The University of New South Wales Law Journal is pleased to invite you to the launch of Issue 41(2) on 30 May 2018. This general Issue features 10 articles across a range of legal topics. The launch event will feature a panel discussion on ‘Dangerous Offenders and the Governance of Risk’, which is inspired by an article in the Issue by Harry Hobbs and Andrew Trotter. Through a historical survey of criminal justice responses to sexual offences, the authors argue that public fear at salient incidents produce laws that are overzealous, disproportionate and unjust. They also problematise the notion of ‘dangerousness’ and question the capacity of the criminal law to predict future risk.

We are delighted to have the Hon Justice Lucy McCallum, Professor Luke McNamara and the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG form a speaking panel to offer their insights into these issues. Justice McCallum is a judge in the Common Law Division at the NSW Supreme Court and was previously a prosecutor and commercial barrister. Luke McNamara is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at UNSW and Co-Director of the Centre for Crime, Law and Justice. Michael Kirby AC CMG is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia and was most recently the Chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea. His experiences in this regard also form the subject matter of an article in the Issue.

The other articles in the Issue offer unique analyses of contemporary legal issues and debates. The topics covered in the Issue include: coronial findings on suicide; judicial restraint in property division; the development of the principle of legality in the French Court era; the role of international child rights instruments in regulating unhealthy food advertising; the characterisation of breach of confidence in private international law; the utility of public law methodology in international investment law; a critique of new Victorian legislation on the retrospective removal of donor anonymity; and an empirical study of mental health wellbeing initiatives in a public sector legal organisation.

The launch will take place on Wednesday 30 May 2018 from 6pm–8:30pm at the offices of our premier sponsor Herbert Smith Freehills, at Level 33, 161 Castlereagh St, Sydney.

To register your attendance, please RSVP by 12pm, Tuesday 29 May 2018.