The promotion of data sharing in pharmacoepidemiology

This article addresses the role of pharmacoepidemiology in patient safety and the crucial role of data sharing in ensuring that such activities occur. Against the backdrop of proposed reforms of European data protection legislation, it considers whether the current legislative landscape adequately facilitates this essential data sharing. It is argued that rather than maximising and promoting the benefits of such activities by facilitating data sharing, current and proposed legislative landscapes hamper these vital activities. The article posits that current and proposed data protection approaches to pharmacoepidemiology — and more broadly, re-uses of data — should be reoriented towards enabling these important safety enhancing activities. Two potential solutions are offered: 1) a dedicated working party on data reuse for health research and 2) the introduction of new, dedicated legislation

Mediation, the Rule of Law, and Dialogue

In this paper the author urges discussion on the legitimacy of mediation processes, a discussion that is not prevalent in legal scholarship. The author argues that mediation outcomes can be inconsistent with the rule of law given that the same case can have a different outcome depending on whether it is litigated or mediated. On the other hand, crucial and valuable aspects of mediation can result in a presumption of legitimacy. With the rule of law critique in mind, the author discusses how dialogue theory can be used to improve upon the mediation process. The author begins by exploring the value inherent in the rule of law, which poses a conundrum for court-annexed mediation because it is not designed to administer law in the same way as adjudication. However, this does not make mediation illegitimate. Instead, a framework for mediation can be developed to encompass both rule of law values and mediation’s unique characteristics. Mediation is not a watered-down version of litigation; it is a distinct process of dialogue that centralizes self- determination and consensual decision-making. The author then suggests that dialogue theory can serve as this grounding framework for mediation. Dialogue theory embraces the values of equality and dignity, which underpin the ideals of the rule of law and the key features of mediation. Under this framework, mediators must recognize that their primary role is to secure a fair dialogue and not to champion a settlement. Where there is hesitancy by one party to accept a settlement, the mediator should encourage the party to express their concern rather than forcing the settlement as this facilitates genuine dialogue. To ensure fair treatment of members of our communities, the author concludes by urging that the mediation process and its legitimacy be more widely discussed given its increased importance in the civil litigation system

Complicating the Simple Probability Principle: Developing a New Approach to Probabilistic Reasoning in Personal Injury Litigation

Canadian courts use simple probability reasoning inconsistently in personal injury litigation, subjecting litigants to irregular legal principles and potentially improper compensation. Turning to foundational principles of tort litigation, I suggest a new framework for the availability of simple probability that would promote greater coherence. Simple probability reasoning is understood as an alternative standard of proof that enables compensation for a loss proportional to the likelihood that the loss will occur. Accordingly, the availability of simple probability is thought to depend on which types of facts (past vs. future vs. hypothetical facts) are amenable to balance of probabilities proof versus simple probability. This is the ‘type of fact’ framework, but it is not applied consistently. Part 1 argues that the inconsistency is rooted in the mischaracterization of simple probability reasoning as a standard of proof. It is better conceived of as a method of enabling chances, in their own right, to become legally relevant facts. Understood this way, simple probability is available only where chances are relevant to the legal determination at stake. I apply this characterization in Part 2, concluding that while simple probability reasoning is irrelevant to liability determinations, it is crucial in appropriately assessing damages

Towards Ocean Peace: Resolving Disputes Cooperatively and Empathetically Through Negotiation

Oceans have immeasurable value. They are replete with natural resources and food sources; they enable transportation and recreation; they regulate earth’s climate. In sum, they make invaluable contributions to our physical, economic, and political well-being. And wherever there is something valuable, there are disputes over how that value should be maintained, grown, owned, and distributed. Internationally, disputes over maritime boundaries, access routes, drilling rights, and resource exploration are prolific. A sizeable bulk of international litigation is generated by ocean disputes. In the domestic context, disagreement among stakeholders as to environmental quality and pollution, natural resource management and conservation, geo-engineering, and ocean-based research and technology, are just some arenas of ocean-related disputes. Given the inevitability of such conflicts, it is prudent to consider how we ought to resolve our disputes when they arise. In this essay, I offer some reflections on the utility of informal dispute resolution through cooperative negotiation as a means of resolving ocean-based disputes responsibly and peacefully

Science on Law\u27s Terms: Implications of Procedural Legitimacy on Scientific Evidence

Scientific evidence is relied on more and more in litigation. Discussions and debates aimed at enabling courts to make the best use scientific evidence are increasingly critical. This thesis adds the perspective of procedural legitimacy to the science and law discussion. Procedural Legitimacy is the concept that consistent adherence to legal procedure maintains the overall legitimacy of the legal system, and the validity of its outcomes. I argue that the integrity of legal procedures must be maintained where scientific evidence is presented, so that judicial decisions that rely on scientific evidence are legitimate

