Public Lectures from the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

Speakers: João Vale de Almeida, Former Ambassador of the European Union to the United Kingdom (2020-2022) and Eleanor Sharpston KC, Advocate General, CJEU (2006-2020) and Goodhart Professor, University of Cambridge (2023/2024) Abstract: The UK and EU relationship has not been straight forward since Brexit but since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister a certain amount of pragmatism has prevailed. Meanwhile, the European Union is facing significant geo-political challenges – not least the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Does it have capacity to think about these broader issues? The Ukraine conflict has led to much deeper thinking about enlargement of the EU, not just for Ukraine but also the Baltic states. The question of Europe of concentric circles has been raised again. What might a Europe of concentric circles mean for the accession and neighbourhood countries? What else can be done to improver relations with our closest trading partner?For more information see: https://www.cels.law.cam.ac.uk/weekly-seminar-series

On 21 November 2023 Professor Rebecca Probert (University of Exeter Law School) delivered the second CELH annual lecture on the topic 'Women and the Crime of Bigamy in English Law, 1603-2023'.The Centre for English Legal History (CELH) was formally established in 2016 to provide a hub for researchers working in legal history across the University of Cambridge. The Centre holds regular seminars during academic terms, and an annual centrepiece lecture.To find out more, and download the accompanying presentation, please refer to: http://www.celh.law.cam.ac.uk/lectures

Speaker: Professor Kent Roach, Professor of Law, University of TorontoThis talk defined the distinct but overlapping concepts of miscarriages of justice, wrongful convictions and proven innocence. The three distinct and overlapping concepts are analysed as what Guido Calabresi and Philip Bobbitt have called a 'tragic choice' approach to allocating scarce resources.For more information about the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice (CCCJ) see: https://www.cccj.law.cam.ac.uk/

Lecture summary: In this talk, Lucas Lixinski examines the erasure of Indigenous perspectives from the literature on the turn to history in international law. Considering the turn to history’s promise to offer alternative imaginations by recovering history, it is somewhat surprising and disappointing that so much of this turn is narrated from the perspective of colonisers. Lixinski unpacks the implications of this turn to Indigenous agency and victimhood, and leverages alternative retellings of Indigenous peoples’ engagement with European international law that focus on Indigenous agency, diplomacy, and power. The talk fundamentally challenges what we take for granted in emancipatory international legal projects, and offers possibilities for rethinking how we do international legal history.Dr Lucas Lixinski is Professor at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney. His research interests main centre on international human rights adjudication and international cultural heritage law, and sometimes international legal history especially in relation to rights. His latest monograph is Legalized Identities: Cultural Heritage Law and the Shaping of Transitional Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2021), which he started developing while a visitor at the Lauterpacht Centre in 2018.

On the 15 November the UK Supreme Court decided that the United Kingdom's policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful.In this short video Dr Kirsty Hughes explains the Court's reasoning, and considers the Government's response and possible next steps.Kirsty Hughes is an Associate Professor specialising in Human Rights Law. She is joint General Editor of the European Human Rights Law Review, Director of the Centre for Public Law, University of Cambridge, a member of Blackstone Chambers Academic Panel and Deputy Editor of Public Law. She is a co-convenor of the European Human Rights Law Conference.For more information about Dr Hughes, please refer to her profile at https://www.law.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/ke-hughes/2113Law in Focus is a collection of short videos featuring academics from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law, addressing legal issues in current affairs and the news. These issues are examples of the many which challenge researchers and students studying undergraduate and postgraduate law at the Faculty.This entry provides an audio source for iTunes.

Speaker: Professor Chris Thomale (University of Vienna, University Roma Tre)Abstract: According to a widely received concept coined by Hansmann/Kraakman, “asset partitioning” denotes a bundle of doctrines surrounding the relationship of business owners as well as their business and private creditors, so-called entity shielding and owner shielding. Often, this configuration is associated with a legal entity, e.g., providing the “corporate veil” which allegedly protects owners’ assets from business creditors. Contrary to this intuition, it will be shown that legal personality, while offering a metaphorical framework for asset partitioning, is no institutionally indispensable prerequisite for it. To support this claim, we will look at historical and contemporary comparative evidence from continental-European as well as Middle- and South-American legal orders. This allows us to compare asset partitioning with and without legal personality and evaluate the policy implications of each.3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website at http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

Speaker: Eleanor Sharpston KC, Advocate General, CJEU (2006-2020) and Goodhart Professor, University of Cambridge (2023/2024) Abstract: A common complaint of common lawyers is that the way in which CJEU judgments are written is abstract and obscure. The criticism is levelled most notably at judgments that reply to requests for a preliminary ruling from national courts. Once you understand about language and the Court, there are a lot of hidden clues, if you only know where to look for them. This second seminar is designed to help you squeeze the maximum information out of the text, and alert you to what those formulae you’re reading really mean.For more information see: https://www.cels.law.cam.ac.uk/weekly-seminar-series

Professor Eilís Ferran (Cambridge), Assistant Professor Elizabeth Howell (LSE) and Professor Felix Steffek (Cambridge) present the third edition of the book ‘Principles of Corporate Finance Law’ published by Oxford University Press in September 2023. Each of the three co-authors presents fundamental issues and new developments in corporate finance law reflected in the chapters of the book they were leading. For further details on ‘Principles of Corporate Finance Law’, please see the OUP website at https://global.oup.com/academic/product/principles-of-corporate-finance-law-9780198854074 The Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law (3CL) runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics and high-profile practitioners. This seminar was presented in cooperation with SMU School of Law who joined via Zoom. For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website at http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

Speaker: Eleanor Sharpston KC, Advocate General, CJEU (2006-2020) and Goodhart Professor, University of Cambridge (2023/2024) Abstract: The CJEU is unique in having 24 equally valid languages of procedure, plus an informal and unofficial working language (French) which is not necessarily spoken by as great a percentage of staff members in 2023 as it was when the Court was first set up by the original six founding Member States. What does running a 24-language court mean in theory and in practice? How does the diversity of language – and indeed of legal tradition (in the sense of how legal argument is presented) – impact upon the way the CJEU functions, how it handles its caseload, and how it writes its judgments? For more information see: https://www.cels.law.cam.ac.uk/weekly-seminar-series

Speaker: Professor Marc I. Steinberg (SMU Dedman School of Law)Abstract: This presentation, based on Professor Steinberg’s recent Oxford University Press book Rethinking Securities Law, which was awarded Winner — Best Law Book of 2021 by the American Book Fest Awards, focuses on the need to “rethink” the U.S. securities laws — with particular emphasis on the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and as amended). In both transactional and litigation settings, with frequency, U.S. securities law mandates apply that are erratic and antithetical to sound public policy. The objective of this book — and the presentation — is to highlight the deficiencies that exist under the current regimen, address their failings, provide recommendations for rectifying these deficiencies, and set forth a thorough analysis for remediation in order to prescribe a consistent and sound securities law framework. The book has received widespread favorable reviews from both practitioners and academicians. Professor Steinberg will focus on several key subjects that are addressed in the book.3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website at http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/