oThe TV show “Mr Bates vs the Post Office” has astounded viewers. That a venerable institution like the Post Office could lie, cheat, and hurt so many people with flawed computer systems for more than 20 years seems almost impossible yet it happened. The enquiry into the affair is showing how, despite knowledge to the contrary,
John Flood’s Random Academic Thoughts (RATs)
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Latest from John Flood’s Random Academic Thoughts (RATs)
New Article on Clients' Perceptions of Lawyers in Hague Convention Cases Involving Domestic Violence
(thanks to Loma Linda University)We have published an open access article in the International Journal of the Legal Profession at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09695958.2023.2199997.Authors are Gina Masterton (QUT), John Flood (Griffith), Zoe Rathus (Griffith), and Kieran Tranter (QUT).The abstract reads:Studies of lawyers and clients tend to be lawyer centric. How
Baker & McKenzie Embraces the DAO
(thanks to Coindesk)Baker & McKenzie is always at the forefront of law firms. Its founder, Russell Baker, set the firm up in Chicago in 1949 as the world’s first global law firm. It has hewed to this vision ever since. Those of you who know my work with Peter Lederer, a former senior partner of the…
Peter Lederer
(thanks to Colin Levy)I write this post with a heavy heart as Peter Lederer died from a heart attack yesterday. Peter was my best friend and, in the nicest way possible, my consigliere. When faced with a decision that seemed beyond me, I would discuss it with him and things would be clearer.This is not about…
Monitoring the R-citizen in the time of Coronavirus
(thanks to Scientific American)I have put a new paper up on SSRN. It is co-authored with Dr Monique Lewis and will appear in an edited collection later this year published by Routledge. The abstract reads as follows:The COVID pandemic has overwhelmed many countries in their attempts at tracking and tracing people infected with the disease.…
Requiem for Reza
REZA BANAKARI just heard that my friend and colleague, Reza Banakar, died from kidney cancer. He was Professor of Sociology of Law at Lund University. Before that we were colleagues at the University of Westminster. I greatly valued his collegiality and friendship. Sometimes I felt he and I were the only ones who knew what…
How I Miss London…
This is Queensbridge Road in Hackney, London and inside the building you see is my flat. Its refurbishment has just been completed and the flat’s photos are up on the architects’ website. I love it. It is even more minimalist than my previous house in Hackney.
My area is typical Hackney. I’m next to the canal, close…
Slow Professions and Fast Change: Law's Response to Covid-19
The last time I encountered Rene Thom’s Catastrophe Theory was when I was writing my PhD thesis on law firms. I wanted to show how law firm mergers were an all or nothing occurrence in that you couldn’t have a gradual merger.
Thom’s ideas are based on a number of sources but the easiest one…
LawTech and the Legal Profession and Academy
(thanks to Law, Technology and Humans)
A new journal started by my colleague, Kieran Tranter, has published its first issue. Law, Technology and Humans is an open access journal committed to the wide and unrestricted dissemination of knowledge:
Law, Technology and Humans encourages scholarship that reflects on how technology is changing law, regulation and normative…
Globalisation, Law, and Lawyers in a Time of Crisis
I have put a new paper on SSRN which is the introduction to a new book called The Global Lawyer by Kate Galloway, Melissa Castan, and me. It is due out from LexisNexis in December. I would appreciate any feedback. The abstract reads:
Using Kondratieff’s concept of economic waves (K waves) which span 60 years this…