Isabel Schoultz

Associate professor | Senior lecturer

Associate Editor of Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime

Research Areas

• Corporate crimes and the processes of denial
• Exploitation of migrant workers
• Access to justice and legal aid
   

Current Research

Justice and accountability for business involvement in international crimes: Legal struggles and strategies in the Lundin case

The project aims to understand the strategies of, and struggles between, the legal actors in the criminal trial of Orrön Energy (previously Lundin Energy, Lundin Petroleum and Lundin Oil) and two of its representatives. The research explores how these legal contests matter in the ongoing international tension to determine the legal responsibility of corporations and corporate directors in international crimes. The Lundin case is part of a growing trend of attempts on international and domestic levels to hold corporations criminally accountable for their involvement in international crimes and human rights abuses.

Drawing from law, criminology, and sociology of law, we examine how the prosecution, the defence team and the victims’ counsel have strategically adapted their legal reasoning to the systemic dimensions of corporations and international crimes. The study will also focus on the interactions between the legal actors: How courtroom interactions inform and are informed by the strategies that the legal actors employ to win the case.

The study is built on legal documents, trial observations and interviews with the legal actors during and after the trial.

The project is conducted in cooperation with researchers at Umeå University and Uppsala University and is financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond for the period 2023-2026.

More information on the project page

Revolving doors between the public and private sector

In the last decades, movements of top Swedish officials to the private sector made headlines with fears that this might mean public officials making decisions with future corporate careers in mind causing public distrust towards public officials and institutions. In 2018, Sweden introduced a law restricting ministers' and state secretaries' post-public moves to private enterprises. The project analyses the historical development of the law, conducts a social network analysis to study transitions from the state and region to the private sector between 2002-2022, and analyses the application of the law on transition restrictions for ministers and state secretaries.

Also working on the project: Heraclitos Muhire and Shai Mulinari, Lund University and Christoph Houman Ellersgaard, Copenhagen Business School.

The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council and the Crafoord Foundation.

Exploitation of migrant workers

"Law in action" – policy and legal responses to the exploitation of migrant workers in the Nordic countries
The research project is a joint effort that explores how the Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden – counter the exploitation of migrant workers, legally and politically. The project is funded by the Nordic Research Council for Criminology (NSfK).

Read about 'Law in Action' at the NSfK website.

Information about the project on the Sociology of Law Department's website.
 

Responses to Labour Exploitation in Sweden – Representations of Victims and Access to Justice

Isabel is also head of the research project Responses to Labour Exploitation in Sweden – Representations of Victims and Access to Justice, financed by the Swedish Crime Victim Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) 2021-2022.

Read more about Responses to Labour Exploitation in Sweden on the project page.

See Isabel's project presentation at the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI).