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Abstracts and student author biographies

 

Noah Robinson

Noah recently graduated from the University of Leeds with a distinction in International Banking and Finance Law LLM, having also been awarded the Head of Law School Dissertation Prize. His postgraduate degree was motivated by his undergraduate Economics BSc degree for which he was awarded first class honors, (also at the University of Leeds) and his engagement with the functioning of financial systems. Noah has since begun a career as an Underwriting Assistant at IQUW –which operates as a syndicate in the Lloyd’s of London Insurance Market. Here he has found that the knowledge which he acquired throughout his time in Leeds, as well as the broader skills and relationship s which he has also developed, have enabled him to transition smoothly into working life.

Regulating Stablecoins: A Proposed Revision to the UK’s Approach Given the Monetary and Financial Stability Risks Conferred by Stablecoins of Systemic Size.
Shortly after stablecoins’ inception as a ‘safe haven’ from cryptoasset investment, Meta’s ‘Libra’ proposal demonstrated stablecoins’ potential for broader market adoption. This development has duly prompted a spate of independent analyses into a prospective systemic stablecoin’s interaction with established monetary systems. These analyses have examined the monetary and financial stability risks which such an interaction would present, concurrently proposing appropriate regulatory responses. Simultaneously, governments have also begun to respond with varied proposed regulatory responses. This paper seeks to critically evaluate the UK’s proposed regulatory response to the risks posed by stablecoins. Finding the UK approach to be restrictive and inadequate in its prescription of e-money regulation when considering the monetary and financial stability risks posed by stablecoins of a systemic size, this paper will advocate for the incorporation into bank and deposit regulation in such instances.

 

Lydia Kelly

Lydia graduated with a first-class degree in Law from the University of Leeds in July 2022. She chose to write her final year dissertation on how employees’ posting online may affect their employment relationships, as she believes this is a question that will only become more prevalent as social media ingrains into our daily lives. For this, Lydia was awarded the Hughes Dissertation Prize for submitting one of the best dissertations in her cohort. Since graduating, Lydia has been working as an intellectual property and marketing paralegal at Tesco whilst looking to attain a training contract at a commercial law firm. She hopes to further explore her interest in the law around social media in her future legal career.

Privacy vs Reputation: How Should the Law Balance an Employee’s Right to Privacy with an Employer’s Power to Dismiss for Social Media Misconduct?
As social media has developed and become an integral part of daily life for millions around the globe, several questions have materialised about how privacy can be protected when using social media sites. This paper seeks to address one specific sub-question within this wider debate, namely how an employee’s right to privacy on social media should be balanced with their employer’s desire to access and monitor their social media activity. The paper will begin by analysing how the law currently balances employees’ privacy and employers’ right to dismiss for social media misconduct, discussing the meaning of the fundamental principles, their treatment in case law, and the extent to which the current balance could be said to give equal weight to all interests at stake. Focusing on the specific changes brought by social media and novel working conditions, the paper will provide a contextual analysis of the adequacy of the current approach in ensuring that employers would not interfere with employees’ right to privacy without adequate justification. Concluding that reform is necessary, the paper will advance the introduction of legislative guidance to employers on how to carry out investigation of social media, and/or a new common law test that specifically applies to cases of dismissal for social media activity as potential solutions capable of giving more weight to employees’ privacy concerns.

 

Lily Proudfoot

Lily graduated from the University of Leeds in 2022 at the top of the LLB Law cohort and returned to the School of Law as a Graduate Teaching Assistant the following academic year. Forming an integral part of the School of Law’s community, she currently teaches on the following modules: Company Law, Torts, Land Law and Foundations of Law. Lily has really enjoyed teaching on undergraduate modules and aims to continue challenging homonormativity in her prospective career as a solicitor.

