Many argue that AI provides significant opportunities to boost productivity and improve services. Yet, its rapid development has made it difficult to grapple with the potential risks and challenges that it poses to human rights and social justice. In this episode, LLB V students Sarah Koegel and Oliver McCue talk to Professor Kimberlee Weatherall about some of the knotty issues concerning the interaction between AI and regulatory frameworks within the law.

Kimberlee Weatherall is a Professor of Law at the University of Sydney, specialising in the relationship between law and technology and intellectual property. Her current research focuses on the law relating to the collection, ownership, use and governance of data about and related to people, including privacy law, with the goal of ensuring that data collection, use and linkage, and data and predictive analytics are developed in a way that is fair, transparent, accountable, and beneficial to people and society. She is currently a member of the Australian Computer Society’s Technical Advisory Board on Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Fellow at the Gradient Institute.

Kimberlee Weatherall: Regulating in Response to AI

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. 

Rachel Killean: Victim Participation in International Criminal Law

What implications do videolink technologies bear for the criminal process? What threat do remote proceedings pose for access to justice? How might emerging technologies be adopted by criminal courts and prisons?

In this episode, Associate Professor Carolyn McKay joins co-hosts Victor Lin and Natalie Yeoman to discuss digital criminology and the intersection of emerging technologies with the criminal justice system. We explore the possibilities of entirely digital courtrooms using avatars and virtual reality, and the development of highly automated dystopian-like prisons, which Carolyn has witnessed in the course of conducting her research internationally.

Associate Professor Carolyn McKay is recognised for her research and published work looking into the intersection of criminal justice with technology. Alongside her written work, Carolyn teaches Digital Criminology at the University of Sydney, and is currently completing her Digital Criminal Justice Project with the support of the Australian Research Council. The Just Cause team looks forward to the upcoming publication of Carolyn’s research into automated prisons and virtual court processes!

Carolyn McKay: Digital Technologies in the Criminal Justice System

Why has Australia placed so few sanctions on Israel? Why are we still exporting fighter jet parts to a state that, over the past two years, has systematically attacked civilians in Palestine and deliberately denied them humanitarian relief? Can sanctions be an effective means of changing Israel’s behaviour?

In this episode, LLB students Joshua Mortensen and Sphe Shembe speak with Professor Ben Saul about the use of sanctions as a tool of international justice in the context of Israel’s assault on Gaza. While sanctions are often presented as a non-violent alternative to military force, do they truly restrain unlawful conduct and protect civilians — or are they undermined by political double standards and unintended humanitarian costs? Together, we explore whether sanctions can still serve as an effective instrument of social justice, the challenges facing international institutions such as the UN and the ICC, and what reforms might be needed not only to ensure Israel’s accountability for its flagrant disrespect for international law, but to protect civilians in Palestine and prevent further violations of their fundamental human rights.

Professor Ben Saul is the Challis Chair of International Law at Sydney Law School and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism. He has advised governments, the United Nations, and NGOs around the world on international law and human rights, and has written extensively on terrorism, humanitarian law, and global justice.

Further Reading:

Saul, Ben. “Why Sanctions Are More Urgent Than Ever for Israel.” The Conversation (2024). Available at: https://theconversation.com/why-sanctions-are-more-urgent-than-ever-for-israel-226986.

UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, “UN experts urge immediate arms embargo on Israel and accountability for violations in Gaza” (23 Feb 2024). Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/un-experts-urge-immediate-arms-embargo-israel-and-accountability-violation.

Ben Saul: Sanctioning Israel for Violating International Law

What is climate justice? How do we compensate those affected by climate disasters, particularly in the developing world? How are states failing to properly respond to the climate crisis, and how can we change this?

In this episode of Just Cause, JD student Debadrita Guha and LLB student Amelia (Mae) Milne speak with Professor Rosemary Lyster about what justice means in the context of the climate catastrophe, and how climate and disaster law can address this crisis. Rosemary provides a brief overview of the national and international policy infrastructure of climate law and the current challenges we face in climate and disaster management, before giving advice on what we, as individuals, can and need to do in the face of climate change.

Rosemary Lyster is the Professor of Climate and Environmental Law in the University of Sydney Law School and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. Rosemary's special area of research expertise is Climate Justice and Disaster Law. She has published two books in this area: Rosemary Lyster and Robert M. Verchick (eds.) Climate Disaster Law (Edward Elgar: 2018) and Climate Justice and Disaster Law (Cambridge University Press: 2015). Rosemary has been selected by the Australian Financial Review as one of the 2018 '100 Women of Influence' in the Public Policy category.


Rosemary Lyster: Justice in Climate and Disaster Law

In July, the International Court of Justice delivered its landmark Advisory Opinion on Climate Change. What, though, did the Court actually say? How are states legally obliged to address the urgent existential threat that climate change poses, and what are the consequences for states that fail to meet these obligations?

In this episode, LLB V student and Just Cause co-director Eamonn Murphy speaks with Professor Tim Stephens about the implications and influence of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion. Drawing from the statement published by Tim and members of the Sydney Environment Institute, we consider the substance of the Opinion — the recognition by the ICJ of states’ obligations of due diligence to prevent damage to the climate system, including a positive duty to regulate the behaviour of private actors — and the influence that it might bear. Will the Opinion open the floodgates to inter-state litigation for breaches of environmental law? How might states such as Australia change their domestic policy in response to the Opinion? Does the Trump administration’s attitude to climate change — particularly by again withdrawing from the Paris Agreement — limit the power of the Opinion? Find out from Tim in this episode, and make sure to keep an eye out on how states engage with the Opinion at November’s COP 30 in Brazil.

