In this episode Tamsin Paige chairs a discussion among regular hosts Douglas Guilfoyle, Juliette MacIntyre, Imogen Saunders and Ntina Tzouvala on the new International Court of Justice Advisory opinion "Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem". It's a blockbuster episode for a blockbuster opinion.

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

Called to the Bar

11. Group therapy: The new ICJ advisory opinion on Palestine

This week Douglas Guilfoyle, Tamsin Phillipa Paige, Imogen Saunders and Ntina Tzouvala discuss the challenges of teaching international law and the trend towards more online education. Recommendations:

Open access textbook: Sué González Hauck, Raffaela Kunz, Max Milas (eds), Public International Law: A Multi-Perspective Approach https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003451327; 

Henry Jones and Aoife O’Donoghue, "History and self-reflection in the teaching of international law" https://academic.oup.com/lril/article/10/1/71/6587156; 

Jean-Pierre Gauci, Barrie Sander (eds), Teaching International Law: Reflections on Pedagogical Practice in Context https://www.routledge.com/9781032551517; and

a seminar on Gauci and Sander's book featuring contributors talking about legal eduation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_DzxIekK1k.

18. Crisis, controversy and online learning: how do we teach international law?

This week Juliette McIntyre talks with Tamsin Phillipa Paige and Aoife O'Donoghue about Security Council reform. Is it possible? (Spoiler: not really. Additional spoiler: Tamsin taps the sign.)

Aoife's recommendations: 

Dipo Faloyin Africa is not a Country (Penguin, 2022) https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/444389/africa-is-not-a-country-by-faloyin-dipo/9781529114829

Priyasha Saksena, "Building the Nation: Sovereignty and International Law in the Decolonisation of South Asia". (2020) 23 Journal of the History of International Law 52

Jonn Elledge A History of the World in 47 Borders (Hachette, 2024)

Only Murders in the Building https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11691774/

Silo https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14688458/

And the speech where Ursula K le Guin said "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings." https://www.ursulakleguin.com/nbf-medal

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

Called to the Bar: International Law over Drinks

20. Security Council reform: is it possible? (No, it's not)

This week Imogen Saunders chairs a discussion with Alex Green and Douglas Guilfoyle on their forthcoming article "The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty: Statehood and Security in the Face of Anthropogenic Climate Change". Can a state still exist without land territory? Is the new Australia-Tuvalu treaty a landmark climate mobility agreement of a neo-colonial arrangement?

An advance access version of the article is available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4961093

The text of the Falepili Union Treaty is available at: https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/australia-tuvalu-falepili-union-treaty.pdf

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

22. Climate change and the survival of small island states: The new Tuvalu-Australia Treaty

This week Juliette McIntyre, having just finished her PhD, asks the rest of the panel about career planning. Where should you aim to work, how much should you publish, when should you turn the PhD into a book, and do you ever recover from post PhD mental exhaustion? Featuring Ntina Tzouvala, Douglas Guilfoyle and Tamsin Paige.

Recommendations:

Ntina Tzouvala

Andrea Lawlor, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781529007671/

Tamsin:

Seanan McGuire writing as Mira Grant, Newsflesh Trilogy, https://www.miragrant.com/series/newsflesh/

Douglas:

Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780007373055/the-yiddish-policemens-union/

China Mieville, The City and the City, https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9780330534192/

Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber, https://www.hachette.com.au/roger-zelazny/the-chronicles-of-amber

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

25. What Juliette did next: academic career planning

The final episode of season 1! This week Douglas Guilfoyle, Tamsin Phillipa Paige, Imogen Saunders, Juliette McIntyre review the year in international law, the year in their own careers and the life of the podcast, and breaking news regarding the International Criminal Court's issuance of arrest warrants in respect of the Situation in the State of Palestine. Strong language straight out of the gate!

