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Murray Edwards College
University of Cambridge
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    Dr Sophie Turenne

    01223 763802
    Murray Edwards College
    Huntingdon Road
    Cambridge
    CB3 0DF

    Bye Fellow in Law; Director of Studies

    Law

    Bye fellow

    Degrees and honours

    • MA (Cantab)
    • PhD (Paris II)

    Research interests

    Dr Turenne has written extensively on the topic of judicial independence and she has interests in comparative law (with a current focus on comparative constitutional law and civil liberties); European Union law and the European judicial systems; legal theory.

    In her first monograph, Le juge face à la désobéissance civile. Etude en droits américain et français comparés (2007), Dr Turenne compared the judicial discourse of the French judiciary facing claims of civil disobedience (abortion or anti-abortion disobedience mainly) with the judicial discourse of American judges. Dr Turenne recently published, with Professor Shimon Shetreet (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), the second edition of Shetreet’s Judges on Trial: a Study of the Appointment and the Accountability of the English Judiciary (2013), with a Foreword from the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.  The book was described as ‘a fascinating book’ by Lord Dyson MR (Baillii Lecture, November 2014). Building on her work as General Reporter for the 19th International Congress of Comparative Law in Vienna (2014), Dr Turenne has now edited a collection of essays, ‘Fair reflection of society in judicial systems. A comparative study’ (Springer, forthcoming).

    Biography

    Dr Turenne completed her Law studies at the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas following one year in Philosophy (literary preparatory class). In the course of her studies, she was an Erasmus student then a research scholar at Oxford University under various awards schemes (Entente Cordiale, Lavoisier-Oxford, Allocation Mobilite Internationale CNRS). Dr Turenne taught in numerous places (Paris XIII, University College London, Birmingham) at both undergraduate and graduate levels before coming to Cambridge in 2003. She was Neil Allam/Clifford Chance Lecturer in Law at the Faculty until October 2010 and co-ordinated the Erasmus and the Double Maitrise programmes within the Law Faculty in this capacity. She is currently Assistant Professor in Comparative Law in the Faculty and a Fellow at King's College.

    Publications

    Books

    • Judges on Trial. The Independence and Accountability of the English Judiciary (Cambridge University Press) 2nd Edition
    • Le juge face à la désobéissance civile. Etude en droits américain et français comparés. (Librairie Générale de Jurisprudence, Paris, 2007)

    Articles

    • Judicial independence and judicial accountability: two sides of the same coin (in Russian)" Sydia (The Judge) Nr 9/2014 (СУДЬЯ / СЕНТЯБРЬ / 2014)
    • "AG’s Opinions or Separate Opinions? Judicial engagement at the CJEU." [2011-2012] Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies Vol.14.
    • "La Justice face à la désobéissance civile" [2011] Problèmes politiques et sociaux 989<
    •  "Decisions, decisions: the best case scenario" The Guardian, 11 October 2011.
    • "Judicial Misconduct and Disciplinary Procedures – a Brave New World" Colloquium in Memory of Kurt Lipstein, European Law Business Review (forthcoming)
    • "The Compatibility of Criminal Liability with Freedom of Expression" Criminal Law Review 2007, pp 866-881
    • "Judicial Responses to Civil Disobedience: A Comparative Approach" Res Publica, vol. 10, n°4, 2004, pp 379-399

    Book Chapters

    • "Judicial reform in Luxembourg: Avenues and Opportunities" in Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law (Ed), Judicial Reforms in Luxembourg and in Europe. Comparative perspectives on recent reforms and reform proposals in the justice sector (Hart/Nomos)
    • "Constitutional Adjudication and Appointments to the UK Supreme Court" in C. Forsyth and S. Shetreet (Ed), The Culture of Judicial Independence: Rule of Law and World Peace (Brill)
    • "Judicial Independence in England and Wales since the Constitutional Reform Act 2005" in A. Seibert-Fohr (Ed), Judicial Independence in Transition - Strengthening the Rule of Law in the OSCE Region (Springer), pp. 147-183
    • "The Northern Irish Judiciary in Times of Crisis: the Diplock Courts" in Chr. Forsyth and S. Shetreet (Ed), The Culture of Judicial Independence: Conceptual Foundations and Practical Challenges (Brill)
    • "Désobéissance civile et libéralisation de l'avortement: étude en droits américain et français comparés" in David Hiez and Bruno Villalba (Ed), La désobéissance civile. Approches politique et juridique (Septentrion, Lille), pp. 87-102. 
    • "Désobéissance civile et droit: le juge au coeur de la controverse" in O. Pfersmann (Ed), Actes de la Journée de la Recherche organisée par la SFPJ (SFPJ-Paris X Nanterre, Paris), pp. 67-82.

    Case Notes

    • "Free Speech and Scandalising the Court in Mauritius" The Cambridge Law Journal, volume 74, issue 01, pp. 7-10.