Black Lawyers Journal’s Post

Thank you to the committee members, Christopher Trowbridge, Sonia Abraham, Alejandro Ripoll and Göran Andersson, the organizers Mats Hellström and team, and last but not least to our COO Maria de Sá Nogueira and Vera Felner for this week's memorable Legalink Global Network of Independent Law Firms conference in Stockholm. Among the many highlights, the fine analysis and rich debate on the impact of geopolitics on lawyering shows me how it is impossible not to see how conflicts, wars and the political position of each country affect the practice of law, either because of the interests we are led to defend or because of trends in international business movements. We live in a highly polarized world, where underlying interests drastically affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. It's interesting to have all these reflections in one of the Nobel Prize cities, which honored Willy Brandt in 1971 and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, who worked so hard for a peaceful dialogue between East and West. I must end this post with the wise words of another laureate, Albert Schweitzer: “Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal”. #legalink #international #lawfirm

Summer musings: ☀ In this paper, João Victor Morales Sallani and I reflect on the many cultural frames embedded in the #ICJ. https://lnkd.in/daManpBN We see the World Court as the site of cultural struggles that play out at multiple levels. In particular, we unpack and discuss three layers of cultural confrontations: the first relating to the individual cultural identities of the Court's agents; the second to their shared cultural commitments and discourses as international lawyers; and the third to the institutional culture and tradition of the Court itself. The overlaps, interactions, and competition among those various frames shape the Court's system of meaning, inform the social relationships among its participants, and ultimately affect the production of judicial outcomes. Comments welcome!

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal held, by 3-2 majority, that it is open to defendants to challenge, by way of defence to prosecution for an offence of incitement to knowingly take part in an unauthorized assembly, the lawfulness of authorities' prohibition of public meetings. The assembly in question was one about "June 4" in 2021, at Victoria Park. https://lnkd.in/gCKme8uM The majority decisions, by Ribeiro PJ (supported by Fok PJ and Gleeson NPJ) held that it is open to a defendant to raise by way of defence a collateral challenge to the lawfulness of the prohibition, including a constitutional challenge. The minority view, by Cheung CJ (supported by Lam PJ), in contrast, is that it is sufficient for the prosecution merely to prove the formal validity of a prohibition notice, and once proved the defences outlined above will not be open to a defendant. This very important difference notwithstanding, in the final analysis, the Court unanimously held that on the facts the prohibition in question was a lawful and proportionate restriction of the defendant's freedom of assembly. Her conviction was restored. This is yet another testament to (a) the Hong Kong Court's adherence to the common law tradition of legal analysis and debate, and (b) Overseas Non-Permanent Judges' contribution to our jurisprudence. #hongkong #ruleoflaw #constitutionallaw #freedomofexpression #humanrights

This toolkit from Association of Charitable Foundations promises to be a useful introductory resource for foundations considering exploring the origins of their wealth in connection to historical enslavement. The launch discussion should be an interesting one. See you there? #Charities #Governance #CharitableFoundations #GrantMaking

In this article, Alma Diamond begins with a question: is it really possible to occupy a shared legal world if we live in very different moral, political and philosophical worlds? She then explores the persistent jurisprudential debates about the possibility, and logic, of distinctively legal justification. Against this backdrop, she clarifies the structure and force of practice-based constitutional arguments and provides a detailed analysis of the jurisprudential view they rely on, and of the nature of “legal bootstrapping”. Read the paper here: https://lnkd.in/gwDpZKEy

An important discussion.

[ADVOCACY FOR SCRUTINY OF THE BENCH] “ Why the relevance of external advocating agencies as a ‘watch dog’ for ‘the Bench’? The Bench has been the custodian in the standards of Justice, which civilized societies demand. Yet, a highly conservative system decorated with numerous procedural rules and doctrines governing it services to protect the Judicial power constitutionally accorded, and insulate it ‘force of power’ from external authoritative attacks, which is intended to undermine or derail the Institutional capital reputation. For such crucial reasons, there is a prohibition of Judicial advisory opinions on general public issues as a rule complied by Presiding Judges of competent Courts of most Jurisdiction. It is for that same reasons legal intellectuals having understanding to the complexity, and the operating mechanism of the Bench, thus, have the capacity to carefully critique the intra-operating structural mechanism while in their midst, to serve as advocating ‘watch dog’ on-behalf of the open society, and protect the system from being hijacked unconsciously in a virtue of complacency by Colleagues granted the power of the ‘Scale balance’ and the ‘Sword of the law’ to serve the society in the spirit of the rule of law.” E. T. SENZU Professor of Law and Economics Blackstone Africa-Asia Jurists Center #BlackstoneCenter #BlackstoneJournal #ElsevierPublishers #Africa #Asia #ThePunchNews

am usually the guy making the questions, but this time it was my turn to be the interviewee! Many thanks to Felix Ronkes Agerbeek for making me a part of his Podcast series, Europa Felix, a great project in which "all things EU-law related" are discussed. In this issue I was given the opportunity to talk about my research on the Court of Justice of the European Union, the role of institution-building, judicial dialogue with national courts, constitutional conflict in the #EU, and several other issues. The experience has given me an insight into my overall work as an academic, which, according to Felix, is very much influenced by my exposure to professional practice both inside the Court of Justice and later as a practitioner pleading before the Court. I was never made aware of how closely the connection between these different angles and perspectives into EU law had fleshed the overall outcome of my written academic work and thinking. Felix also asked about some more unknown projects of mine, like my stint into the world of documentary directing, a role I took in 2014 when I co-wrote and directed "Un Tribunal para la Constitución", a documentary film about the creation of the Spanish Constitutional Court back in 1980 (and also composed and performed the score!). The documentary film is about the Spanish court, but it's mostly a story about how to create a constitutional court, so it could apply to any other country. I'm grateful to Felix for devoting some question time to this project of mine that lies very close to my heart. So if you are into "all things EU-law", plus a bit of this and that on courts and institution-building, you might be interested! Thank you, dear Felix, for giving me the opportunity to address your listeners. It was a joy to record and work with you. The Spotify link is available here: https://lnkd.in/dxV-fbRv #eulaw #eu #europeanunion #courtofjustice #courts #litigation #justice #constitutionallaw #constitutionalrights #ecj #judiciary

The legal landscape of the 21st century is undergoing a metamorphosis, marked by rapid technological advancements, globalization, and shifting societal needs. This dynamic environment presents both exhilarating prospects and daunting challenges for the next generation of young lawyers. - ABDULSAMOD TOHEEB Read article: https://lnkd.in/dx6aWnHk

How do you make the most of your Chambers submission? Our Partner and Head of Directories Linsay Leslie caught up with Alex Marsh, UK Research Director at Chambers and Partners to discuss his top tips. Alex's advice includes choosing referees who will make time to speak to the Chambers researchers, including matter values wherever possible and studying the table you are entering to ensure you only include relevant matters. The discussion also covered changes to Chambers this year, including new and reconfigured tables and regional alterations. Read the blog ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gRFc4i7f #legaldirectories #lawfirms #chambersandpartners