Category: University
Law as a social science: Toronto Law School and WPM Kennedy
In the process of writing my PhD, I have stumbled upon the writings of WPM Kennedy, the former Dean of Toronto Law School and writer of 'Law as a Social Science'. Writing in the 1930s, Kennedy believed that law should not be taught as a mere vocation or trade, but as a "fundamental social science." ...
Can a Vocational University Produce #Leadership?
Can #Leadership Come Out of a Vocational University? “#Leadership” has been emblazoned on red banners above an Australian university, waving out over the grounds beside sandstone walls and students running late for class. #Leadership is part of a broader effort by the university to instil values into their marketing campaigns, on banners and billboards and ...
Expert culture has killed the innovator in workplaces
Over the last few decades, the Western world has had an increasingly specialised workforce, with workers trained in narrow skills, for increasingly narrow positions. However, the more narrow our jobs have become, the less capable we have become in inventing new technologies, products and ideas. Innovative ideas tend to come, not from specialised experts, but ...
Degrees of separation: companies shed degree requirements to promote merit over qualifications
At the end of 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that close to two-thirds of all Australians had completed a degree or apprenticeship. The growth in the number of people attending a university or TAFE has risen out of a cyclical demand-driven system called “academic inflation”. Think supply and demand. If an employer ...
Lifetime Employment in Japan: Casual Work, Part-Time Work and Women under Equal Opportunity Law
Lifetime employment has long been the cornerstone of corporate governance in Japan. College graduates at large firms have traditionally been guaranteed employment until retirement. These graduates, almost exclusively men, are guaranteed job security in return for complete loyalty to their company of choice. Originally sustained by cultural forces of “loyalty” and collectivism, the lifetime employment ...
The Role of the Corporate Mega Firm
This article discusses the role of the corporate mega-firm in shaping the dreams, aspirations, and ambitions of Australian law students. In sum, I argue that students begin law school with clear social and moral convictions and leave as apolitical, passive enforcers of the law, unable to question the legal rules and principles they have been ...
Legal education- success but at what cost?
The following is a review of my book by Edwin Montoya Zorrila from the blog, Notes From The Wreck. I preface this review with a disclosure. The author, Joshua Krook, is a friend of mine, and we have studied law together at the University of Sydney. I have also supported this book by helping ...
