Law Seminar Series

Dr Naomi Creutzfeldt

ESRC Research Fellow, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford and Visiting Lecturer, University of Westminster

Citizens’ Perceptions of the Legitimacy of Ombudsmen and Their Decision-Making

Adding to the continuous inquiry of socio-legal research to recognize how law is experienced, understood and translated into actions by individuals, this seminar takes a closer look at the institution of ombudsmen (an official body that investigates individuals' complaints against a company (private sector ombudsman) or a public authority (public sector ombudsman)) through the lens of procedural justice and legal consciousness. These concepts are measured empirically as attitudes and perceptions with the aim to get a better understanding of the differences of beliefs, behaviours and actions of European ombudsman users. The theoretical lens of procedural justice and the language of legal consciousness are used as a quantitative and qualitative framework to explore the data.

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Naomi is part of the European Civil Justice Systems team at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. She is currently working on an ESRC-funded project ‘Trusting the Middle-man: Impact and Legitimacy of Ombudsmen’ (http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/projects/Ombudsmen). Naomi’s research activities take her across Europe, engaging with ombudsmen, talking at academic conferences and planning knowledge-exchange workshops. Naomi holds a PhD in political science (Georg-August Universität Göttingen, Germany) and a BA and MPCM in International Relations and Public Relations (University of Southern Queensland, Australia).

RSVP http://nzcpl.eventbrite.com