What does justice look like for victims of atrocity crimes? How can they participate in the criminal process? Are international criminal tribunals even the best means of addressing violations? How else might we support victims?

In this episode, LLB V student and Just Cause co-director Eamonn Murphy speaks with Senior Lecturer and Just Cause co-director Dr Rachel Killean, unpacking the mechanics of victim participation in international criminal law. Drawing from Dr Killean’s research on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, this episode explores how victims can be involved in trials for violations of international criminal law. From the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to the International Criminal Court, we consider the active role that victims play as represented parties in certain international tribunals; we question the assumption that providing testimony is necessarily “retraumatising” for victims, and outline the support systems for victims that exist in both international and domestic legal systems. If this topic of victim participation piques your interest, please see Dr Killean and Professor Luke Moffett's article in the Journal of International Criminal Justice, available to read here: https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/130043243/Killean_Moffett_260517.pdf.

Dr Rachel Killean is a Senior Lecturer at Sydney Law School, and the current Associate Dean for Student Life in Sydney Law School. Dr Killean is the Co-Convener of the ANZSOC Green Criminology thematic group and the Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Climate and Environmental Law, and is a member of the Sydney Institute of Criminology, the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, and the Sydney Environment Institute.

Did you know there are currently over 18,000 pieces of legislation in Australia? Do you think you could easily explain what they all say? How did legislation become so voluminous and complex, and what does this mean for the rule of law and the rights of the individual?

In this episode, LLB students Grace Lagan and Jamey Wang chat to Professor Lisa Burton Crawford about these issues and more, as explored in her recent publication, “The Problem of Complex Legislation”, which this episode is based on. The article can be accessed at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/legal-theory/article/problem-of-complex-legislation/670046444760B57B0FAE844D6E6ECFBD?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark.

Prof. Lisa Burton Crawford is a Professor of Public and Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney Law School. Professor Crawford's expertise spans constitutional law, administrative law, statutory interpretation and legal theory, with a research focus on the intersection between these areas of doctrine.

As the dire humanitarian crisis in Palestine continues to intensify, international law as a field has seemed powerless against the mounting civilian casualties and widespread famine caused by Israel's military campaign. How can the legal community step in and stop this onslaught, and what protections truly exist for those caught in war zones?

In this episode, JD I student Fatima Nadeem talks with Dr Tamer Morris to explore the role and limitations of international law in addressing human rights violations and achieving social justice in times of crisis.

Tamer Morris is a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, where he teaches and researches in international law, United Nations peacekeeping, and international humanitarian law. Tamer also teaches in private international law and the conflict of laws. Tamer was awarded his PhD from the University of Sydney on the legal obligation to protect in UN peacekeeping. Tamer’s current research focus is on the laws of the protection of civilians, and the legal responsibility of the State to protect.

Just Cause is back for Season 3! Get ready for a wide-reaching dissection of social justice and its intersection with the law, with Sydney Law School students and professors broaching topics such as videolink technologies in the criminal justice system, tax policy and global inequality, and the inaccessibility of Australia's 18,000 pieces of legislation. To find out more, stay tuned to all our episodes over the course of this semester — you can listen to Just Cause on SoundCloud, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

In this first episode, JD III student Mahati Garimella and LLB III student Victoria Miller are joined by Emeritus Professor Barbara McDonald to discuss the development of privacy law, and the implications of the recently implemented statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy. Professor McDonald shares her journey from being a law student, to leading the ALRC Inquiry into Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era (2013–2014). She also explores key developments in privacy law over the decades, and how this evolving area of law intersects with social justice.

Before retiring from Sydney Law School, Professor McDonald had taught a range of subjects including torts, equity, and media law, and is also an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

In this episode of Just Cause, LLB II student, Reeyaa Agrawal, and final year LLB V student, Sarah Oh, are joined by Professor Fleur Johns, the incoming Dean of Sydney Law School, to explore the intersections of law and social justice. Fleur shares her journey from corporate law to academia, discussing the role of pro-bono work in corporate practice and how social justice can be integrated into legal careers. We also delve into her research on international law and technology, and data governance and its influence on global power dynamics and social justice movements reflecting on her work on Guantanamo Bay.

Fleur Johns has been appointed as the new Head of School and Dean of Sydney Law School, and will take up her new role in advance of Semester 1 2025. Professor Johns obtained a Doctorate of Law (SJD) and Masters of Law (LL.M.) at Harvard University and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2021-2025) and a Visiting Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2021-2024). She is celebrated for her commitment to research excellence and her discipline, launching a new Faculty Research Strategy for Law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), leading interdisciplinary research collaborations, and spending six years as a practicing lawyer. She is currently a Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW and serves on UNSW’s Academic Board.

