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Dr Kristin Savell

Profile

Degrees:

B.Sc, LLB Macq; LLM McGill; PhD Camb

Courses Taught:
Undergraduate
Criminal law

Postgraduate
Death Law
Health Care and Professional Liability
Health Law for Health Professionals
Policing Bodies: Crime, Sexuality & Reproduction

Areas of Interest:
Health Law
Criminal Law
Legal Theory
Legal Personhood
Law & Sexuality

Brief Biographical Details:
Kristin Savell is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney. She teaches and researches in the fields of criminal law, health law and legal/bioethical theories. Kristin holds undergraduate degrees in science (biology) and law from Macquarie University, and graduate degrees from McGill University (LLM, Honours) and Cambridge University (PhD). She was the recipient of a Lionel Murphy Scholarship and a W. M. Tapp Studentship (Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge).

Kristin is the legal member of the NSW Cancer Institute Clinical Research Ethics Committee (a lead HREC), an Associate Fellow of the King’s College Centre for Biomedicine and Society (UK), and an Associate Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry at the University of Sydney. Kristin is also member of the Editorial Board of the Sydney Law Review and Current Issues in Criminal Justice. She is joint coordinator of the Masters of Health Law program.

Kristin is currently working on a range of projects including: a co-authored monograph (with Isabel Karpin) entitled: Perfecting Pregnancy: Disability, Choice and the Future of Reproduction (Cambridge University Press, New York) and a major ARC funded project on the legal meaning of serious disability in prenatal and neonatal decision-making. She also continues her work on projects concerning the legal and medical regulation of non-normative embodiment; stem cells and cloning, end of life decision-making, and the social, clinical and legal constructions of death and dying.

Before commencing her academic career, Kristin practised as a solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, specializing in intellectual property and trade practices law.

Offices Held (selected)
Lawyer Member, NSW Cancer Institute, Clinical Research Ethics Committee, 2008-
Deputy Director, Centre for Health Governance, Law and Ethics, University of Sydney: 2007–
Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney: 2007-
Associate Fellow, Centre for Biomedicine and Society, Kings College, London: 2007–
Member, Editorial Board, Sydney Law Review: 2006–
Member, Editorial Board, Current Issues in Criminal Justice: 2006–
Management Committee Member, Institute of Criminology, Sydney University: 2000–
Management Committee Member (and former Deputy Director), Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence, Sydney University: 2002-

Major Grants
ARC Discovery Grant, "The legal meaning of "serious disability" in prenatal and neonatal decision-making" 2009-2011 (with Isabel Karpin)

Grants and Fellowships (selected)
LSSF grant, "An analysis and critique of the legal regulation of embryonic research for therapeutic purposes and the prohibition of inheritable genetic modification in Australia, the UK and the USA" (2008)
USyd (Research and Development) Grant, 'The determination of criminal liability for death in medical settings' (2007)
LSSF grant: Disability, Abortion and Infanticide (2006);
LSSF grant (with Isabel Karpin): Human Rights and Personhood (2004);
W. M. Tapp Studentship in Law (Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge) (1996-1999);
Lionel Murphy Postgraduate Scholarship (1994).

Publications

Books | Book Chapters | Refereed Journals | Legal Encyclopedias | Book Reviews | Conference Papers/Public Lectures | Other Articles | Videos

Books

  • Perfecting Pregnancy - Law, Disability and the Future of Reproduction (forthcoming CUP, New York) (with Isabel Karpin)

Book Chapters

  • Savell, K, “Turning Mothers into Bio-ethicists: Late Abortion and Disability” in B Bennett, T Carney & I Karpin (eds) The Brave New World of Health, Federation Press: Australia (2008) 93-111.
  • Savell, K, “Mother of the Legal Person” in S Palmer & S James (eds), Visible Women - Essays in Feminist Legal Theory and Philosophy, Hart: Oxford (2002) 29-67.

Refereed Journals

Legal Encyclopedias

  • Savell, K, Butterworths/Lexis Nexis, Halsbury's Laws of Australia, 20.12, Chapter 5 'Newborns with Disabilities'.

Book Reviews

  • Savell, K, 'The Interfaces of Medicine & Law: The History of the Liability for Negligently Caused Psychiatric Injury (Nervous Shock)' (1999) 58 Cambridge Law Journal 638-641.
  • Savell, K, 'Feminist Perspectives on Health Care Law' (1999) 58 Cambridge Law Journal 449-452.

Conference Papers/Public Lectures

  • Savell, K, 'Why is Brain Death Still Subject to Dissent and Does it Matter?' at the Inaugural National University of Singapore/ University of Sydney Symposium, hosted by the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, 30-31 July 2009.
  • Savell, K, 'Do we know death when we see it?' Public Lecture – Death in the 21st Century, State Library of Queensland, Auditorium 2, 16 July 2009 (also presented on ABC TV Fora, Sunday, 9 August 2009) | Video |
  • K Savell, 'A Jurisprudence of Ambivalence: Three Legal Fictions concerning Death and Dying' at The Death Scene: Perspectives on Mortality, White Gloves Room, State Library Of Queensland, Brisbane, hosted by Centre for Public Culture and Ideas, Griffith University, 15-16 July 2009.
  • Savell, K, 'Conceptualizing Treatment Futility, Serious Disability and Death in End-of-Life Decisions for Children' at the 31st Congress of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health, New York, USA, 28 June-4 July 2009.
  • Savell, K, 'Law's Expanding Domain: Technology and the Late Term Foetus' presented at Regulating the Scientific Frontier Conference, University of Sydney, 24 November 2006.
  • Savell, K, 'The Morality of Abortion - Reflections on Donald Marquis' 'Future of Value', Intersections Seminar Series, Faculty of Law, May 2006.
  • Savell, K, 'The Conjoined Twins - A Legal Perspective', presented at CLE Seminar, Tragic Choices: Clinical, Legal and Ethical Perspectives on the British Conjoined Twins Case, University of Sydney, 15 November 2000.
  • Savell, K, 'Maternal Monstrosities and Other Catastrophes - Risk, Responsibility and Disobedience in Cultural and Legal Narratives about Pregnancy', presented at Risk & Responsibility Conference, University of Sydney, 10-11 November 2000.
  • Savell, K, 'Killing Jodie to Save Mary: Notions of Sacrifice and Bodily Integrity in Re A (Children)', presented at Faculty of Law Seminar Series, University of Sydney, 12 October 2000.
  • Savell, K, 'Foetal Rights: The Politics of Boundaries', presented at Faculty of Law Seminar Series, Macquarie University, May 2000.
  • Savell, K, 'The Recognition of Foetal Rights in English Law', presented to Faculty of Law, Cambridge University, February 1999.
  • Savell, K, 'Constructions of the Maternal Body in Law', presented at International Conference on Gender, Sexuality and Law, Keele University, United Kingdom, July 1998.
  • Savell, K, 'Legal Responses to Women with HIV' (first speaker), presented at Lionel Murphy Annual Memorial Lecture, Sydney, December 1995.

Other Articles

  • Savell K, "Reproductive Choice or Eliminating Disability? Prenatal Testing and Abortion' (2008) Precedent (forthcoming October)