You are here: Home / Sydney Law School / About us / Our people / Academics

Associate Professor Fleur Johns

Profile

Degrees

B.A., LL.B. (Hons) Melb; LL.M. Harv; SJD Harv

Courses Taught

  • Advanced Financing Techniques - International Project Finance
  • Public & Private International Law
  • International Human Rights Law
  • Law, Lawyers & Justice
  • Legal Geographies

Areas of Research Interest:

  • International law
  • Legal theory
  • Jurisdiction/legal geography
  • Legal history

Brief Biographical Details

Fleur Johns is Co-Director of the Sydney Centre for International Law (with Associate Professor Tim Stephens) and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law. Fleur teaches and conducts research mainly in public and private international law and legal theory. Her work has explored the relationship between articulations of subjectivity at various scales (the globe, the city, the state, the deal, the body) and the legal crafting of ‘non-legal’ ideas and artifacts in a range of settings, from counter-terrorist detention to transnational financing.

Fleur is a graduate of the University of Melbourne (BA (Fine Arts & English Literature major)), LLB (Hons 1)) and Harvard Law School (LLM, SJD, Menzies Scholar, Laylin Prize). She has been a member of the Editorial Boards of the Leiden Journal of International Law (2005-2013; Co-Editor of Articles, 2005-2010), the Harvard Human Rights Journal and the Sydney Law Review and she is currently on the Editorial Board of the Australian International Law Journal, the Australian Journal of Human Rights and Global Peace, Change & Security. Fleur is also a member of the Advisory Boards of the Australian Feminist Law Journal and the London Review of International Law.

Recent publications include Non-Legality in International Law: Unruly Law (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and the edited books Events: The Force of International Law (Routledge-Cavendish 2010; in paperback 2011; co-edited with Sundhya Pahuja and Richard Joyce) and International Legal Personality (Ashgate 2010). Other current projects include an Australian Research Council-funded study entitled “Mekong laws: scales, sites and impacts of 'hard' and 'soft' law in Mekong River Basin governance” being undertaken with colleagues from Sydney Law School and the Australian Mekong Resource Centre.

Before commencing her academic career, Fleur practised as a corporate lawyer for six years with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York, specialising in international project finance in the Latin American region. Fleur remains a member of the New York bar. Non-governmental and international organizations with which Fleur has worked include: the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (Sydney, Management Committee Member, 2003-2005, 2009-2010); the International Law Association (Australian Branch, National Management Committee Member, 2005); the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs & Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (Rapporteur, 1999); the American Civil Liberties Union (pro bono legal work, 1997); the Lawyers Alliance for New York (pro bono legal work, 1996-1998); the Environment Defenders Office (Victoria) (Non-Executive Director, 1993-1995); and the Esprit Cares Trust Fund (Advisory Board Member 1992-1994).

Fleur has three small children and works part time at Sydney Law School (Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays).

Publications

Books | Book Chapters | Edited Journal Issues | Articles in Refereed Journals | Reports | Book Reviews & Review Essays | Selected Conference/Workshop Presentations | Encyclopedia Entry

Books

Book Chapters

  • Fleur Johns, 'Living in International Law' in R Buchanan, S Motha & S Pahuja (eds), Reading Modern Law: Critical Methodologies and Sovereign Formations, Routledge: UK (2012) 74-86.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘The Torture Memos’ in Fleur Johns, Sundhya Pahuja & Richard Joyce (eds), Events: The Force of International Law, Routledge-Cavendish: UK (2011) 260-278.
  • Fleur Johns, Sundhya Pahuja & Richard Joyce ‘Introduction’ in Fleur Johns, Sundhya Pahuja & Richard Joyce (eds), Events: The Force of International Law, Routledge-Cavendish: UK (2011) 1-17.
  • Fleur Johns, 'The Gift of Realism: Julius Stone and the International Legal Academy of Australia' in H Irving, J Mowbray & K Walton (eds), Julius Stone: A Study in Influence, Federation Press: Sydney (2010) 21-37.
  • Fleur Johns, 'Introduction' in F Johns (ed), International Legal Personality, Ashgate: UK (2010) xi-xxix.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Performing Power: The Deal, Corporate Rule, and the Constitution of Global Legal Order’ in Stewart Motha (ed.), Democracy’s Empire: Sovereignty, Law, and Violence, Blackwell: Oxford (2007) pp. 116-138.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘The Globe and the Ghetto’, in Markus Lederer & Philipp Müller (eds), Criticizing Global Governance, Palgrave Macmillan: New York (2005) pp.69-102.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘International Law-National Law: Thinking through the Hyphen’, in Hilary Charlesworth, Madelaine Chiam, Devika Hovell & George Williams (eds), The Fluid State: International Law and National Legal Systems, Federation Press: Sydney (2005) pp. 188-209.

