Professor John Flood on The Rule of Law: are lawyers necessary or even the most capable of maintaining it?

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Posted on: 21 September 2015
By: wyattr1
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Filed under: Events, Uncategorized

Distinguished faculty lecture followed by reception, 29 September 2015, 5pm.

The central argument is that the legal system and the rule of law are now the domain of the legal profession. Professional ethos, which was once based on a compact with the community, has effectively been broken asunder by the entrenchment of neoliberalism. This has entailed justice being subject to economic tests such as cost-benefit analysis and gradually being divorced from any moral force within society. The spirit of Beveridge has been lost. Can we recover this? If so, how? To begin a debate on this I turn to anthropological studies of acephalous societies to show how the law jobs in society could be done with partial help from lawyers and a re-engagement with community.

All welcome, admission free, please register online.