Recommendations and resources:

On the imminent Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women case against Afghanistan: https://www.dfat.gov.au/news/media-release/launch-initiative-accountability-afghanistans-violations-cedaw-declaration

Tom Dannenbaum's explainer on ICC Arrest Warrants in the Situation in Palestine: https://www.justsecurity.org/105048/icc-arrest-warrants/

Summer reading: Anton Hur, Towards Eternity (Juliette's recommendation); Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway (Imogen's recommendation); Gail Carriger's ParasolVerse novels (Tamsin's recommendation); Jeff Noon, A Man of Shadows (Douglas' recommendation).

Douglas in a West Point tar bucket: https://x.com/djag2/status/1852086476689060272/photo/1

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

26. End of Year Drinks: The Year in Review

In this episode Ntina Tzouvala and Douglas Guilfoyle discuss one of the great misunderstood cases of international law: The Lotus Case. What is 'the Lotus principle'? Does the Lotus case even stand for it? How did the case come about and what was really at stake between Turkey and France?

Douglas and Ntina recommend reading:

Douglas Guilfoyle, "SS Lotus (France v Turkey) (1927)" in Landmark Cases in Public International Law. https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/landmark-cases-in-public-international-law-9781509918782/

Umut Özsu's article, "De-territorializing and Re-territorializing Lotus: Sovereignty and Systematicity as Dialectical Nation-Building in Early Republican Turkey," published in the Leiden Journal of International Law. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/leiden-journal-of-international-law/article/deterritorializing-and-reterritorializing-lotus-sovereignty-and-systematicity-as-dialectical-nationbuilding-in-early-republican-turkey/B4A1BF31CE88EFC6BA9B2758D8869750

"The Lotus Principle in ICJ Jurisprudence: Was the Ship Ever Afloat?" by Hugh Handeyside. https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjil/vol29/iss1/3/

"Letting Lotus Bloom" by An Hertogen, published in the European Journal of International Law. 

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

27. What everyone gets wrong about the Lotus Case

What does the practise of international law look like at the day to day level? What is it like to be an international lawyer? This week Tamsin Phillipa Paige speaks to a panel of international lawyers with experience in the private and public sectors: Dr Sarah McCosker (Lexbridge Lawyers); CJ McKenzie (Office of International Law, Australian Attorney General's Department) and Commodore David Letts (Royal Australian Navy and University of Wollongong). All guests are speaking in their personal capacity and their views should not be attributed to their employers or clients, past or present.

Recommendations include:

Rob Mclaughlin, "‘Giving’ Operational Legal Advice: Context and Method" (2011) 50 Military Law and the Law of War Review 99 (paywall) https://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/mllwr/50/1/article-p99.xml

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

31. International law in practice (or is it practise?)

This week we have another instalment in our "what everyone gets wrong about ..." classic cases series, focussing on the" Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project" or "Danube Dam" or "the great river heist" case. Tamsin Phillipa Paige explains to Imogen Saunders why this is much more than an environmental law case.

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

36. What everyone gets wrong about the Danube Dam case

Given the recent papal conclave, this week Juliette McIntyre discusses with Ntina Tzouvala and Douglas Guilfoyle two of the textbook 'oddities' of international law, the statehood of Vatican City and the sovereign order of the Knights of Malta. Content warning for darker themes towards the end of the episode.

Recommendations:

Brad Mehldau, Live in Tokyo (album) https://open.spotify.com/album/7sXzZ0Rdqz2VU62t4MtCfs

Sinners (movie) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31193180/

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

40. The Vatican and the Knights of Malta: oddities of international law?

This week Dr Tamsin Phillipa Paige is joined by Matteo Bassetti and Manon Beury to examine the UK Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers. In this case the Supreme Court ruled that a gender recognition certificate does not change a person's legal sex for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act. The episode explores both the significant implications this has for the human rights of trans people but also asks - why do human rights courts seem to find trans rights so difficult?

41. The Scottish Ministers Case and Trans Rights as Human Rights

This week Tamsin Phillipa Paige and Douglas Guilfoyle discuss the IDF's interdiction of the Madleen aid vessel bound for Gaza, the law of blockade in naval warfare, and its contested relationship with the crime of starvation.

Sidebar: we discuss hypotheticals in cases of state responsibility for interdicting vessels at sea and the possibility of ITLOS hearing cases under UNCLOS - we should have noted in this particular case Israel is not a party to UNCLOS.