Philosophical Counselling and Mediation Theory and Practice: Exploring a Pathway to Justice

This paper will demonstrate how philosophical counselling would invaluably contribute to the arena of conflict resolution via mediation and civil justice generally. Mediation is a conflict resolution process that involves a third party who facilitates disputants in arriving at a self-determined resolution. This process is being incorporated into civil justice systems globally, but how mediation should be conducted to achieve truly just outcomes needs immediate and thoughtful attention. At its best, mediation empowers parties to co-create a just and fair resolution to their conflict through a dialogical exploration of their interests, needs, and relevant norms and values. This is dramatically different from the adjudicative process, where parties rely on legal frameworks and authoritative judicial decision-making to resolve conflict. In mediation, parties need to recognize and think critically about their worldviews and values. Philosophical counselling can provide mediators with an empathetic and dialogical method of helping parties think critically and rationally and to cultivate clarity, depth, and coherence in their worldview and value system. Enabling such deepened self-understanding would best empower participants to engage in authentic and critical dialogue, which, I argue, is essential to legitimate mediation that leads to just outcomes. This paper will demonstrate how several essential principles of philosophical counselling align precisely with the values, goals, and needs of just mediation (including deep self-understanding, critical awareness of worldviews/values, and propensity for rational dialogue). This paper lays an introductory foundation, ultimately calling for an interdisciplinary/interprofessional approach that would use the insights of philosophical counselling to bring significant benefits to the development of mediation programs and civil justice systems world-wide

Three essays in labour economics

This thesis extends the existing literature on the response of labour markets to different types of economic shocks. First, we examine the effects of sector-specific fluctuations in job separation and job finding rates on the overall unemployment, sectoral allocation of labour and wages by solving a two-sector search and matching model with heterogeneous workers. The simulated results show how sector-specific shocks spill over the rest of the economy, causing workers to relocate between sectors in search of jobs. Inter-sectoral reallocation depends on the distribution of worker productivity in the affected sector. When an adverse shock hits a sector that attracts workers with relatively low productivity, the most productive among displaced workers move to compete for jobs in the sector with higher productivity. This offsets some of the increase in unemployment, subject to the ability of unaffected sector to employ additional workers. Next, we conduct meta-analysis to explain discrepancies between estimated effects of immigration shocks on wages in the literature. The results show that wage impact of immigration tends to be small in magnitude and negative significant. Labour market conditions at the period of study play a significant role in explaining the differences in measured impact. The estimates vary across countries and are related to the choice of modelling approach and estimators. Finally, we use EU-LFS dataset to analyse unemployment and labour market flows in Europe between 2006 and 2016. We identify the relative impact of shocks to job finding and separation rates on unemployment and investigate the role of socio-demographics, urbanisation and immigration status in shaping worker flow patterns in Europe. We find that over the studied period job losses accounted for three quarters of the rise in unemployment. The analysis of socio-demographic characteristics of the unemployed shows that young and less educated workers contributed the most to employment losses. Recent and intermediate immigrants in cities contributed to employment losses

Exploring the Role of Mandatory Mediation in Civil Justice

In this article, I offer a framing of the debates around mandatory mediation that rest on the premise that a legitimate civil justice process depends on unhindered access to an adjudicative system, which must be recognized as a procedural right. This is a keystone of the rule of law, and a valid legal system that deserves the authority that it asserts is contingent on this. My central thesis is that requiring mediation (which is independent of the rule of law) before allowing full access to adjudication compromises the procedural rights of legal subjects, and the rule of law principle. Such a mandate is, therefore, an improper exercise of legal authority. This does not, however, mean that mediation cannot have significant value in enhancing the civil justice commitment to human dignity. The benefits that abound in mediation should be widely accessible, especially because mediation can (when it functions well) offer autonomous, empowered decision-making. The analyses that I offer here pave the road for determining, pragmatically, how mediation should be incorporated into civil justice systems, such that individuals can have legal claims adjudicated in a system that centralizes the rule of law and may also choose an equitable and well-structured mediation system that is responsive to concerns raised by critical race and feminist scholars about informal dispute resolution

Scholarship from the Self: A Reason Among Many for Why Meditation Can Benefit Graduate Students

Graduate student life is generally awesome, but it’s a whirlwind. There are ideas to develop, papers to edit, students to assist, milestones to celebrate, CVs to build, money to make, and futures to think about. Tangled up in all of this, it can seem impossible or even irresponsible to stop, breathe, and reflect on what we are doing and why. Gradually, though, I have been letting myself believe that for either aspiring or actual scholars, it can be a bit reckless not to take reflective pauses. Below I offer my thoughts on a fairly recently popularized method of pausing called mindfulness meditation, and its potential impact for graduate students in our scholarly pursuits