Contact: Professor Louise Mallinder
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
This project explores the role of lawyers during conflicts, dictatorships and political transitions.
Despite the centrality of the rule of law to the contemporary theory and practice of transitional justice, there is little emphasis in the relevant literature on the role of lawyers outside the courts – or indeed as the ‘real people’ at work in the system.
Drawing on six key case studies we will establish a comparative and thematic framework for lawyering at key historic stages in conflicted and transitional societies. Taking a holistic approach to the role and function of lawyers this project is intended as a bridgehead between transitional justice and the sociology of the legal professions.
Project staff are based at the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast and the Transitional Justice Institute, Ulster University.