Recommendations:

Douglas Guilfoyle, The Mavi Marmara Incident and Blockade in Armed Conflict, https://academic.oup.com/bybil/article/81/1/171/329512

Phillip Drew, The Law of Maritime Blockade: Past, Present, and Future, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-law-of-maritime-blockade-9780198808435

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

43. Emergency cast: Israel's blockade of Gaza

Do you want a rock, DJ - or an island? This week the panel discusses the difference between rocks and islands in international law and why it matters, with special reference to the South China Sea case and subsequent legal arguments about archipelagoes. Tamsin Phillipa Paige chairs a discussion featuring co-hosts Douglas Guilfoyle and Imogen Saunders and special guest Tim Stephens.

Recommendations: 

Alex P. Dela Cruz, Making History, Making Archipelagoes, https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1673215/bs12.pdf

Donald R Rothwell and Tim Stephens, The International Law of the Sea, https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/international-law-of-the-sea-9781509958382/

Imogen Saunders, 'The Limits of the Natural State Doctrine: Rocks, islands and artificial intervention in a changing world' in Rothwell and Letts (eds), Law of the Sea in South East Asia, https://www.routledge.com/Law-of-the-Sea-in-South-East-Asia-Environmental-Navigational-and-Security-Challenges/Rothwell-Letts/p/book/9781032240718

Douglas Guilfoyle, The South China Sea Award: How Should We Read the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea?, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-international-law/article/south-china-sea-award-how-should-we-read-the-un-convention-on-the-law-of-the-sea/DD5B90D9438D8B3C55BC57EA6D8CD175

Micehlle Magorian, Goodnight Mister Tom (1981)

William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait


45. Paper, Scissors - Rock or Island?

This week we have a special episode recorded live at the Symposium Bar and Restaurant at the Australian National University as a side-event at the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law annual conference.

Douglas Guilfoyle, Tamsin Phillipa Paige, Imogen Saunders, Juliette McIntyre and Jessie Hohmann discuss methodology in international law scholarship: what is it, is it even possible and why does it freak lawyers out so much to talk about it? 

46. Dial M for Methodology - Called to the Bar Live

This week Ntina Tzouvala is joined by Juan Auz to discuss the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency. What is it, how did it come about and what's its significance? (Note: this episode was recorded before the ICJ advisory opinion on climate change was handed down.)

Recommendations:

Juan Auz, The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency: A Global South Contribution to Climate Governance, https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-inter-american-court-of-human-rights-advisory-opinion-on-the-climate-emergency-a-global-south-contribution-to-climate-governance/  

Juan Auz, The Political Ecology of Climate Remedies in Latin America and the Caribbean, https://academic.oup.com/jhrp/article/16/1/182/7571304

Thea Riofrancos, The Security–Sustainability Nexus: Lithium Onshoring in the Global North Open Access, https://direct.mit.edu/glep/article/23/1/20/111308/The-Security-Sustainability-Nexus-Lithium

Brett Christophers, The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won't Save the Planet, https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3069-the-price-is-wrong?srsltid=AfmBOooLscbjPoSutKIMFM7mhnMXn2UBAFNVEScYMddvkkhT6YUgtOcU 

47. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights' Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency

David Bowie once asked, is there life on Mars? Today we ask, is there life 3,000 metres or more below sea level – and what should international law do to protect it and regulate its exploitation?

In this episode we are joined by Professor Joanna Mossop of the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington to discuss the 2023 Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction – known as the BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty for short. 

Recommendations:

D Bodansky, "Four Treaties in One: The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement", https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/four-treaties-in-one-the-biodiversity-beyond-national-jurisdiction-agreement/9AAFCE1E5F60EF1ABF83AC8DB3829605

Fran Humphries (ed), "Decoding Marine Genetic Resource Governance Under the BBNJ Agreement", https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-72100-7

Joanna Mossop and David Freestone, "The Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Commentary and Analysis" https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-agreement-on-marine-biodiversity-of-areas-beyond-national-jurisdiction-9780198918578?cc=au&lang=en&

Elizabeth Moon, Paksenarrion Series, https://www.goodreads.com/series/49608-paksenarrion




48. Life on the deep sea bed? Marine genetic resources and the Agreement on the Conservation of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

What are the consequences of the International Court of Justice's recent Advisory Opinion on climate change, especially for the small island developing States who spearheaded this initiative? 

