Government lawyers in Korea, Japan and Australia

[Updated 18 April, with a shorter version also on the East Asia Forum blog.]
A few years ago I began a research project into how the Japanese government manages its public and private law cases, working with a former LLM student from Kyushu University and experienced Australian government lawyer, Associate Professor Stephen Green (now at Doshisha University Law Faculty in Tokyo). Our paper was published last year in the Asia Pacific Law and Policy Journal. The second half of the paper is also under review for a special issue of the International Journal of the Legal Profession, focusing on the remarkably under-researched field of government lawyering.
On 6 February this year I stopped over in Seoul to visit prosecutors in Korea’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ), partly to begin comparing how Korea manages similar litigation. Information kindly provided in interviews and follow-up correspondence reveals considerable similarities, but also some significant differences compared to Japan. The backdrop and issues in Australia regarding government litigation services diverge even further, but there is much scope for mutual learning.

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Book Launch (22 March): Foreign Investment and Dispute Resolution Law and Practice in Asia

Allens Arthur Robinson and Sydney Law School are pleased to invite you to celebrate the launch of Foreign Investment and Dispute Resolution Law and Practice in Asia. Edited by Professors Vivienne Bath and Luke Nottage of Sydney Law School, the book critically assesses the laws and policies affecting investment flows in major Asian economies. It brings together valuable insights from some of the region’s leading practitioners and academics about investment treaties and foreign direct investment regimes in Asia. Foreign Investment and Dispute Resolution Law and Practice in Asia will be launched by Professor Michael Pryles, Chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. [A recording of his 13-minute speech is available via Sydney Law School’s Youtube channel here.]

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ANJeL Anniversary Conference debrief – commemorating and comparing the 11 March disasters in Japan

Like so many in Australia and worldwide, we remember sadly today over 19,000 confirmed dead or still missing from Japan’s triple disasters a year ago. Our thoughts and prayers also go out to the many more who collectively have lost their lives from natural disasters in other parts of the Asia-Pacific – including the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and other countries facing the Indian Ocean, the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, the Christchurch earthquake and the Queensland floods – just over a year ago, too.

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