Just Cause

Orla Kelleher: New Developments in Climate Litigation and Human Rights

As the climate crisis continues to damage our world, how has environmental litigation evolved to address it? How do courts engage with the United Nations Framework on Climate Change? Can judicial review be an effective means of enforcing compliance with environmental law? In this episode, Sydney Law School PhD candidate Libby Newton speaks with Dr Orla Kelleher, Assistant Professor at Maynooth University's School of Law and Criminology, about how climate change litigation intersects with human rights, and on recent legal developments in the field. Drawing from Orla's experience in Irish, European and international environment law, this episode considers how claims under human rights law can intersect with climate change, and tackles how legal practitioners, academics and the judiciary can join efforts to combat the climate crisis. Dr Orla Kelleher joined Maynooth University's School of Law and Criminology in August 2022. Orla specialises in climate change, environmental, and human rights law. Her current research focuses on environmental rights, climate law and litigation, climate justice, and just transitions. Orla was awarded her Ph.D. without corrections from UCD Sutherland School of Law in March 2022. Her Ph.D. examined the impact of climate change on legal reasoning in rights-based systemic climate change litigation in European countries.

Rachel Killean and Lauren Dempster: Gaza, Environmental Damage and Green Transitional Justice

How can the damage inflicted by Israel on Palestine’s natural environment be framed as a violation of international law? When responding to conflict, how can nature be properly valued in the delivery of transitional justice? What, then, could "green transitional justice” mean for Palestine and its natural environment? In this final episode of Just Cause’s third season, LLB student Eamonn Murphy speaks with Dr Rachel Killean and Dr Lauren Dempster about their new book, Green Transitional Justice, and their ecocentric approach to transitional justice that seeks to properly redress harms to nature. We consider how green transitional justice functions at large, and how it needs to be driven by Indigenous and grassroots voices, before ending with a discussion of how we might practically apply the principles of green transitional justice with respect to Palestine in the context of Israel’s ongoing military assault. Dr Rachel Killean is a Senior Lecturer and the current Associate Dean for Student Life in Sydney Law School. Dr Lauren Dempster is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Their new book, Green Transitional Justice, is available here: https://www.routledge.com/Green-Transitional-Justice/Killean-Dempster/p/book/9781032206202. Note: in Lauren's application of green transitional justice to Palestine, she refers to several papers that inform her response. Please see links to them below. Research by Irus Braverman on Israel’s control of nature of Palestine as an element of the settler-colonial project: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517915261/settling-nature/. Research by Rehab Nazzal on the importance of olive trees for Palestinians: https://revistas.usal.es/dos/index.php/2254-1179/article/view/27675. Report by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies: https://arava.org/shared-environments-shared-futures/

Colin King: Following the Money – Does Financial Crime Law Deliver Justice?

Governments spend billions each year fighting money laundering and terrorist financing, but do these regimes actually make the world fairer or simply more complicated? In this episode, LLB Student Joshua Mortensen speaks with Professor Colin King, a financial crime expert at Sydney Law School, about whether anti money laundering and counter terrorism financing regulations truly serve justice. Colin King is a Professor at Sydney Law School. Originally from Limerick, Ireland - where he completed his LLB and PhD - Colin then moved to the UK for 14 years before arriving in Sydney in 2023. His research focuses on financial crime, particularly money laundering; proceeds of crime; and deferred prosecution agreements.

David Kinley: Asbestos, Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility

How can we hold corporations to their human rights obligations? When it comes to multinational asbestos-mining corporations such as Cape and James Hardie, do arguments of forum non conveniens and separate legal personality hold up? Could a simple claim in negligence be the best way to redress human rights violations? In this episode, Just Cause co-director and LLB V student Eamonn Murphy speaks with Professor David Kinley, the Chair in Human Rights Law at Sydney Law School, about the intersection between corporate responsibility and human rights law. Drawing from David’s new book, In a Rain of Dust: Death, Deceit and the Lawyer Who Busted Big Asbestos, we consider the case of Lubbe v Cape, brought in 1995 by grassroots lawyer Richard Meeran against Cape Plc, a British company that mined and milled asbestos in apartheid-era South Africa, causing innumerable deaths from asbestos-related diseases among local workers and their communities. While the case is largely seen as one about jurisdiction in private international law and tort liability in the context of a corporate group, we examine what it has to say about human rights — how, as David phrases it, can you cut a human rights cloth? Find out in this episode! Professor David Kinley holds the Chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney Law School. He is also an Academic Expert Member of Doughty Street Chambers in London, a member of the Australian Council for Human Rights, a member of the Human Rights Council of Australia and a board member of Cisarua, an Afghan refugee-led education centre located in Bogor, Indonesia.

Natalie Silver: Foreign Aid, Private Philanthropy and Global Justice

As governments like Australia and the US scale back their commitments to international assistance, what power structures are left in place when billionaires and foundations step in? How do tax laws shape how cross-border philanthropy flows? How can charities best operate on an international level? In this episode, LLB students Sphe Shembe and Joshua Mortensen speak with Associate Professor Natalie Silver about the global retreat from state-funded foreign aid and the expanding role of private philanthropy. Together, we explore how tax frameworks shape global justice efforts — and what reforms might be needed to ensure philanthropy serves equity, not just influence. Dr Natalie Silver is an Associate Professor at Sydney Law School whose research focuses on charity law, not-for-profits, and the regulation of philanthropy. She has published widely on cross-border giving and the role of tax incentives in structuring charitable flows, particularly in an era of global inequality and declining aid. Suggested Readings: Silver, Natalie and McGregor-Lowndes, Myles and Tarr, Julie-Anne, Should Tax Incentives for Charitable Giving Stop at Australia's Borders? (March 20, 2017). Sydney Law Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 85-120, 2016, Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 17/24, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2937531. Silver, Natalie and Buijze, Renate, Tax Incentives for Cross-Border Giving in an Era of Philanthropic Globalization: A Comparative Perspective (November 1, 2020). Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 6(1), 2020, pp.109-150, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3765102.