Law Art Politics Law Art Politics

In this interview, Laurent de Sutter talks about the process of making books, the usual normative way of thinking about law that logically enforces the power of the legislators, judges and lawyers at the sacrifice of the little logistics and operations of law between people where the creativity happens.

Professor Margaret Thornton has been at the forefront of feminist and critical research on law and the legal profession for many decades, with a particular focus on the Australian context. More recently, she has been conducting an examination into the effects of neoliberal policies on the university, including its impacts upon the teaching, learning and researching of law.

In this interview, Professor Thornton talks about the history and impact of the forces surrounding the commodification of university degrees and at the law school in particular. She discusses the value of a critical and creative legal education as something that students desire and which equips them in being more engaged citizens and lawyers. The metrics that law schools and universities are measured by tend to flatten all difference and value into a simple figure of elite reproduction and discourages scholarship that is attentive to the laws and conditions of the local communities that the university should serve.

This interview was recorded on 16 September 2020.

Further reading:

Margaret Thornton, ‘The Challenge for Law Schools of Satisfying Multiple Masters,’ Australian Universities' Review 62(2) 2020, pp. 5-13: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3744625