MICHAEL SEVEL
New Law School Building (F10) (+1) 228-323-1613 Eastern Avenue Camperdown (+61) 02 9351 0303 University of Sydney 2006 NSW [email protected] Australia http://sydney.edu.au/law/about/people/profiles/michael.sevel.php
EDUCATION
The University of Texas at Austin Ph.D., Philosophy, 2010
The University of Texas at Austin School of Law J.D., with honors, 2008
Virginia Tech University M.A., Philosophy, 2001
University of Southern Mississippi B.A., Philosophy, summa cum laude, 1999
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
University of Sydney Law School 2017 - Present Senior Lecturer in Jurisprudence
Durham University Spring 2019 Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study
National University of Singapore Spring 2018 Senior Visiting Fellow, Centre for Maritime Law
University of Miami School of Law Fall 2017 Visiting Professor of Law
University of Sydney Law School 2012 - 2017 Lecturer in Jurisprudence
Tulane University 2015 - 2016 Visiting Research Professor Center for Ethics and Public Affairs, Murphy Institute
University of Miami School of Law 2011 - 2012 Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
European University Institute 2010 - 2011 Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010-11
1
AREAS OF RESEARCH & TEACHING INTEREST
Torts, Admiralty and Maritime Law, Jurisprudence, Rule of Law, Moral and Political Philosophy
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Editor, THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF THE RULE OF LAW, Routledge (under contract).
THE PHILOSOPHY OF JOSEPH RAZ, Oxford University Press (under contract).
LEGITIMACY: THE STATE AND BEYOND (co-edited with Wojciech Sadurski and Kevin Walton), Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2018. Contributors: Joseph Raz, Philip Pettit, Fabienne Peter, Michael Sevel, Paul Weithman, Nicole Roughan, Martin Krygier, Wojciech Sadurski, Mattias Kumm, Cormac Mac Amhlaigh, Jiri Priban, Andreas Follesdal
FREE WILL AND THE LAW: NEW PERSPECTIVES (co-edited with Allan McCay), Routledge, forthcoming 2018. Contributors: Christopher Birch, Michael Corrado, R.A. Duff, Bernard Berofsky, Laura Ekstrom, Ishtiyaque Haji, Robert Kane, Neil Levy, Allan McCay, Michael Sevel, Nicole Vincent
ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, AND REFERENCE WORKS
How Judges are Free to Decide Cases, in Allan McCay and Michael Sevel (eds.), FREE WILL AND THE LAW: NEW PERSPECTIVES (Routledge, forthcoming 2018).
Introduction: Free Will and the Law, in Allan McCay and Michael (eds.), FREE WILL AND THE LAW: NEW PERSPECTIVES (Routledge, forthcoming 2018).
Is God in the Clouds?: A Note on Xenophanes, PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY, forthcoming 2018.
Lost at Sea: The Continuing Decline of the Supreme Court in Admiralty, 71 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI LAW REVIEW 938 (2017).
Philosophy of Law, ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA (with Brian Leiter) (2016).
Review of Gerald J. Postema, LEGAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: THE COMMON LAW WORLD (Springer: 2011), in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (2015).
Authorities, Reasons, and Conflict, AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL PHILOSOPHY 40 (2015), 205- 211.
The Constitution of Authority, 5 JURISPRUDENCE 430 (2014).
2
What the Sovereign Can’t Do, HOBBES STUDIES 27:2 (2014), 191-198.
Hobbes: Patriarch of Legal Positivism, or Reinventor of Natural Law?, in THE BLOOMSBURY COMPANION TO HOBBES, ed. S. A. Lloyd (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).
Admiralty Course Offerings in United States Law Schools, 41 JOURNAL OF MARITIME LAW AND COMMERCE 499 (2010).