Associate Professor Ntina Tzouvala talks through the opinion and its consequences with two practitioner academics with deep knowledge of the proceedings: Associate Professor Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh of the Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam who represented the Government of Vanuatu, and Dylan Asafo, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, who represented the Government of the Cook Islands.

49. The ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change

Fifty episodes in, and we’re still going strong (and still without footnotes). In this special milestone edition of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, host Douglas Guilfoyle (Professor of International Law and Security, UNSW Canberra) is joined by the full crew: Dr Juliette McIntyre (University of South Australia), A/Prof Imogen Saunders (ANU Law School), A/Prof Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin Law School), and A/Prof Ntina Tzouvala (UNSW Sydney).

To mark our 50th outing, we flipped the format and handed the reigns to you, our listeners, who supplied the questions. From “How would you found your own State?” to “What procedural rule would you change at the ICJ?”, from fixing international law to picking our favourite PCIJ judges, the crew fields questions that are thoughtful, fun, and sometimes downright hard to answer without more coffee.

Along the way we debate national animals, missing voices in international law, and even who should play us in the clearly inevitable Netflix series.

Pour yourself a glass, join the conversation, and celebrate with us as Called to the Bar hits its half-century.

Recommendations:

On Australian treaty law: https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/judgments/judgments-2000-current/minister-immigration-and-multicultural-and-indigenous-affairs-v-b

On Greek poetry: https://wordscene.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/the-last-stop-by-seferis/

What Douglas was wearing: https://bsky.app/profile/djag2.bsky.social/post/3ltjl5shjuc2x

50. Your international law questions answered!

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, host Dr Tamsin Phillipa Paige is joined by Professor Rob McLaughlin and Dr Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg to unpack a troubling event: the U.S. military’s kinetic strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean resulting in the deaths of 11 people. The strike, ordered under President Trump for “deterrent” effect, has drawn widespread criticism and bizarre denials from the Venezuelan Government, which has gone so far as to claim video evidence of the incident is a deep fake.

Together, the panel explores the (entirely lacking) legal basis for the strike, the blurring lines between the “war on terror” and the “war on drugs,” and the troubling precedent such an action sets. With U.S. rhetoric shifting from hypothetical strikes on cartels to lethal real-world operations, the conversation asks whether international law—and the frameworks of necessity, proportionality, and state sovereignty—have been left in the rear view mirror.

As always, these are informal conversations, reflecting the personal views of the participants rather than their institutions.

Recommendations:

Firefly - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/

Nimona - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19500164/

51. "Drug boats, cartels, and kinetic strikes, oh my"

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, host Associate Professor Ntina Tzouvala (UNSW Sydney) is joined by Dr Juliette McIntyre (University of South Australia) and guest Dr Victor Kattan (University of Nottingham) to explore the fraught question of judicial impartiality and recusal at the International Court of Justice.
Prompted by Judge Julia Sebutinde’s controversial remarks in August 2025—suggesting she was “counting on the Lord to stand on the side of Israel” while sitting on the South Africa v. Israel genocide case – the panel dives into the rules of the ICJ Statute on recusals, impartiality, and whether judges can ever be removed from a case against their will.
Drawing on Juliette’s procedure goblin insights and Victor’s expertise in ICJ history, the discussion revisits the South West Africa cases of the 1960s, where judicial ideology and political pressure collided in one of the Court’s most notorious recusal controversies. Alongside this, the conversation probes the tension between law, politics, and personal conviction in shaping the legitimacy of the world court.
As always, these are informal conversations over drinks, reflecting the personal views of the participants and not those of their institutions.


