I am writing to invite you to deliver a brief five- to seven-minute online response to the forthcoming online public lecture titled “Backsliding of the Rule of Law”, to be presented by the Honourable Justice Kari Kuusiniemi, President of the Supreme Administrative
Court of Finland. This lecture will take place as part of the
Global South Network (GSN) Judges Guest Lecture Series on Monday, 16 March 2026, at 16:00 EET (14:00 BST).
Your response may, should you wish, address developments concerning the rule of law with particular reference to the Supreme Court of Estonia; the structure and functioning of the Court; recent significant judgments that may offer insights to superior courts
in Europe and beyond; and/or reflections on how cooperation among superior courts worldwide might be strengthened in support of the rule of law. These points are merely suggested themes, and you are most welcome to offer any observations you consider appropriate
in response to the lecture. Should you accept this invitation, and if you wish, I would be delighted to assist you in preparing your contribution, including drafting a preliminary response that you may adapt and refine according to your preferences before
delivering it online.
Judges from a number of jurisdictions will also be providing brief initial reactions to Justice Kuusiniemi’s address. The Honourable Justice Michail Pikramenos, President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece, the Honourable Justice Prof. Dr. András
Varga, President of the Curia (Supreme Court) of Hungary, and the Chief Justice of Canada are among those acting as respondents/discussants. This activity is designed to foster dialogue, support knowledge exchange, and promote the sharing of good practices
on global issues, common challenges, or capacity building.
Please let me know if you would prefer to deliver the lecture in a language other than English. I could make arrangements for translation/interpretation.
If you are unavailable, I would be grateful if you could either send a pre-recorded message outlining the Court’s perspective on the rule of law, which I could play on your behalf during the event on 16 March, or kindly forward this invitation to another judge
of the Court whom you believe might be interested in representing the Court's perspective.
Should you accept this invitation, the audience will include staff and students from the University of Leicester, alongside members of the GSN, comprising academics, students, legal practitioners, and judges.
If you have any questions or require any further information, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
PhD (York), Postdoc (Cardiff),
Lecturer in Law/PGR Training Tutor,
Leicester Law School.
Office 173, Field Johnson Building,
LE1 7RH, Leicester.
Socio-Legal Studies Association, UK
Phone: +44(0)1162522395
THE UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER CITIZEN RECOGNITION AWARD 2025
THE GLOBAL SOUTH NETWORK (GSN)-AN INTRODUCTION
GSN started its journey on 17 March 2023. It consists of academics (including staff and students from different schools and colleges of universities across the globe) and actors outside academia. It is aimed at empowering people from, or focusing on, the Global
South.
As of today, it is the only international interdisciplinary network that organised around 120 knowledge exchange activities (including 4 international hybrid conferences, around 100 online PhD in Progress weekly panel-discussion seminars,
14 guest
lectures of supreme court judges from different countries), created a team of conveners, established an
interdisciplinary
advisory committee, activated the
website and
YouTube
channel, created editorial board of GSN blogs, organised thematic and geographic groups within GSN, launched GSN mentoring, completed two edited collections on judicial independence, and created opportunities of public engagement for academics
from all backgrounds over two years of the network's launch. GSN has six geographic chapters including but not limited to
South
Asia,
Middle
East,
(South)
East Asia,
Eastern
Europe,
Africa,
and
Latin
America and six disciplinary chapters including but not limited to
Business,
Criminology,
Law,
Political
Science, and
Health,
Caring and Well Being.
GSN is the world's only interdisciplinary international network that is created by and for the Global South, yet serving both the Global South and Global North. It has made an unparalleled contribution to equality, diversity, and inclusion by hosting guest
talks with judges from the
Supreme Court of Ukraine during the Russia-Ukraine War, as well as from both the
Supreme Constitutional Court of Palestine and
Supreme
Court of Israel during the peak of the Middle East crisis. 70% of participants during the GSN activities since its launch in March 2023 were women. GSN conducted the first ever
judicial dialogue between the Global North and the Global South involving supreme courts of 13 countries in January 2025. The Chief Justice of Malaysia delivered
her guest lecture on 23 May 2025. Recently, GSN conducted
second judicial dialogue among European and non-European supreme administrative courts on 15 September 2025,
guest lecture of Justice
Peter Jamadar of Caribbean Court of Justice on 14 October 2025, and guest lecture of the C
hief
justice of Hungary on 4 November 2025.