LLIRN 6th Anniversary Workshop

The Law and Linguistics Interdisciplinary Research Network (LLIRN) facilitates interdisciplinary scholars, language professionals and legal professionals around the world to connect and share their work.

Since its establishment, the network has grown significantly, with over 260 members currently, from or based in approximately 43 countries.

To celebrate the 6th anniversary of the network’s establishment, Dr Alexandra Grey (UTS) and Dr Laura Smith-Khan (UNE) organised an Anniversary Workshop on 14 April 2025. It brought LLIRN colleagues together in person and online in a celebration of the network and planning the network’s next collaborations.

Outline

The LLIRN 6th Anniversary Workshop began with a Law Reform Workshop on “The origins and causes of transcript injustice: How legal misconceptions about written and spoken language threaten the right to a fair trial”, led by Prof Helen Fraser, the founding director of the Research Hub for Language and Forensic Evidence at the University of Melbourne.

This was followed by a Next Steps for Collaboration Workshop, led by Dr Laura Smith-Khan (UNE) and Dr Alexandra Grey (UTS), and then an in-person lunch, providing a rare chance for LLIRN members to catch up informally.

Alexandra Grey began the event with an introduction, thanking those who travelled and those online for being a part of the workshop. I was then invited up to deliver an Acknowledgement of Country, where through acknowledging the Gadigal people, I used my own knowledge of Dhurga (a Yuin dialect) and discussed my purpose for this in connection to how language and power are strongly interconnected; coinciding with the lectures presented on the day.

Alex then followed up with her own Acknowledgement and used Gadi words as taught by Prof Jaky Troy, author of The Sydney Language, and broadened my point about language and power in connection to the origins of the LLIRN and the motivations behind ours and our colleagues’ work. After explaining the agenda for the day, Alex and Laura welcomed everyone to the event.

The origins and causes of transcript injustice: How legal misconceptions about written and spoken language threaten the right to a fair trial

After a sweet celebration and congratulations for the LLIRN’s 6th Anniversary, Helen Fraser then narrowed in on the discussion point of transcript injustice in relation to two criminal cases in Australia, including a prominent case involving Stephen Jamieson. From these cases, Fraser highlighted two misconceptions of transcripts in court:

• Misconceptions about what is involved in producing a verbatim transcript
• Misconception that judges themselves can determine post hoc if a transcript is reliable

Fraser highlighted the issue of transcript injustice in relation to both how transcripts are produced and how they are presented in court. Fraser discussed, through the example of Jamieson’s case, the misconceptions surrounding transcript production including the nature of speech being faster than typing and the possibility of police interference and improper investigation tactics in gaining a confession (i.e. ‘verballing’).

Through the second case, Fraser discussed evidence of transcripts used alongside indistinct audio and how they impact a jury’s unbiased opinion. Fraser exemplified such by having us all read a short text and listen to an audio recording to see if we agreed with what was written. To our surprise, we were deceived, as the audio did not match the writing but sounded like it did. In this playful deceit, Fraser made her point about the priming effect transcripts have in audio-based evidence in courts.

From both cases, Fraser acknowledged the work done so far to prevent such inconsistencies which led to injustice in the two cases, as well as pointing out the long way to go to properly prevent these injustices altogether.

After the presentation, the group reflected on ways forward, including the possibility of forming an interest group from which to develop a working group for reform. Some of the ideas suggested as potential responses included reforms to court practice notes about forensic audio evidence, and the need to build more momentum for the awareness of transcript injustice.

Next Steps for Collaboration

After a small break, it was then Alex and Laura’s turn! This workshop featured a lot of in-group discussions and opportunities for LLIRN members to speak on what they would like from the network.

The first point of discussion was joint proposals for conference panels, relating to both national and international Law, Linguistics and other interdisciplinary societies. Various members watching online gave valuable insights about conferences held internationally. We also had the opportunity to hear about conferences that any of the LLIRN members would be attending this year or are eager to attend in the future.

In particular, we’re looking forward to reports from LLIRN members attending the International Association of Forensic & Legal Linguistics conference at University of the Western Cape, Sth Africa, 30 June – 4 July 2025.

Additionally, there are these upcoming conferences as potentially apt for LLIRN collaborations:

• UNSW Law & Justice Legal Education Research Conference, 24 and 25 November 2025, UNSW Law & Justice (Sydney), “The Crowded Curriculum”: submit papers/panels by COB 7 July
• LSAANZ, Uni of Canterbury (NZ), 3-5 December 2025, “Rights, Relationality, Resilience, Reciprocity
• Australian Linguistic Society, Griffith Uni, Gold Coast (Queensland), 2-5 December 2025

Then, the discussion turned to books and the possibility of LLIRN members collaborating on a book. Discussion surrounded a possible book relating to the research of members of the network itself and new opportunities in the Law and Linguistics interdisciplinary area. This collaboration idea will continue to develop over the next year.

Afterwards, there was one final point to discuss in the form of a surprise…

The new LLIRN website!

We ended by launching our new LLLIRN Website ‘Law and Language.’ Laura introduced the website to the network and talked about some of its exciting features!

The Law and Linguistics website offers a place for members to display their new work as well as read work from their colleagues – an overall nice space for colleagues to connect and uplift each other’s work.

From this announcement, the discussions continued about what members would like from the website, including any features that the members would find beneficial. A key point that was acknowledged was the continued upkeep of the website to keep the website relevant, as well as the possibility of students being involved on the website.

The site is still a work in progress, but it already includes a public-facing overview about the network, its scope, publications and activities; pages sharing information about network members’ projects; and a growing set of republished blog posts.

Following the end of Alex and Laura’s workshop, the group shared excitement for the future of the LLIRN and the new opportunities that may arise. The opportunity for members to come together and share new ideas ended the day in a great mood. Such mood then carried into the LLIRN lunch where members laughed and caught up with each other about their academic endeavours. After the success of the workshops, the LLIRN could celebrate its 6th anniversary and remember it as a great day.