Laura Smith-Khan

Language and law

What’s new in Language and Law in Education and Training

The Law and Linguistics Interdisciplinary Researchers’ Network (LLIRN) came into being in 2019, after an initial symposium involving a group of academics and students, mainly from Australian universities, whose research is interested…

Laura Smith-KhanMay 2, 2025

Language and law Next Gen Literacies

Learning to speak like a lawyer

(Image credit: Australian Government, Study Australia) In her 2007 ethnographic study of eight US law schools, Elizabeth Mertz traces the process through which law students learn to “think like a…

Laura Smith-KhanApril 3, 2025

Language and law Language and migration

Trust and suspicion at the airport

Screenshot of passenger being placed under suspicion on "Border Security" Anyone who has ever travelled to or from Australia will agree that the last thing you want after getting off…

Laura Smith-KhanDecember 9, 2024

Chats in Linguistic Diversity Language and law

Judging Refugees

In this podcast episode, I speak with Dr Anthea Vogl about her new book, Judging Refugees: Narrative and Oral Testimony in Refugee Status Determination. The conversation introduces listeners to the…

Laura Smith-KhanNovember 2, 2024

Language and law Next Gen Literacies

Legal literacy in a linguistically diverse society

Moving to a new country involves a lot of learning. Not least important is developing an understanding of local laws. This is essential to avoid breaking the law but is…

Laura Smith-KhanSeptember 19, 2024

Language and law Next Gen Literacies

Refugee credibility assessment and the vanishing interpreter

Dr Laura Smith-Khan during her keynote at InDialog (Image credit: Dries Cavents, UGhent) Editor's Note: Asylum seekers in countries of the Global North need to communicate a credible fear of…

Laura Smith-KhanSeptember 22, 2023

Language and law Language and migration

Intercultural communication in migration law practice

(Image credit: Eurekastreet) Editor's note: This article is based on a presentation delivered as part of a plenary panel, ‘Transdisciplinary Approach to Forensic Linguistics’, at the 16th Biennial Conference of the…

Laura Smith-KhanJuly 3, 2023

Language and law Next Gen Literacies

Bringing linguistic research to legal education

Image credit: Chris Montgomery via Unsplash Language plays a central role in legal settings. The way linguistic diversity is conceptualized and accommodated can affect access to justice in a myriad…

Laura Smith-KhanNovember 2, 2021

Language and law

Five language myths about refugee credibility

In a world where public debates about refugees and asylum seekers often focus on whether they are telling the truth, it should probably come as no surprise that government processes…

Laura Smith-KhanMay 6, 2020

Language and law

Linguistics meets law

Laura and Alex getting ready for their presentation at the Humboldt Symposium This time two years ago, Alexandra Grey (my blog co-author) and I had realized that there were important…

Laura Smith-KhanJanuary 20, 2020

Language and law

Lawyers need to know more about language

2019 Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists Note: This post was co-authored with Alexandra Grey. The Biennial Conference of the International Association of Forensic Linguists (IAFL) was held…

Laura Smith-KhanJuly 18, 2019

Language politics

Debating refugee credibility

Manus Hospital often treats refugees (Image credit: ABC News, Natalie Whiting) A growing body of literature across multiple disciplines attests to the importance of credibility in the bureaucratic processes for…

Laura Smith-KhanJuly 11, 2019

Research reflections

“Oh, the places you’ll go!” Reflecting on my PhD journey

Oh, the places you'll go! Starting out Nearing the end of my undergraduate study, I was working on a small research essay and was having some trouble figuring out the…

Laura Smith-KhanFebruary 7, 2019

Language learning

In search of a language and an identity

An injured young man wakes up on a German hospital ship in 1943. His mind is blank: he cannot remember who he is, or even how to speak, and has…

Laura Smith-KhanMay 16, 2018

Language in education

Schooling challenges of multilingual children

Colours of the alphabet February 21 is International Mother Language Day and serves as an opportunity to discuss and promote the use of first-language medium education. The United Nations Educational,…

Laura Smith-KhanFebruary 21, 2018

Language and law

Are we all different in the same way?

Multilingual advice provided by the Administrate Review Tribunal Countries in the Global North have developed increasingly sophisticated and complex processes to assess the claims of people seeking asylum. One key…

Laura Smith-KhanNovember 14, 2017

What’s new in Language and Law in Education and Training

Learning to speak like a lawyer

Trust and suspicion at the airport

Judging Refugees

Legal literacy in a linguistically diverse society

Refugee credibility assessment and the vanishing interpreter

Intercultural communication in migration law practice

Bringing linguistic research to legal education

Five language myths about refugee credibility

Linguistics meets law

Lawyers need to know more about language

Debating refugee credibility

“Oh, the places you’ll go!” Reflecting on my PhD journey

In search of a language and an identity

Schooling challenges of multilingual children

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