Recommendations:
 1. On Spender: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/leiden-journal-of-international-law/article/abs/there-was-an-elephant-in-the-court-room-reflections-on-the-role-of-judge-sir-percy-spender-18971985-in-the-south-west-africa-cases-19601966-after-half-a-century/0F8164A4630662420062B787999C6AF1

2. On Khan: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/asian-journal-of-international-law/article/abs/decolonizing-the-international-court-of-justice-the-experience-of-judge-sir-muhammad-zafrulla-khan-in-the-south-west-africa-cases/21CEB7D6DFE3E72CDEB7EA293D37A570 

3. On the UK and judge elections at the ICJ: https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/4019478/14Kattan-unpaginated.pdf 

4. On judicial independence at the international level: https://find.library.unisa.edu.au/discovery/fulldisplay/alma9916026974801831/61USOUTHAUS_INST:ROR

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait


52. Recusal, Impartiality, and Judicial Ideology at the ICJ

Following Australia's expulsion of the ambassador of Iran for Iran's complicity in anti-semitic attacks, Dr Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin Univeristy) sits down with former ambassador, and honorary ANU professor of international law, Matthew Neuhaus to talk through the legal implications. As usual, we begin with some background on Matthew's career path through international law (and favoured drink).

53. What does it mean to expel an ambassador?

In this episode, host Dr Ntina Tzouvala is joined by Professor Ardi Imseis (Queen’s Law School, Canada) for a timely conversation about international law, the United Nations, and the long struggle for Palestinian statehood.

As Western states — including Australia — formally recognize the State of Palestine at the current UN General Assembly, Professor Imseis brings a unique perspective as both scholar and practitioner. A former UN official with UNRWA and UNHCR, a member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Yemen (2019–2021), and legal counsel in recent ICJ advisory proceedings on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Imseis combines deep practical experience with rigorous scholarship.

Drawing on his highly regarded 2023 book, "The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity", Ardi and Ntina explore how the UN’s management of the “Palestine question” has reflected a persistent gap between international law’s promises and its political application. Their discussion considers whether the UN has upheld the rule of law - or merely  rule by law —in sustaining what Ardi calls the*international legal subalternity of Palestine and its people.

As always, these are informal conversations, reflecting the personal views of the participants and not those of their institutions or any other bodies with which they may have worked or with which they may currently be affiliated.

Recommendations:

Ardi Imseis, The United Nations and the Question of Palestine
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/united-nations-and-the-question-of-palestine/E8241B33B6C07028765E5E6785AF5CDE

Edward Said, The Question of Palestine, https://www.amazon.com.au/Question-Palestine-Edward-W-Said/dp/0679739882

Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years War on Palestine, https://www.amazon.com.au/Hundred-Years-War-Palestine-Colonialism/dp/1250787653

Victor Kattan, From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1891-1949, http://plutobooks.com/product/from-coexistence-to-conquest/

Noura Erakat, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine, https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/justice-some 

Ardi Imseis, Partition for Palestine Revisited: On the Origins of Palestine’s International Legal Subalternity, https://law.stanford.edu/publications/the-united-nations-plan-of-partition-for-palestine-revisited-on-the-origins-of-palestines-international-legal-subalternity/

54. Recognition, the United Nations and the Question of Palestine

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, host Dr Juliette McIntyre (University of South Australia) is joined by A/Prof Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin Law School) and special guest Kate Gibson, an international criminal defence lawyer with nearly two decades of experience before the world’s most prominent tribunals.

From the ICTR to the ICC, Kate has represented accused persons in cases arising from conflicts in Rwanda, the DRC, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and the former Yugoslavia. A former President of the Association of Defence Counsel Practising before International Courts and Tribunals, she brings a candid, insider’s view of what it means to uphold the rights of the accused in complex international prosecutions.

Together, the panel explores the conditions facing defence lawyers - including underfunding, structural inequities, and the challenge of maintaining fairness in systems requiring the support of states. They also consider the ethical and procedural dilemmas of defending clients tried in absentia.

As always, these are informal conversations over drinks, reflecting the personal views of the participants and not those of their institutions.


