Reshaping what it means to be a contemporary lawyer

Swinburne’s Dr Jeremy Kingsley will visit Dubai, Jakarta and Singapore to explore what it means to be a contemporary lawyer after being awarded the Social Science Research Council Transregional Research Junior Scholar Fellowship

Aimed at supporting and promoting research across regions, the fellowship is designed to strengthen the understanding of issues and geographies that do not fit into existing divisions of academia or the world.

Gaining experience and access

“The fellowship will give Dr Kingsley the opportunity to complete field work and research over the next year in Dubai, Jakarta and Singapore,” says Foundation Dean of Swinburne Law School Professor Dan Hunter.

“Dr Kingsley will be interrogating the ways that Asian cultures, histories and politics are impacting upon definitions of ‘law’ and are arguably reshaping what it means to be a contemporary lawyer.”

Dr Kingsley says the fellowship will involve him interning as a lawyer at global law firms.

”I’ll have access to leading humanities and social science scholars engaging in an array of research on Inter-Asian connections. This will give me access to important academic debates about area studies within Asia.”

The nature of law  

Dr Kingsley believes that regional and global commercial interactions are dramatically changing what it means to be a lawyer.

“The nature of law is no longer bound by national jurisdictions but interfaces actively with international law and privatised legal spaces.

“Lawyers in Melbourne or Sydney can no longer consider themselves separate from their colleagues in Jakarta, Dubai and Singapore.”

Dr Kingsley is excited to explore these issues with an intriguing group of lawyers, which will allow him to speak to broader issues of regional legal interactions and globalisation.

“Through interrogating these topics, I am able to engage in empirical research while also participating in challenging theoretical discussions.”

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