Edited Journal Issues

  • Fleur Johns, Thomas Skouteris and Wouter Werner (eds.), Special Issue Series – International Law and the Periphery:
    Alejandro Álvarez (2006) 19 Leiden Journal of International Law 875-1040
    Taslim Olawale Elias (2008) 21 Leiden Journal of International Law 289-410
    India and International Law in the Periphery (2010) 23 Leiden Journal of International Law 1-103
    League of Nations and the Periphery, (2011) 24 Leiden Journal of International Law Issue 4 (forthcoming)
  • Fleur Johns & Mary Crock, (Guest Editors), 'Special Issue: Migration, Mental Health and Human Rights' (2004) 27(6) International Journal of Law & Psychiatry 505-679.

Articles in Refereed Journals

Reports

  • Fleur Johns, Report of the Inter-Agency Expert Consultation on Protected Areas, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs & Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, 23-24 February, 1999 (7 April, 1999).
  • Fleur Johns & Claude Bruderlein, Inter-Agency Expert Consultation on Protected Areas: Review of Literature (1999)

Book Reviews & Review Essays

  • Fleur Johns, 'Book Review: Annelise Riles, Collateral Knowledge: Legal Reasoning in the Global Financial Markets', (2012) 23 European Journal of International Law 1194-1199
  • Fleur Johns, 'Book Review: The Body and the State: Habeas Corpus and American Jurisprudence', (2008) 17(3) Social and Legal Studies 416-418
  • Fleur Johns, 'Review: International Law and its Others' (2007) 8(2) Melbourne Journal of International Law 516-535
  • Fleur Johns, 'Critical Beings: Taking a Critical Bearing' (2005) 30 Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy 160-170.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Review Essay: Diversity and Self-Determination in International Law’ (2003) 16(3) Leiden Journal of International Law 656-669.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Review Essay: Citymaking’ (2000) 32 Urban Lawyer 349-360.