Recommendations

ICC proceedings livestream, https://www.icc-cpi.int/streaming-all-displays

Yvonne McDermott Rees, Fairness in International Criminal Trials, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/fairness-in-international-criminal-trials-9780198739814

Yvonne McDermott Rees, Proving International Crimes, https://global.oup.com/academic/product/proving-international-crimes-9780198842972?cc=au&lang=en&

55. Defending the Defence: Life on the Other Side of the Courtroom

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, host Dr Ntina Tzouvala (UNSW Sydney) is joined by Dr Julia Dehm (La Trobe Law School) and Dr Cristy Clark (University of Canberra) to unpack Australia’s newly announced 2035 emissions reduction target - a pledge to cut national emissions by 62–70% below 2005 levels - as well as the international legal framework within which it sits.
The conversation examines how the government’s language of a “credible contribution” to global climate efforts contrasts with the more stringent standards articulated in the International Court of Justice’s recent Advisory Opinion on Climate Change. The panel asks whether Australia’s approach treats the 1.5°C goal as truly binding or merely aspirational -something “within reach” but politically optional.
Drawing on insights from climate justice, environmental law, and human rights, the discussion explores broader questions of legal accountability, temporal justice, and equity in global climate governance. What does it mean for states to align their domestic targets with evolving international obligations? And can the law meaningfully bridge the gap between ambition and action?
As always, these are informal conversations over drinks, reflecting the personal views of the participants and not those of their institutions.

Recommendations:
Julia Dehm, Reconsidering REDD+ Authority, Power and Law in the Green Economy, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reconsidering-redd/5D54EFE59BBA35999FEEBD9ACA8EA449

Julia Dehm, Becoming a Climate Conscious Lawyer: Climate Change and the Australian Legal System, https://www.latrobe.edu.au/library/ebureau/publications/featured/becoming-a-climate-conscious-lawyer

Cristy Clark, The Lawful Forest: A Critical History of Property, Protest and Spatial Justice, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/lawful-forest/102FDDD9544740A8ADE16461AAFB1BCE

Cristy Clark, Legal Geographies of Water: The Spaces, Places and Narratives of Human-Water Relations, https://www.routledge.com/Legal-Geographies-of-Water-The-Spaces-Places-and-Narratives-of-Human-Water-Relations/Clark/p/book/9781032225968

Law at the End of the World Podcast: https://lawattheendoftheworld.buzzsprout.com/


56. Does Australia have Credible Climate Targets? (Spoilers: no)

The UNRWA Opinion: The ICJ, the future of the UN system and ... K-Pop Demon Hunters?

In this episode of Called to the Bar: International Law Over Drinks, host Dr Juliette McIntyre (University of South Australia) is joined by Dr Tamer Morris (University of Sydney) for a dive into the International Court of Justice’s recent advisory opinion on the Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory — better known as the UNRWA Opinion.

The conversation explores what the Court actually said about the legal consequences of Israel’s ongoing occupation and the corresponding duties of third states and international organizations. Juliette and Tamer unpack how the ICJ approached questions of sovereignty, occupation, and self-determination, and how this opinion builds upon—or departs from—the Court’s earlier 2004 Wall Advisory Opinion.

Along the way, they discuss:

- The Court’s reaffirmation of the illegality of prolonged occupation and annexation;

- The obligations of non-recognition and non-assistance for third states;

- The implications for UN agencies such as UNRWA;

- The future of international law, regionalism and the UN system; and

- K-Pop Demon Hunters.

As always, these are informal conversations over drinks, reflecting the personal views of the participants and not those of their institutions.

Recommendations:

Marco Longobardo, The Use of Armed Force in Occupied Territory, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/use-of-armed-force-in-occupied-territory/E3BFD67926CE0BF856E08277D6218C7C

Strong Girl Bong-soon (K-drama) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6263222/
Goblin (or Guardian: The Lonely and Great God) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5994364/
When Life Gives You Tangerines (extreme sad feelings warning) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26471411/

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait


57. The UNRWA Opinion: The ICJ, the future of the UN system and ... K-Pop Demon Hunters?

Pack your travel mugs and methodological curiosity - Dr Tamsin Phillipa Paige is on the road! This roving episode of Called to the Bar comes to you from Newcastle and Manchester, where Tamsin chats with an impressive lineup of international law scholars about everything from space law to feminist lawyering, utopias to witnesses in international criminal law, and maybe even a  bit about gardens.

