DESELECT Forum: "Legal Issues in the Modern Economy".

• Author: McGowan, Mitchell
• Position: EDITORS' PREFACE

The University of New Brunswick Law Journal Editorial Board is pleased to present the forum topic for Volume 71: Legal Issues in the Modern Economy. The forum is inspired by the numerous legal issues surrounding work, inequality, the gig economy, and other topics related to business law and democracy that have come to the fore in the decade following the financial crisis of 2007-08. The significance of these issues has recently been underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought about the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Volume 71 begins with two important events in the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law calendar: the 25th Ivan C. Rand Memorial Lecture, and the 41st Viscount Bennett Memorial Lecture. In October 2019, Professor Bruce Ziff visited the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law and delivered the Rand Lecture on the abject failures of the common law to protect the environment. Professor Ziffs lecture was originally scheduled for the previous year, in conjunction with Volume 70 the University of New Brunswick Law Journal. We are delighted nonetheless to include Professor Ziffs article in Volume 71 one year later.

In January 2020, Professor Allan C. Hutchinson visited the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law and delivered the Viscount Bennett Lecture on the prospects and challenges of regulating cryptocurrencies. Professor Hutchinson is a distinguished research professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. His article "Breaking the Code: Cryptocurrency and Programming Proposal" is the anchoring submission of Volume 71.

In addition to the Viscount Bennett and Rand lectures, the Editorial Board is honoured to publish two articles from the judiciary. The first is an article on Canada's Federal Court system, authored by Mr. Justice Richard Boivin of the Federal Court of Appeal. The second is an article on judicial involvement in the community, coauthored by Mr. Justice Malcolm Rowe of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Volume 71 features articles from contributors across Canada and beyond that explore a variety of legal issues in the modern economy. These issues include organizing platform workers, gender gaps in employment law, programmed...