Legal Positivism, OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHIES ONLINE (with Brian Leiter), 2010
Legal Positivism and the Rule of Law, 34 AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL PHILOSOPHY 53 (2009). * Winner of Australian Society of Legal Philosophy Annual Essay Competition, 2008
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Keynote Address
“Knowing the Law” Antwerp-Glasgow Colloquium on “Subsidiarity and Its Discontents,” Centre for Law and Cosmopolitan Values, University of Antwerp, June 2011
Other Presentations
“The Rule of Law: Emotions and Attitudes,” Renmin University Law School, Beijing, November 2017
“The Rule of Law: Overview and Approaches,” The Rule of Law in Ancient Rome, University of Sydney Ancient History Symposium, February 2017
Workshop Participant, Economics of the Rule of Law, George Mason University, January 2017
“Obeying the Law” Analytic Legal Philosophy Conference, University of Virginia, April 2016 Institute for Law & Philosophy Workshop, University of Pennsylvania Law School, January 2016 Irish Jurisprudence Society, Trinity College Dublin, February 2016 Legal and Political Theory Workshop Series, NUI-Galway, February 2016 Center for Ethics and Public Affairs, Murphy Institute, Tulane University, February 2016
“Philosophical Anarchism Revisited” 5th Sydney-NUS Law Symposium, NUS-Singapore, September 2016 Instituto Investigaciones Filosoficas, UNAM, Mexico City, March 2016 Department of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, November 2015
“The Political Conception of Human Rights (Raz’s Version)” 3
Instituto Investigaciones Juridicas, UNAM, Mexico City, March 2016
“The Authority and Sources of International Law” University College Dublin School of Law, February 2016
“The Rule of Law in Europe” European Faculty of Law, Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 2015
“The Rule of Law and Human Rights Reconsidered” The Past, Present and Future of the Rule of Law: An Academic Conference to Mark the 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta, Centre for Common Law, Renmin University Law School, Beijing, September 2015
“Plural Authorities and Transnational Law,” Australian Society for Legal Philosophy, Sydney Law School, June 2015
“How Judges are Free to Decide Cases,” Neuroscience in Australian Courtrooms: Responsibility, Liability and the Capacity to Punish, Sydney Law School, June 2015
“Raz’s Virtues,” Reasons and Virtues Conference, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, May 2015
“Strict Liability and the Rule of Law,” First Asia-Pacific Civil Law Forum, Research Center of Civil and Commercial Jurisprudence, Renmin University of China, Beijing, April 2015
“The Service Conceptions of Authority” Australian Society for Legal Philosophy, Murdoch University, Perth, June 2014 Graduate Institute of Philosophy, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, October 2013
“What the Sovereign Can’t Do” International Hobbes Association, Baltimore, December 2013
“Authority at Sea” Queen Mary School of Law, University of London, November 2013
“Obeying the Law and Doing the Right Thing” Legal Theory Workshop, Melbourne Law School, September 2013
“How Judges Are Free to Decide Cases” Memorial Conference for David Hodgson, Sydney Law School, May 2013
“The Challenge of Anarchism” Mississippi Humanities Council, University of Southern Mississippi, January 2013
“Obedience to Law: Reasons, Intentions and Doing the Right Thing” 4
Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence, Sydney Law School, November 2012 Centre for Legal Governance, Macquarie University Law School, October 2012
“Knowing the Law: The Role of Testimony” Australian Society of Legal Philosophy, Macquarie University, July 2012 Louisiana State University School of Law, October 2011 University of South Carolina School of Law, October 2011
“Authority and the Nature of Obedience” Conference on Authority, Legitimacy and Rights, University of Warwick, June 2011 Centre for Ethics, University of Tartu, Estonia, July 2011
“Freedom on the High Seas and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” Max Weber Program Lustrum Conference, European University Institute, June 2011
“Knowing the Law” University of Girona, Spain, Seminar in Legal Theory, January 2011 . Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, May 2011
“Philosophical Theories of Causality” Multidisciplinary Research Workshop on Causality, European University Institute, May 2011
“Hobbes and Game Theory” Economics Working Group, Max Weber Program, European University Institute, May 2011
“Authority and Self-Knowledge” University of Chicago Law School, 2010 McMaster University, Graduate Conference in Legal Theory, 2010
“The Problem of Authority Reconsidered” Princeton University, Department of Politics, April 2009
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Grants
Sydney Intellectual History Network (Director: Professor Jennifer Milam), 2013- $110,000 grant from University of Sydney Research Networks Scheme (SyReNS) “to develop new synergies in intellectual history focusing on the international contexts and the possibilities of inter-relationships between economic, visual, political, social and philosophical histories.”
