What if more people could understand the law?

Canterbury expert asks what if more people could understand the law

April 27, 2015

University of Canterbury law expert Associate Professor Chris Gallavin says there are two things that fascinate a lot of New Zealanders - real estate and criminal justice.

He says the topics have more in common than people realise and discussion of each issue is often governed by emotion, presumption and gut feeling. Associate Professor Gallavin will give a public lecture on campus next Wednesday (April 29) explaining many of the complexities and mysteries of criminal law.

“I will explain how criminal cases are put together and discuss case theory and outline the rules that govern the giving of evidence. Admission of evidence and exclusion of evidence before convictions appear to many to be entirely unjust. Is that true or is there a method to the legal madness?

“I will seek to explore where we might profitably focus our attention for the future development of our criminal justice system - a focus governed by a better understanding of the criminal law and not merely by emotion and irrationality.”

The Canterbury School of Law has a strong international reputation for quality and produces graduate students of the highest calibre. Canterbury students have been helping the Christchurch Community Law Centre with demand from the public. Canterbury law students are making a major contribution to the wellbeing of our community through servicing more than 20,000 inquiries from the public each year.

“Our law students are very keen to help those in need wherever possible. It is extremely heartening to see young people so passionate about standing up for their community. Where else in the country are enthusiastic young people presented with the opportunity to really make a difference in their community? Nowhere but Christchurch.”

“Where else does one have the opportunity to renegotiate the foundational building blocks of a community? Everyone else around the world will be studying such problems in books – we have them on our doorstep and we are charged with coming up with the answers.

“The Law School, through our clinical law programme, is helping select a number of law student volunteers to assist. We believe it is important for the graduate profile of all our law students that they are involved in the legal community so they are career-ready when they leave the university. From next year all our law students will have to give 100 hours of community legal service before they can graduate.

``We are also developing international exchanges to place students at international criminal courts and research issues relevant to certain cases.”

ENDS

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