Along the way, we hear from: Cris van Eijk (Newcastle), Dr Matteo Bassetti (Essex), Dr Cristy Clark (Canberra), Dr Emily Jones (Newcastle), Dr Matilda Arvidsson (Gothenburg), Dr Juliana Santos De Carvalho (Downing College, Cambridge), Louisa Dassow (Newcastle), Professor Gina Heathcote (Newcastle), Dr Paola Zichi (Warwick), Dr Hasret Cetinkaya (Manchester Metropolitan), Dr Ash Murphy (Manchester Metropolitan), Dr Rosella Pulvirenti (Manchester Metropolitan), Dr Lucia Kula (SOAS), and Dr Kay Lalor (Manchester).

Join them as they discuss space law, trans rights, utopias, posthuman environmental law, gardens, international law making, feminist approaches to peace and war, feminist lawyering, human rights and gender, witnesses in international criminal law and much more!

Recommendations & Shout-outs:
🎧 Law at the End of the World podcast – https://lawattheendoftheworld.buzzsprout.com/

📸 Point and Bubbles – https://www.instagram.com/pointandbubbles/?hl=en

📖 Paola Zichi, Feminist Governance and International Law: A Critical Legal History from Mandate Palestine – https://www.routledge.com/Feminist-Governance-and-International-Law-A-Critical-Legal-History-from-Mandate-Palestine/Zichi/p/book/9781032568867

📖 Ash Murphy, Climate Change at the UN Security Council
Protecting Pacific and Caribbean Island States, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003302681/climate-change-un-security-council-ash-murphy

58. The Newcastle and Manchester Roadshow: Methodology, Feminism, and the End of the World

In this episode of Called to the Bar - International Law over Drinks, Douglas Guilfoyle, Tamsin Philipa Paige, and Ntina Tzouvala gather (with hot chocolate, peppermint tea, and white wine) to unravel UN Security Council Resolution 2803 and its annexed “President Donald J. Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict.”

Douglas reads through the resolution’s greatest hits, prompting the panel to ask:

How does any of this align with self-determination and recent ICJ rulings?

Can the Security Council effectively override jus cogens by legislative fiat?

And why are we suddenly talking about “New Gaza,” overseen by a Board of Peace chaired by Donald J. Trump and Tony Blair?

Tamsin breaks down Article 25, the veto, and why the Council has been structurally placed above the law. Ntina situates the resolution alongside the legal and economic experiments of Iraq and Kosovo—only this time, with even fewer nods to international legality.

We close, as tradition demands, by asking: what are your current escape routes from international law? Cue Korean reality TV, unhinged ancient-Greek animation, and the meditative rage of sewing.

Recommendations

Tamsin Phillipa Paige, Petulant and Contrary: Approaches by the Permanent Five Members of the UN Security Council to the Concept of 'threat to the peace' under Article 39 of the UN Charter
https://brill.com/display/title/54194

Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/capitalism-as-civilisation/F66ABF447B13A75739D4644A8674EAD9

Antonios Tzanakopoulos, Disobeying the Security Council
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/disobeying-the-security-council-9780199600762

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

59. Gaza, the Trump Peace Plan and Security Council Resolution 2803

In Episode 60 of Called to the Bar, host Imogen Saunders (ANU) sits down with three leading journal editors — Prof Ingrid Brunk of the American Journal of International Law, Prof Liz Fisher of the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and Prof Jolyon Ford of the Australian Yearbook of International Law — to unpack the world of academic publishing in law. They discuss their paths into academia, what makes a submission stand out, how journals navigate contemporary controversies, and the responsibilities top outlets hold in supporting a diverse global scholarly community. A lively, candid, and deeply practical conversation, especially valuable for early-career researchers preparing their first submissions.