Homonormativity: A Critical Exploration into Legal Silence Regarding Intersex and Asexuality.
While scholarship discussing law’s interaction with the LGBT+ community is plentiful, there are gaps in critical attention regarding law’s lack of involvement with intersex and asexuality, which reside at the bottom of the hierarchy within the LGBT+ community. This paper explores the nascent intersex and asexuality movements and seeks to understand legal silence by challenging homonormativity: the ubiquitous theme. Investigating intersex and asexuality’s standing on multiple levels through the lens of queer theory will reveal how societal misunderstanding, queer theoretical representation and queer political misconstruction have contributed to this lacuna in law. Focusing on intersex, this paper argues that while queer theory and queer politics’ homonormative potential could re-entrench pathologisation, if redirected, these would be beneficial instruments through which to campaign for substantive change. Status-based intersex reforms will be critically analysed before concluding that third sex markers and leaving sex blank on birth certificates could have greater alienating effects. This paper also contends that banning non-consensual gender-normalising surgeries would positively safeguard intersex individuals and implementing gender-neutral language and decertifying legal gender would boost the intersex community’s resilience. Regarding asexuality, queer theory’s hyper-sexual nature and queer politics’ negligent approach will be scrutinised for erasing asexuality and contributing to its ostracisation. Furthermore, this paper argues that asexuality and intersex should constitute protected characteristics within antidiscrimination legislation. The paper concludes that novel queer constructions of intersex and asexuality eradicating dominant medical and LGBT+ narratives are essential for bottom-uplegal reform, which must prioritise the communities’ lived experiences.

 

Rinda Desarapu

Rinda recently graduated from the University of Leeds, School of Law with an upper 2:1 LLB. For her final year dissertation, she chose to write on the topic of gender and the law, a topic which has always interested her. She was awarded the Hughes Dissertation prize for this work. After graduating, Rinda moved back to India and started working in a corporate law firm. She aims to clear her Bar examination and be enrolled on the Indian Bar Council in 2023.

Critical Analysis of the barriers to justice faced by Dalit Women who have suffered sexual violence in India.
Even after 75 years of Independence, the caste system, which divides individuals into social groups with dedicated rights and social status, remains prevalent in India. Dalits, also known as Scheduled Castes or ‘Untouchables’, fall outside the caste system and are at the bottom of the hierarchy. This increases the vulnerability of Dalit women, due to the intersection of their female gender and low caste. They are often the victims of sexual violence and are not allowed the same pathways to dignity and justice that other women receive. Using an empirical research method and case analysis, this paper will critically analyse the structural barriers faced by Dalit women when accessing the Indian Justice system and highlight the role played by caste and patriarchy. It will highlight how, despite the enactment of specific laws and affirmative actions by the Indian Government to protect Dalit women, the laws are poorly implemented resulting in more crimes against them. The paper will conclude that the position of Dalit women can only be improved when equality is truly achieved, which requires a social change in society.

 

Alicia Grassom

Alicia Grassom is a BA Criminal Justice and Criminology (International)(Honours) graduate from the University of Leeds. Her research interests in transnational crime and human rights was actualized during her studies at university. Whilst presenting her travel show on Leeds Student Radio, she learnt of the Australian offshore immigration detention policies. She was inspired to research international criminology further, going on to complete a virtual study abroad year at Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia. Her comparative research reflects her academic experiences and a passion for human rights, specifically in places of detention. Currently, Alicia continues to pursue this interest, aspiring to be a researcher for HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

Does it come from a land down-under? An analysis of crimmigration policy transfer between Australia and the UK.
In March 2021, the Home Office released the ‘New Plan for Immigration: policy statement’ outlining government plans for a complete overhaul of the UK system. Proposed ‘pushback policies’ for turning migrant boats around at sea, and the establishment of offshore ‘reception’ holding asylum seekers, have spurred intentional criticism for seeking to replicate Australia’s notoriously harsh ‘crimmigration’ regime. Through a critical discourse analysis and a framework of policy transfer, this comparative study investigates the extent of a crimmigration policy transfer between Australia’s ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’ policy document and the ‘UK’s New Plan for Immigration: policy statement’. Findings suggest there is an emulation of Australian policy into the UK’s plan, implying a significant transfer of discourse and rhetoric, with the potential for a complete transfer following upcoming legislative changes under the Nationality and Borders Bill 2022. Crimmigration discourse is identified as a political technology for appeasing public anxieties around immigration whilst reinforcing an unequal power system between the state and asylum seekers. Consequently, UK policymakers should firstly draw upon negative lessons from within the Australian immigration system before proceeding with system changes, employing a humanitarian discourse even at the expense of public support.