Workshop on legal experts in transnational policy making

The Erik Castrén Institute co-organized a workshop with UEF Law School on

Legal experts in transnational policy-making - professional integrity without political accountability

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Thu-Fri, June 14-15th, 2018

Porthania (Yliopistonkatu 3)

The workshop studied different dimensions of legal expertise in various political decision-making contexts. A publication on basis of the workshop is planned. The project is driven by the acknowledgement that we lack both theoretical concepts and empirical data to generalise about legal expertise, a gap that we try to narrow. The questions we pose to understand legal expertise are invitational rather than interrogative. What counts as legal expertise, and who counts as legal expert? What is legal expertise made of? What are its defining features? To whom does it belong? What kind of presumptions or ethical norms guide the work of legal experts? How do legal experts see the objectivity of their legal advice and deal with political questions? Who should carry the political responsibility for the choices that they advocate? How does the characterisation of legal expertise affect legal scholarship and its relationship to other neighbouring disciplines? What is the value, political, economic and social, of lawyers’ legal expertise?

Program

Day 1

Thursday, June 14th, 2018

Porthania room P545 (Yliopistonkatu 3, 5th floor)

9:00-9:30 – Coffee

9:30-10:00 – Opening Remarks

Emilia Korkea-aho (UEF Law School) & Päivi Leino-Sandberg (University of Helsinki)

10:00-12:00 – Session 1

Anu Bradford (Columbia Law School): International Bureaucracies: Extraterritorial reach of legal expertise

Fernanda Nicola (Washington College of Law, American University): The politicization of legal expertise in Free Trade Agreements

Commentator: Guilherme Vasconcelos Vilaca (University of Helsinki)

12:00-13:00 – Lunch (invitation only)

13:00-15:00 – Session 2

Antoine Vauchez (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne): Neoliberalism à la française and the rise of public private legal expertise

Hans-W Micklitz (European University Institute): On the de-professionalisation of the legal profession

Commentator: Martti Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki)

15:00-15:30 – Coffee

15.30-17:30 – Session 3

Matthew Windsor (University of Oxford): Legal Advice and the Politics of Framing in International Law

Jan Klabbers (University of Helsinki): The International Legal Scholar as Expert

Commentator: Immi Tallgren (University of Helsinki)

19:00 – Dinner (invitation only)

Day 2

Friday, June 15th, 2018

Porthania room P545 (Yliopistonkatu 3, 5th floor)

8:30-10:30 – Session 4

Päivi Leino-Sandberg (University of Helsinki): Politics of legal expertise in EU law-making

Stijn Smismans (University of Cardiff): Better regulation in the EU; strengthening or weakening the role of legal expertise?

Commentator: Jo Shaw (University of Edinburgh)

10:30-11:00 – Coffee break

11:00-13:00 – Session 5

Emilia Korkea-aho (UEF Law School): Politics of legal expertise in EU lobbying

Lola Avril (Science Po): How lawyers became European public policies intermediation professionals (1982-1992)

Commentator: Toni Malminen (Counsel, Hannes Snellman Attorneys Ltd and Professor of Practice, UEF Law School 1 August 2018–)

13:00-13:15 – Concluding words

13:30-14:30 – Lunch (invitation only)