Recommendations:

Ingrid’s reading recommendation:  The Trilogy, by Jon Fosse, https://dalkeyarchive.store/products/trilogy

Liz’s recommendation: Prairie Fires, by Caroline Fraser: https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/caroline-fraser

Two articles from Liz on legal research and publishing:

https://academic.oup.com/jel/article/35/1/11/7026246 - seven tips on writing journal articles 

 

https://academic.oup.com/jel/article/33/3/521/6386710?login=false  on the epistemic responsibility of journal editors 


Links to all three journals:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law

https://brill.com/display/serial/AUST 

https://academic.oup.com/ojls

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

60. Publishing, Peer Review and What Editors Wish You Knew

In the penultimate episode of Season 2, host Douglas Guilfoyle brings together the full Called to the Bar team — Tamsin Paige, Ntina Tzouvala, Juliette McIntyre, and Imogen Saunders — for their end-of-year drinks and a candid debrief (and group therapy session) on a tumultuous year in international law.

From the explosion of advisory opinions, to debates over whether small states are pioneering new forms of legal statecraft or merely navigating the collapse of multilateral diplomacy, the panel wrestles with the big question: Was 2025 a turning point, and if so, toward what? Their answers range from despair to cautious optimism — with letter grades on international law's report card dipping well below an F.

The team reflects on the erosion of legal justification in state practice, the strain on international courts, the possibility that the UN era is ending, and whether emerging forms of regionalism or “minilateralism” offer any hope. They also revisit the standout podcast episodes they learned from this year, and share their summer reading and viewing plans.

Sound editing: Jamie Guilfoyle

Music: Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

61. End of year drinks: gangsterism as international law

In this special roadshow episode, Associate Professor Tamsin Phillipa Paige (Deakin University) takes Call to the Bar on the road to Melbourne for the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law’s Gender, Sexuality and International Law (GSIL) Interest Group 2025 Workshop. Across two days of papers, panels, and conversations on feminist approaches to international law under authoritarian capitalism, Tamsin sits down with a remarkable group of scholars to hear about their current research and the ideas animating their work.

We begin with Laura Godau (Hamburg), whose doctoral research interrogates how the European Court of Human Rights frames gender diversity in family-law jurisprudence. At the workshop dinner, Holly Cullen (Deakin/UWA) reflects on feminist judging, strategic litigation, and the joyful digressions of PhD life.
Dr Sophie Rigney (RMIT) joins us to discuss abolitionist critiques of international criminal law and the carceral assumptions embedded within it. Dr Caitlin Biddulph (UTS) explores international courts as both exceptional and everyday sites of gendered violence, and the forms of legal harm they enact.

We then hear from Adrienne Ringin (La Trobe), fresh from presenting on the Feminist Judges Project: Reimagining the ICC, before discussing her doctoral work on Australia’s role in drafting the Rome Statute.
Joanne Stagg (Griffith) talks about her research into queer refugee claims and the troubling persistence of Western stereotypes in assessing gender and sexuality. Returning guest Dr Claerwyn O’Hara (Melbourne) shares archival insights into alternative feminist imaginaries of international economic law emerging from 1970s conferences.

Travelling from Oxford, Carlos Zelada presents his work on how the Inter-American Court frames sexual violence—revealing stark divergences between cases involving women and men. Andréia Aguiar Paranaguá (La Trobe) introduces her early-stage research on reproductive justice and the criminalisation of abortion in Tocantins, Brazil, ahead of upcoming fieldwork. And finally, Associate Professor Tania Penovic (Deakin) examines how the far right and religious right strategically co-opt human rights language to erode gender equality, reproductive rights, and protections for LGBTQ+ communities.

Listen in for a rich, wide-ranging snapshot of contemporary feminist critiques, emerging research, and the community that sustains this work.

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

62. Feminist Approaches to International Law in a Time of Authoritarian Capitalism - ANZSIL GSIL Roadshow

A podcast of informal conversation about topical issues in international law, life in academia and whatever else is on our mind. Hosted by Douglas Guilfoyle, Juliette McIntyre, Tamsin Paige, Imogen Saunders, and Nitna Tzouvala. 

Music: Sam Barsh, Oils of Au Lait

Called to the Bar - International Law over Drinks

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