Oxford Undergraduate Law Podcast

• Describing Disability in the Law with Dr Heloise Robinson

  The definition of disability is primarily governed by the Equality Act 2010. One is considered to have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on one’s ability to do normal daily activities. The law as it relates to disability affects a range of social interactions, from discrimination to a duty to make reasonable adjustments, and conversations surrounding it primarily focus on ethical considerations and the legal decisions themselves. However, an often-forgotten aspect of disability law is the terminology legislation and the judiciary specifically use to describe and label disability, which has profound impact on how people understand and treat people with disabilities. In this episode, Elysia interviews Dr Heloise Robinson, Singer Fellow in Law at the University of Oxford. Dr Robinson is interested in the philosophical foundations that inform the law, with a special focus on legal and ethical issues surrounding the selection against disability, including in relation to eugenics, and to gender equality. Her work has been published in leading law and bioethics journals, such as the Modern Law Review, Legal Studies, the Journal of Medical Ethics, and the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics.Publications referenced/drawn from:Robinson H, Herring J. Naming and Describing Disability in Law and Medicine. Camb Q Healthc Ethics. 2024 Jul;33(3):401-412. doi: 10.1017/S0963180123000609. Epub 2024 Jan 2. PMID: 38163993.Robinson, H. (2023). Discrimination in Abortion Law and the Message the Law is Sending: R (Crowter) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The Modern Law Review, 87(1), 218–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12831. Accessed from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2230.12831.

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• Mexico's Judicial Reforms with Luz Orozco y Villa

  With President Donald J. Trump's recent inauguration, the US election has been on everyone’s mind, but there are some equally important upcoming elections in 2025 and 2027 just south of the border. It is no secret that the Mexican judiciary is in dire need of reform and that the appetite to rid the system of corruption has never been greater. It cannot be said, however, that the reforms proposed by Manuel Lopez Obrador do anything to address these concerns. At their very best, they are a noble but misguided attempt to enact the much-needed change for which the majority of Mexicans voted. At their very worst, these proposals are an attempt to increase the power of the executive by decreasing the ability of one of the key organs of the state, the judiciary, to check the actions of the Government: the hallmark of authoritarianism. In this episode, Jake interviews Luz Orozco y Villa, legal scholar and author of “The Dangerous Path of Mexico’s Judicial Reform: What is at Stake for Judicial Independence in the Americas.” Luz is a Dphil (PhD) in Law candidate at the Faculty of Law. Her research lies at the intersection of constitutional law and emerging technologies. Supervised by Professor Jacob Rowbottom, her doctoral thesis focuses on the constitutionalisation of the digital environment, specifically the case of online service providers regarding content moderation. Prior to joining Oxford, Luz worked as a career clerk for the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice and as a research advisor at the Gender Equality Program of the Federal Judicial Council. She has taught International Human Rights Law, Philosophy of Human Rights, Family Law, and Gender Justice to undergraduate law students at different universities. She completed an LL.M. from Columbia Law School (New York City, NY, USA) as a Fulbright scholar and an LL.B from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (Mexico City, Mexico). Luz is currently the co-convener of the Future of Technology and Society Discussion Group.Publications referenced/drawn from:L Villa, 'The Dangerous Path of Mexico’s Judicial Reform: What is at Stake for Judicial Independence in the Americas' (Oxford Human Rights Hub, 9 August 2024) <https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/the-dangerous-path-of-mexicos-judicial-reform-what-is-at-stake-for-judicial-independence-in-the-americas/>. In particular at 26:13 and 36:56.09:29 and 17:45- A Spitalier, 'Justice Denied: The Case for Judicial Reform in Mexico' (Wilson Center, 5 September 2024) <https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/justice-denied-case-judicial-reform-mexico>. 11:35- C Parra and R Heckel, 'The 2024 Judicial Reform in Mexico: On the Erosion of Democratic Checks and Electoral Manipulation' (Verfassungsblog, 22 September 2024) <https://verfassungsblog.de/judicial-reform-mexico/>. 19:53- T Mattiace, 'AMLO's Judicial Reform Overlooks the Key Weakness of Mexican Justice. Americas' (Human Rights Watch, 8 August 2024) <https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/08/amlos-judicial-reform-overlooks-key-weakness-mexican-justice>. 21:11- R (on the application of Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group) (Appellant) v Surrey County Council and others (Respondents) [2024] UKSC 20 {21} per Lord Leggatt.