How can community legal centres best support those in need? How can their activist role lead to progressive law reform, improving the criminal legal system so that it works more effectively? How can we elevate the voices of victim survivors? In this episode, Sydney Law School’s Social Justice Advisory Board co-chairs, Rachel Killean and Ben Mostyn, speak with our current practitioner-in-residence, Liz Snell, about legal assistance as a fundamental human right, about community legal centres’ role in the adoption of NSW’s new coercive control legislation, and about practicing social justice in everyday circumstances.

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.

Discussions about poverty are often marred by pervasive myths that lead us to blame impoverished individuals for their own circumstances. In this episode Juliette Marchant talks to Jeanette Kennett and Allan McCay about the corrosive effects of these poverty myths upon social policy, political discourse and the criminal justice system. Is there potential for reform in a political and legal system that is often criticised for its lack of empathy? Listen to this episode to find out!

About our guests:

Jeanette Kennett is a professor emerita in Philosophy at Macquarie University, Sydney. Her work addresses debates in moral psychology, ethics of friendship, and neuroethics. She joined Macquarie in 2009 as a CoRE joint appointment between the Philosophy Department and the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science. After completing her PhD in 1994 she spent a further ten years in the Philosophy Department at Monash as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. From 2004 – 2008 she was Principal Research Fellow in The Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the Australian National University and also at Charles Sturt University (2008-9).

Allan McCay is Co-director of The Sydney Institute of Criminology and an Academic Fellow at the University of Sydney Law School where he lectures in Criminal Law and coordinates the Legal Research units. He is President of the Institute of Neurotechnology and Law and was named by Australasian Lawyer as one of the most influential lawyers of 2021, 2023 and 2024 for his work on neurotechnology and the law.

How can the law best address sexual offences in an appropriately sensitive way? How can complainants be properly supported despite the adversarial nature of our legal system? In this episode, Just Cause co-director Rachel Killean talks to Julia McLean about courtroom questioning in sexual offence proceedings, about Ground Rules hearings and recognising witnesses as diverse human beings, and about improving complainants' experiences with the criminal justice system.

Julia McLean is a solicitor at the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. She has also worked at the NSW Law Reform Commission and as a Headnote Reporter for the Council of Law Reporting for NSW.

Julia completed the public prosecutor-in-residence program at the University of Sydney Law School in early 2024, where her research project focused on courtroom questioning of complainants in adult sexual offence prosecutions, including an examination of section 41 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) and the use of Ground Rules Hearings.

This podcast was recorded during her residency at the Law School, after which she commenced as a Principal Legal Officer at the Australian Law Reform Commission working on the Justice Responses to Sexual Violence Inquiry.

Have you ever wondered why Australia is the only Western democracy without a justiciable Human Rights Act? What are the current challenges in the legal education system, and how can it be improved? In this episode, JD students Charles Hao and Mahati Garimella delve into these pressing questions with Professor Emeritus Simon Rice. Join us as we explore the complexities of Australia’s human rights framework and the areas in need of reform.

Appointed to Sydney Law School in 2017, Simon was the Kim Santow Chair of Law and Social Justice from 2020 until his retirement in 2024. He was previously a professor of law and director of law reform and social justice at the ANU College of Law, a senior lecturer in the Division of Law at Macquarie University, and a lecturer in the University of NSW Law Faculty where he was director of clinical programs. He has won a number of teaching awards, and has been awarded competitive research grants in the fields of education, and law and society.

Self-defence has a complicated role in the prosecution of victim-survivors of domestic violence who use force against their abusers. In this episode, LLB student, Indigo Crosweller, chats with Professor Arlie Loughnan about how defence practitioners might approach a victim-survivor client and the accessibility of the defence of self-defence. The full report, upon which this episode is based, can be found on the website for the Centre for Women’s Justice Research on their ‘Self-Defence briefings’ page here: https://www.centreforwomensjustice.org.uk/selfdefence-briefings.

Dr Arlie Loughnan is Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Law Theory at the University of Sydney Law School. Her research concerns criminal law, legal theory and legal history. Arlie's particular interests are constructions of criminal responsibility and non-responsibility, the interaction of legal and expert medical knowledges and the historical development of the criminal law.