News and Events
ESRC Funded Project “Lawyers, Conflict and Transition”
The School of Law has recently been awarded £607,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for a research project on 'Lawyers, Conflict and Transition'. The project is led by Professor Kieran McEvoy, and also includes Marny Requa (School of Law, Queens) and Dr Louise Mallinder (Transitional Justice Institute, UU). Drawing upon Professor McEvoy's previous work on lawyers in Northern Ireland ('What Did the Lawyers do During the War ?', Modern Law Review, 2011, 74,3) this project will explore the role of lawyers as social, moral, political as well as legal actors in the transitions from violence or authoritarianism. It will examine the role of lawyers as members of political movements, as actors actors involved in strategic litigation or popular mobilisation, in political negotiations, in enacting legal reforms and testing their meaning in the courts, and in shaping the work of past-focused initiatives that address issues such as truth, accountability and reconciliation. The project is for three years and will commence in March 2012. It will encompass fieldwork in South Africa, Israel, Palestine, Chile, Cambodia and Tunisia.