Professor Tim Stephens is Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney Law School. He teaches and researches in public international law, with his published work focussing on the international law of the sea, international environmental law and international dispute settlement. Tim is an author or editor of 12 books. His major publications include The International Law of the Sea (Hart/Bloomsbury, 2010, 2016, 2023) co-authored with Donald R Rothwell, and International Courts and Environmental Protection (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Tim Stephens: Unpacking the ICJ's Advisory Opinion on Climate Change

As governments like Australia and the US scale back their commitments to international assistance, what power structures are left in place when billionaires and foundations step in? How do tax laws shape how cross-border philanthropy flows? How can charities best operate on an international level?

In this episode, LLB students Sphe Shembe and Joshua Mortensen speak with Associate Professor Natalie Silver about the global retreat from state-funded foreign aid and the expanding role of private philanthropy. Together, we explore how tax frameworks shape global justice efforts — and what reforms might be needed to ensure philanthropy serves equity, not just influence.

Dr Natalie Silver is an Associate Professor at Sydney Law School whose research focuses on charity law, not-for-profits, and the regulation of philanthropy. She has published widely on cross-border giving and the role of tax incentives in structuring charitable flows, particularly in an era of global inequality and declining aid.

Suggested Readings:

Silver, Natalie and McGregor-Lowndes, Myles and Tarr, Julie-Anne, Should Tax Incentives for Charitable Giving Stop at Australia's Borders? (March 20, 2017). Sydney Law Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 85-120, 2016, Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 17/24, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2937531.

Silver, Natalie and Buijze, Renate, Tax Incentives for Cross-Border Giving in an Era of Philanthropic Globalization: A Comparative Perspective (November 1, 2020). Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 6(1), 2020, pp.109-150, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3765102.

Natalie Silver: Foreign Aid, Private Philanthropy and Global Justice

How can we hold corporations to their human rights obligations? When it comes to multinational asbestos-mining corporations such as Cape and James Hardie, do arguments of forum non conveniens and separate legal personality hold up? Could a simple claim in negligence be the best way to redress human rights violations?

In this episode, Just Cause co-director and LLB V student Eamonn Murphy speaks with Professor David Kinley, the Chair in Human Rights Law at Sydney Law School, about the intersection between corporate responsibility and human rights law. Drawing from David’s new book, In a Rain of Dust: Death, Deceit and the Lawyer Who Busted Big Asbestos, we consider the case of Lubbe v Cape, brought in 1995 by grassroots lawyer Richard Meeran against Cape Plc, a British company that mined and milled asbestos in apartheid-era South Africa, causing innumerable deaths from asbestos-related diseases among local workers and their communities. While the case is largely seen as one about jurisdiction in private international law and tort liability in the context of a corporate group, we examine what it has to say about human rights — how, as David phrases it, can you cut a human rights cloth? Find out in this episode!

Professor David Kinley holds the Chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney Law School. He is also an Academic Expert Member of Doughty Street Chambers in London, a member of the Australian Council for Human Rights, a member of the Human Rights Council of Australia and a board member of Cisarua, an Afghan refugee-led education centre located in Bogor, Indonesia.

David Kinley: Asbestos, Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility

Governments spend billions each year fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, but do these regimes actually make the world fairer or simply more complicated?

In this episode, LLB Student Joshua Mortensen speaks with Professor Colin King, a financial crime expert at Sydney Law School, about whether anti money laundering and counter terrorism financing regulations truly serve justice. 

Colin King is a Professor at Sydney Law School. Originally from Limerick, Ireland - where he completed his LLB and PhD - Colin then moved to the UK for 14 years before arriving in Sydney in 2023. His research focuses on financial crime, particularly money laundering; proceeds of crime; and deferred prosecution agreements.

Colin King: Following the Money – Does Financial Crime Law Deliver Justice?

How can the damage inflicted by Israel on Palestine’s natural environment be framed as a violation of international law? When responding to conflict, how can nature be properly valued in the delivery of transitional justice? What, then, could "green transitional justice” mean for Palestine and its natural environment?

In this final episode of Just Cause’s third season, LLB student Eamonn Murphy speaks with Dr Rachel Killean and Dr Lauren Dempster about their new book, Green Transitional Justice, and their ecocentric approach to transitional justice that seeks to properly redress harms to nature. We consider how green transitional justice functions at large, and how it needs to be driven by Indigenous and grassroots voices, before ending with a discussion of how we might practically apply the principles of green transitional justice with respect to Palestine in the context of Israel’s ongoing military assault.

Dr Rachel Killean is a Senior Lecturer and the current Associate Dean for Student Life in Sydney Law School. Dr Lauren Dempster is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Their new book, Green Transitional Justice, is available here: https://www.routledge.com/Green-Transitional-Justice/Killean-Dempster/p/book/9781032206202.

Note: in Lauren's application of green transitional justice to Palestine, she refers to several papers that inform her response.  Please see links to them below.

Research by Irus Braverman on Israel’s control of nature of Palestine as an element of the settler-colonial project: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517915261/settling-nature/.

Research by Rehab Nazzal on the importance of olive trees for Palestinians: https://revistas.usal.es/dos/index.php/2254-1179/article/view/27675.

Report by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies: https://arava.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Environmental-Humanitarian-Impacts-of-War-in-Gaza_reduced.pdf.

Rachel Killean and Lauren Dempster: Gaza, Environmental Damage and Green Transitional Justice

A podcast created by staff and students affiliated with the University of Sydney Law School's Social Justice Advisory Board. In each episode, students sit down with academics to discuss what social justice means to them, and how their work intersects with social justice goals. Through these conversations, we explore the meaning of social justice and highlight the range of social justice research being carried out by academics working in or affiliated with the University of Sydney Law School.

Kimberlee Weatherall: Regulating in Response to AI

Just Cause: Exploring Social Justice and the Law

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