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  43:05
• Surrogacy Law with Professor Amel Alghrani

  Surrogacy is the practice of a person (the “surrogate”) carrying a child that may, or may not, be genetically related to them and giving birth to the child for another family (the “intended parents”). With the rise of modern family structures, and the demands that modern life places upon those who wish to have children, surrogacy has become a viable option for people unable to carry children or wish to have children at a later time in life. However, it is unclear if the laws and regulations surrounding surrogacy have responded adequately to its rise.In this episode, Elysia interviews Professor Amel Alghrani, a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Oxford and a full-time Professor of Law at the School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Liverpool. Professor Alghrani is an expert particularly in health law, where she focuses on the regulation of reproduction and assisted reproduction including surrogacy, and in education law, where she focuses on healthcare and educational rights of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Her work has been published in many prolific journals such as the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Child and Family Law Quarterly and more, and has been cited by the UK Supreme Court. Publications referenced/drawn from:Alghrani, A., & Griffiths, D. (2017). The regulation of surrogacy in the United Kingdom: the case for reform (Version 2). University of Sussex. https://hdl.handle.net/10779/uos.23445044.v2Griffiths, D., Alghrani, A., Diduck, A. (Ed.), Peleg, N. (Ed.), & Reece, H. (Ed.) (2014). Surrogacy Law: From Piecemeal Tweaks to Sustained Review and Reform. In Law and Michael Freeman (1 ed., Vol. 1). Brill .Alghrani A. SURROGACY: 'A CAUTIONARY TALE': Re T (a child) (surrogacy: residence order) [2011] EWCH 33 (Fam). Med Law Rev. 2012 Autumn;20(4):631-41. doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fws032. Epub 2012 Oct 24. PMID: 23097458.

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  35:43
• The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill with Professor Sharon Cowan

  Transgender people have existed throughout history. Yet, the way transgender identity intersects with the law is complex. Trans identity has been litigated and legislated, from the High Court case Corbett v Corbett in 1970, to the European Court of Human Rights case Goodwin v United Kingdom in 2002, to the Gender Recognition Act in 2004, to the recent 2023 judgement upholding the UK Government’s use of a Section 35 order to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was a bill aiming to improve the system by which trans people can apply for legal recognition of their gender through a Gender Recognition Certificate. This Bill intended to remove the current requirements for a medical diagnosis, reduce the time that applicants for gender recognition need to have lived in their acquired gender from two years to three months, and reduce the age at which one may apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate from 18 years to 16 years. While the bill was supported by the Scottish Government, it was blocked by the UK Government with a Section 35 order under the Scotland Act. The Section 35 order means that the Bill cannot be implemented at this time, but the Scottish Government has committed not to withdraw the bill either.In this episode, Rach interviews Sharon Cowan on the intersections between the law and transgender identity. Professor Sharon Cowan is a Professor of Feminist and Queer Legal Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Sharon has published extensively on the legal regulation of gender and sex and is presently working on a comparative socio-legal project looking at the impact of law on transgender people. She was also involved in consultations on the Reform of the Gender Recognition Act. Recent projects also include a national empirical project looking at how women asylum claimants, whose applications are based on a claim of rape, are treated, and along with Dr Chloe Kennedy (Edinburgh) and Professor Munro (Warwick), she is a co-editor of the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project @ScottishFemJP.Articles mentioned:Cowan, Sharon (2005). “Gender is No Substitute for Sex”: A Comparative Human Rights Analysis of the Legal Regulation of Sexual Identity. Feminist Legal Studies 13 (1)Cowan, Sharon, The Best Place on the Planet to be Trans? Transgender Equality and Legal Consciousness in Scotland (December 1, 2020). Dunne, Peter. and Raj, Sen (2020) The Queer Outside in Law (Palgrave MacMillan), Edinburgh School of Law Research Paper No. 2020/05, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3777503Cowan, Sharon. (2009). Looking Back (To)wards the Body: Medicalization and the GRA. Social & Legal Studies, 18(2), 247-252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663909103627Sandland, Ralph. Feminism and the Gender Recognition Act 2004. Feminist Legal Stud 13, 43–66 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-005-1456-3Cowan, Sharon (2005). “Gender is No Substitute for Sex”: A Comparative Human Rights Analysis of the Legal Regulation of Sexual Identity. Feminist Legal Studies 13 (1): 93Books mentioned:Whipping Girl, by Julia SeranoAutogenerated transcript available at:https://rss.com/podcasts/oulp/1573226/#transcript

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  57:48
• Family, Religion and Reflexive Law with Professor Tristan Cummings

  We all want to order our family lives around the values that matter to us, and family law is a means for us to achieve this order. Yet, as societies grow more multicultural and multireligious, we face a challenge - how can we protect the rights of religious citizens, while also enabling them to order their affairs according to their different religions? This complexities of navigating cultural and religious tensions in family law has arisen in visitation rights cases such as J v B [2017]. In the case of a divorce, what happens when, for example, one parent’s identity is not accepted by the religion and culture the children are raised in?In this episode, Rach interviews Tristan Cummings, the Baker-Fellingham College Assistant Professor at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He did his undergraduate studies and the Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford, where he was awarded the Vinerian Scholarship for Best Overall Performance on the BCL and the Law Faculty Prizes in Children, Families and the State and Comparative Equality Law. He is currently an Editor of the University of Oxford Human Rights Hub Journal. His research is focused on the intersection of family law, human rights law and religious freedom.We discuss Dr Cummings’ article in the Journal of Law, Religion and State today: ‘Utilizing Systems Theory and Reflexive Law to Navigate the ‘Collision Between… Un-connecting Worlds’ in Family Law’.Autogenerated transcript available at: https://rss.com/podcasts/oulp/1475459/#transcript

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