Teaching Awards
Teaching Excellence in Tort Law, University of Miami Law School 5
Rated strongly effective teacher by 97.7% of 44 student evaluators (Written student feedback available upon request.)
Best Teaching Practices, Max Weber Programme, European University Institute, 2011 Distinction given to 4 of 43 postdoctoral fellows
Distinguished Teacher Award, Department of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin, 2005 Awarded to 6 of 63 postgraduate instructors, based on student evaluations. Received average 4.8 (out of 5) rating from 130 students for the Fall and Spring semesters.
Other Awards
Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship Department of Law, European University Institute, 2010-2011 Awarded to 43 of 1042 applicants.
Winner, Australian Society of Legal Philosophy Annual Essay Competition, 2008 Awarded for “Legal Positivism and the Rule of Law”
ACADEMIC SERVICE
COURSES TAUGHT
Admiralty Law (JD) Law of the Sea (LLB and JD) Comparative Admiralty and Maritime Law (LLM and JD) Torts (of both the United States and Australia, JD and LLB) The Rule of Law and its Value (JD and LLB) Philosophy of International Law (JD and LLB) Theories of Legal Authority (JD and LLB) Authority and the Duty to Obey the Law (JD and PhD) Theories of the Judiciary (LLM and MJur) The Nature of the Common Law (LLM and MJur) International Environmental Law (JD and LLB)
STUDENT RESEARCH SUPERVISION
University of Sydney Law School
Elizabeth Larbalestier (MJur, 2017), “Common Law Theory and Native Title”
Alexander Horne (LLM, 2017), “Dworkin’s Metaphysics and its Implications for the Aims and Methods of Jurisprudence”
Melanie Curtin (MJur, 2013), “Fairness and Fault”
6
University of Miami School of Law
Ann Marie Brodarick (JD, 2013), “High Seas, High Stakes: Jurisdiction over Stateless Vessels and an Excess of Congressional Power Under the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act”, published in 67 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI LAW REVIEW 255 (2013).
Angelica Boutwell (JD, 2013), ”The Athens Convention and Limitation of Liability in U.S. Federal Courts: While Communication is Key, Some Things are Better Left Unsaid”, published in 43 INTER-AMERICAN LAW REVIEW 523 (2012).
Gino Butto (JD, 2012), “The Costs and Benefits of Amendment 17A: The Red Snapper Prohibition” (student chose not to pursue publication)
European University Institute:
Sara Quiriconi (LLM ‘11) (co-supervisor with Dennis Patterson), “Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Perspectives on a New Approach to Law”, published as THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE IN THE WORK OF DRUG COURTS: ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENTS AND PERSPECTIVES FOR A NEW APPROACH TO THE LAW (LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011).
OTHER SERVICE
Academic Member, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney (2015-Present)
Academic Fellow, Centre for Maritime Law, National University of Singapore
Editorial Board, Sydney Law Review (2013-2015, 2017- )
Moot Court Coach, John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition, University of Miami Law School, 2012
Faculty Advisor, Maritime Law Society, University of Miami Law School, 2011-12
Co-Organizer, Julius Stone Institute Reading Group in Jurisprudence, 2015-Present
Unit Convenor, Torts (JD), Sydney Law School, Semester 1, 2014
Memorial Judge, Jessup International Moot Court Competition (Australia National Competition), 2014
Guest Judge (Semi Final Round), Allens Torts Moot, Sydney Law School, 2013
7
REFEREEING
Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy
Journal of Philosophical Research
Jurisprudence
Law and Philosophy
Melbourne Journal of International Law
Melbourne University Law Review
Monash University Law Review
Neuroethics
Synthese
University of Chicago Law Review
University of Tasmania Law Review
UNSW Law Journal
8