Editorial

Abstract

Melville et al. open this year’s Journal with a study of the effects of international mobility on the biographies of academics from Australian law schools. Looking at the career trajectories of 700 individual academics, a quarter had obtained their first degrees outside Australia and over a third obtained their highest qualification in elite schools outside before returning to work in Australia. Forty-one per cent had been employed overseas. Most of this experience was in the developed world. Some interesting findings show whether there is a career advantage to this mobility, and there is a discussion of the different gender possibilities for mobility. Pivaty et al. expose the skills gap which has appeared for European lawyers involved in criminal cases where they must now become involved from the earliest “interrogation”. At the same time, actual criminal trials are decreasing across Europe and decisions are made managerially at an earlier stage. Lawyers trained for the theatre of the courtroom find themselves unprepared for this shifting focus of criminal proceedings. Systems which have existed for some time in England and Wales are considered for the training of lawyers handling the investigative stage in countries across the rest of Europe. Barbero attempts to discover the purpose of lawyers working as public defenders for immigrant clients in Spain. The “migration industry” is described and the place of lawyers for immigrants within it. Despite poor pay, and sometimes no pay, the sense of working for a public cause and commitment to clients keeps immigration defence work in place. Shen asks whether women judges in China possess different values in deciding cases relating to women offenders. The difficulty of presenting a truly female or feminist approach in a patriarchal environment is noted and the need to develop more awareness of feminist views within the female Chinese judiciary. Male judges are assumed to be able to take the pressure of the work better and have closer political connections to power. Women offenders are seen as doubly deviant, breaking the law and patriarchal society’s code for female decency. Practical family issues such as the needs of children would not be taken into account. Feminist attitudes among women judges remain “latent and unactivated.” Mundy and Seuffert describe particular progress in a project among some law firms in New South Wales, Australia, for diversity and inclusion of women. Although this compares well with suggested best practice, it is yet to achieve significant change. Good reading