Selected Conference/Workshop Presentations

  • Fleur Johns, ‘Grace’, Passions of International Law Symposium, University of Melbourne, 13-15 September 2012
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Some Words About Numbers: Engaging International Legal Technique Concerning Global Markets’, International Conference of the Law and Society Association, Hawaii, 5-8 June 2012
  • Fleur Johns & Philip Hirsch, ‘Law, Governance and Justice in the Mekong’ (co-presented with Philip Hirsch), International Conference of the Law and Society Association, Hawaii, 5-8 June 2012
  • Fleur Johns, Author Meets Reader Panellist-Collateral Knowledge: Legal Reasoning in the Global Financial Markets, International Conference of the Law and Society Association, Hawaii, 5-8 June 2012
  • Fleur Johns, Commentator – Human Rights versus Capitalism, Human Rights: Old Dichotomies Revisited, Sydney, 25-26 November 2011.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Marginal Notes: Death Post-Disaster in International Law', Interdisciplinary Workshop on Biosecurity, Resilience and Government, Sydney, 10-11 November 2011.
  • Fleur Johns, 'Marginal Notes: Death, Disaster, and Infra-Legality in International Law', JSI Legal Theory at Sydney, Sydney, 14 October 2010.
  • Fleur Johns, 'Democratic Torture as Event', Gilbert + Tobin Centre’s ‘Public Law and Legal Theory’ seminar series, Sydney, 16 September 2010.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Marginal Notes: Death, Disaster and Infra-legality in International Law’, The South of International Law Workshop, Melbourne Law School, Melbourne, 8 July 2010.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Democratic Torture’, Plenary Paper, 18th Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law, Canberra, 26 June 2010.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Discussant - Plenary Address by Professor Ratna Kapur: Human Rights in the 21st Century: Take a Walk on the Dark Side’, Australian and New Zealand Law & Society Association Annual Conference, Sydney, 12 December 2008
  • Fleur Johns, Plenary Address: 'Beyond Bunker and Vaccine', Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law Annual Conference, Canberra, Australia, 26 June 2008
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Performing Power: The Deal, Corporate Rule, and the Constitution of Global Legal Order’, Meeting of the Law and Society Association and the Research Committee on Sociology of Law, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, 25 July, 2007
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Living in International Law’, Festschrift for Professor Peter Fitzpatrick, Berlin, 24 July 2007
  • Fleur Johns, ‘The Gift of Realism: Julius Stone and the International Legal Academy in Australia, 1954-1994’, Julius Stone Centenary Conference, University of Sydney, 7 July 2007
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Teeming Voids: The International Law of Lawlessness’, Sydney Law School Staff Seminar/Sydney Centre for International and Global Law Seminar Series, Sydney, 8 March 2007
  • Fleur Johns, ‘International Legal Authority, Torture and the Claim to Conscience’, ANU Staff Seminar/Centre for International and Public Law Seminar Series, Canberra, 21 February 2007
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Teeming Voids: Sovereignty, the Deal, and the Empty Places of International Law’, Staff Seminar Series, Kent Law School, Canterbury, UK, 8 March 2006
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Teeming Voids: Sovereignty, Subjection, and the Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005, 3rd Workshop on Critical Approaches to International Law – The Force of International Law, Birkbeck School of Law, London, UK, 15-17 May 2006
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Teeming Voids: Sovereignty, Subjectivity, and the Empty Place of International Law’, Workshop – Popular Sovereignty and the Rule of Law in Divided Societies, Centre for Law and Society, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 22-24 May 2006.
  • Fleur Johns, 'Global Governance: An Heretical History Play', Griffith University Socio-Legal Research Centre Seminar Series, Brisbane, Australia, 11 April 2005 and at Macquarie University Lunchtime Staff Seminar Series: 'Customs in Common ­ Law, Culture, Memory', Sydney, Australia, 7 April 2005.
  • Fleur Johns, 'Camp X-Ray and the Annihilation of the Exception', Recollections: Official Knowledge and the Memory of Unofficial Practices, The 22nd Annual Law & Society Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 12-15 December 2004.
  • Fleur Johns, 'The Courts and the Human Rights Act', Afternoon Seminar convened by the Gilbert + Tobin Centre for Public Law at the University of NSW and the Sydney Centre for Global and International Law on The ACT Human Rights Act 2004: Australia's First Bill of Rights, Sydney, 29 October 2004.
  • Fleur Johns, 'Thinking Through the Hyphen', Expert Workshop - International Challenges to the Australian Legal System, Australian National University, Canberra, 12-13 August 2004.
  • Fleur Johns, '‘À La Carte Sovereignty’: Rewriting the Menu', Workshop of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, New Voices 2004: À La Carte Sovereignty: Australia's Transforming Borders, Sydney, 28 May 2004 (proceedings available at: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=158).
  • Fleur Johns, 'Public Spaces; Private Law: Troubling the Grid', presented at an Invitation-Only Workshop, Law, Landscapes and Ethics, at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati, Spain, 9-11 June 2004 (edited book arising from these proceedings to be published by Hart, 2005).
  • Fleur Johns, 'The Laws of the Camp', Joint Workshop of Birkbeck Law School and the Foundation for New Research in International Law, London, UK, 9-11 May 2004, and at the European Society of International Law Meeting, Florence, Italy, 13-15 May 2004.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘On Writing Dangerously’, Keynote Address, Annual Australia Postgraduate Law Students’ Conference, Sydney, 31 October 2003.
  • Fleur Johns, Invited Participant, Workshop: Reflecting Critically on Global Governance, Harvard University European Law Research Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 3-4 October 2003.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Thoughts for the Times on Xenophobia’, Australian Society of Legal Philosophy/Julius Stone Institute Annual Conference, Sydney, 18-20 July 2003.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘Rights as Wrongs? And Other Awkward Questions’, Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law Annual Conference, Wellington, New Zealand, 4-6 July 2003.
  • Fleur Johns, Invited Participant (Alternate Presenter), Law & Humanities Junior Scholar Workshop, Columbia Law School, New York, 1-2 June 2003, joint initiative of Columbia, Georgetown, UCLA & USC.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘The Globe and the Ghetto’, Reflecting Critically on Global Governance Conference, Berlin, 6-7 January 2003, a joint initiative of research centres at the Free University, Berlin; the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich and Harvard University, Cambridge.
  • Fleur Johns, ‘The Globe and the Ghetto: Spaces of Global Governance and the Work of Distinction’, Critical Perspectives on Global Governance Workshop, Amerang, Germany, 1-3 November 2002, see above for sponsoring institutions.

Encyclopedia Entry

  • Johns, F, ‘Economic, social and cultural rights’, ‘Extraterritoriality’ and ‘International Bill of Rights’, Australian Law Dictionary, Oxford University Press: Australia (2010)