James Marcus is a PhD candidate at the Adelaide Law School and practises as a barrister at Len King Chambers, Adelaide. James works primarily in the fields of criminal and disciplinary, administrative and commercial law. James' main area of research is the granting and exercise of power and the relationship between the exercise of power and the rights of the individual. James' thesis seeks to examine instances of abrogation by the state of common law and statutory rights and protections and the justifications proffered for such abrogation. The ultimate aim of this thesis is to analyse and understand how the use of coercive power plays out in the practice, whether this differs from the stated purpose of such power and ultimately whether in the context of the use of coercive power at the expense of individual rights, the end can be said to justify the means.