Thinking about Law - with the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia: The importance of how we attend to the matter at hand and of context

Thinking about Law: The importance of how we attend to the matter at hand and of context

A talk around how we think about law and approach, and solve, legal problems by the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia

Booking essential.

Chief Justice Allsop will be delivering this Qualifying Session which focuses on the insights of Dr Iain McGilchrist, a British neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and polymath. Chief Justice Allsop will explain how these insights are relevant, indeed crucial, to how we think about law and how we approach, and solve, legal problems.

This is not a lecture on science or medicine, but upon how we attend to legal problems: How legal thinking needs to be both abstract, defined and deconstructed, as well as relationally whole and linked to human experience.

The session will be Chaired by Dr Julie Maxton, (Executive Director of the Royal Society), and will be followed by a facilitated discussion and Q&A.

The event will take place online via Zoom. 

About the Speakers:

Master James Allsop Called to the Bench, 2011 From 1981 to 2001 Chief Justice Allsop practised at the Bar in New South Wales and elsewhere in Australia. From 1981 Chief Justice Allsop taught part-time at the University of Sydney as a tutor and lecturer in property, equity, bankruptcy, insolvency, corporate finance and maritime law.  He was appointed Senior Counsel in New South Wales in 1994 and Queen’s Counsel in Western Australia in 1998. He served as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 7 May 2001 to 1 June 2008, undertaking the roles of trial and appellate judge on a full range of Federal Court work. On 2 June 2008, Chief Justice Allsop was appointed as President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. He has been Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia since 1 March 2013.

Master Julie Maxton Called to the Bench, 2012 Before taking up her position as the Executive Director of the Royal Society in 2011, Julie was Registrar at the University of Oxford where she is an Honorary Fellow of University College. Called in 1978, Julie combined a career as a practising lawyer and academic, holding a number of senior positions, including Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.  She is the author of numerous articles concerned with trusts, equity, commercial and property law.  She is on a number of Committees and Boards as well as being a governor of Haberdasher Aske’s Girls School, a Board member of Engineering UK.

This event is open to Benchers, Hall Members and Students. No guests. 

Click here to see details of the QS requirements and how to be credited with the QS for this session

Learning Outcomes:

After this session, students should be able to: 

• Recognise that there can be various approaches to solving legal problems
• Identify different courses of action and apply these to their own research

Links to the Professional Statement, wider workings of the Bar, administration of justice or a public interest matter

• 1.3 /1.5
• 2.6 

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