INTERNATIONAL LAW

The colonial nature of international law has been a moot point in legal academia, which univocally suggests international law as an imperial instrument. Given these exergies, the question that this paper seeks to examine is how Portuguese encounters in the 16th century Sri Lanka reflects the seeds of international legal system dominated by European interests. The policy espoused by the Portuguese in Sri Lanka during their encounters with the Kotte kingdom raise the initial examples of unequal treaties, exclusion of sovereignty and the adoption of “puppet rulers”. This paper makes a critical inquiry in examining these elements parallel to the development of 16th century international law.

The Internationality of Legal Academia

The Internationality of Legal Academia

Portuguese Policy in Sri Lanka as a Reflection of the Emergence of 16th Century International Law

Abstract The colonial nature of international law has been a moot point in legal academia, which univocally suggests international law as an imperial instrument. Given these exergies, the question that this paper seeks to examine is how Portuguese encounters in the 16th century Sri Lanka reflects the seeds of international legal system dominated by European interests. The policy espoused by the Portuguese in Sri Lanka during their encounters with the Kotte kingdom raise the initial examples of unequal treaties, exclusion of sovereignty and the adoption of “puppet rulers”. This paper makes a critical inquiry in examining these elements parallel to the development of 16th century international law. The objective of this article lies in examining the trajectories that set the path for Portuguese imperial legitimacy of Kotte kingdom of Sri Lanka through a legal legitimacy. In analysing these historical factors, this article will discuss the emergence of the colonial international law.

Exploring the Path of Data Intellectual Property Protection in the Context of the Digital Economy

The digital economy's rapid growth has ushered society into a new era, where data holds immense significance. In the field of legal academia, data can be seen as an important carrier of intellectual property rights in a legal sense. Therefore, the research on the path and models of intellectual property protection for data in the context of the digital economy has become a focus of domestic and foreign scholars. This paper aims to address the issues of limited avenues and low effectiveness in the protection of data intellectual property rights in China. Through the definition and comparison of the concepts of data and intellectual property rights in academic terms, this paper analyzes and compares the data protection models in various countries worldwide with the actual data protection situation in China, and summarizes the findings. Furthermore, the paper proposes specific measures for the protection of data intellectual property rights in China, such as establishing clear standards for certifying data compilation works and enacting specialized legislation for data protection. These proposed regulations help to alleviate the current challenges in data intellectual property rights protection to a certain extent.