Michael King's blog

I decided to focus mainly on judging panels today – except for a session on legal practice where I am a co-presenter. Our first speaker in the first judging session I attended today was Judge Ian Dearden from the District Court of Queensland. He outlined his extensive workload and his circuit work. Much of his work is criminal. He described some of the therapeutic jurisprudence techniques he applies in judging. He noted that he had only heard of TJ comparatively recently but then appreciated that some of the judging techniques he was already using were applied therapeutic jurisprudence.

He shared with us a number of his therapeutic judging techniques in csentencing. Here are some of the tips that Judge Dearden kindly shared with us. He aims to give comprehensive sentencing remarks to inform defendants (and others) of the reasons for the sentence.

Last night we had the conference dinner. It was held at the Melbourne Aquarium on the Yarra River in central Melbourne. On one side we could see the river and on the other a large aquarium full of beautiful fish. At least we were not located near a shark tank! The President of the Court of Appeal of Victoria gave an interesting and entertaining after dinner speech, talking, amongst other things, about the role of therapeutic jurisprudence in an appeal court.

It is now day 2 of the conference. I will again blog the day. As with yesterday’s blog, here is my exclusion clause: what follows is a selection of thoughts and impressions rather than a comprehensive coverage of what each speaker says.

It is finally here – the first day of the sessions of the Non-Adversarial Justice: Implications for the Legal System and Society conference in Melbourne, Australia. After well over a year of work and planning for the conference we will see how it all turns out. It is exciting – seeing old friends from around the world, meeting new ones. Last night the Chief Magistrate of Victoria hosted a welcome reception, which was a wonderful event. It was good to be in the same room as so many people committed to more humane, psychologically optimal, comprehensive and inclusive approaches to resolving conflict. Leading lights in therapeutic jurisprudence, restorative justice, problem-solving courts, preventive law, ADR and holistic law are present. The possibility for cross-fertilisation is a wonderful opportunity in such a conference.

David Yamada of Suffolk University Law School has recently posted a thoughtful and stimulating article to SSRN. It bears the title "Therapeutic Jurisprudence and the Practice of Legal Scholarship". The article is to be published in the University of Memphis Law Review. The article makes a novel, creative and important contribution to the expansion of TJ scholarship – examining how a TJ analysis can improve legal scholarship and at the same time promote a more rewarding experience for those involved in it.

I do not intend to repeat the contents of the article – I encourage you to read it in full. What follows are a few observations and some highlights from the article.

Bushfires are a regular part of the Australian landscape. Similar fires are also a feature of other areas of the world – such as California and some countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.