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Issue 6 / December 2010

In this issue

• Read about the top news stories from the term More
• Details of Departmental events from January to April 2011 More
• Information on new staff publications from the Department of Law More
• News on honorary awards, student prizes and an interactive book writing process More

News from Michaelmas Term 2010

Research: Do Sex Offenders Have Rights Over Children?

Sex offenders should not automatically be banned from adopting, fostering or working with children, according to new research which also backs government plans to relax strict vetting procedures introduced after the Soham murders. The report by Helen Reece, a family law expert at LSE, is published in the latest edition of Child and Family Law Quarterly. It points out that co-habiting couples are much more likely to split up than married couples, with potentially harmful emotional consequences for children, yet they are not banned from adopting and fostering. Ms Reece, a barrister and leading expert in her field, argues that strict regulations surrounding sex offenders adopting or fostering children should be relaxed to enable cases to be judged on their individual merits. A blanket ban, she argues, contravenes Article 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and therefore the government could be open to legal challenge if it does not recognise this. Click here for the full LSE Press Release Click here for the full Guardian article

Beyani and Marks on Advisory Group on Human Rights

Dr Chaloka Beyani and Professor Susan Marks have been asked to serve as members of the Foreign Secretary's Advisory Group on Human Rights. The Group has been established to give the UK government the best possible information about human rights challenges; and for the Foreign Office to benefit from outside advice on the conduct of its policy. It will meet for the first time on December 2. Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “Human rights are essential to and indivisible from the UK’s foreign policy priorities. The members of this group are eminent individuals with a broad range of human rights experience, drawn from NGOs, the legal and academic communities and international bodies. I am delighted that they have agreed to join this Group and look forward to working with them to improve and strengthen our international human rights work”. Dr Chaloka Beyani is a UN Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced People, as well as Senior Lecturer at the LSE, specialising in human rights law, and recently assisted in drafting the Kenyan constitution. Professor Susan Marks joined LSE Department of Law in 2010 as a Professor of International Law. Her research interests include democracy, poverty, torture and counter-terrorism.

Andrew Murray on online extremist videos

“As international companies they have perhaps not been proactive enough in dealing with all the countries with which they trade.” Andrew Murray's expertise in internet law was recently acknowledged in an article in the Daily Telegraph, where he commented on religious extremists' videos on YouTube. He noted that Google/YouTube had specifically chosen guidelines that meant they could assure US civil liberties groups that they were not restricting free speech. Click here for the full Daily Telegraph article

Pathways to Law for State School Pupils

Pathways to Law, a programme run by LSE's Widening Participation team, has been shortlisted in the 'Equality and Diversity' category for the Law Society's Excellence Awards 2010. The Pathways to Law scheme, a project run in conjunction with The College of Law and The Sutton Trust, targets state school pupils who are the first generation of their family to attend university and provides support throughout years 12 and 13 and beyond. It is backed by universities, law firms and The Law Society, enabling a varied programme of lectures, seminars, advice sessions, and e-mentoring, plus an invaluable law firm placement. LSE jointly runs the programme with University College London for students in the London region, and is now recruiting 75 students for the next phase. Since it began in 2007, more than 1,100 students have participated in the scheme, with 200 students graduating through the LSE programme. For more information about the Pathways to Law scheme or LSE's Widening Participation activities, please email Niaomi Collett at n.collett@lse.ac.uk or visit the Widening Participation website.

Events: Lent 2011

Hugh Beale
A European Contract Law: a Cuckoo in the Nest?

Thursday 13 January 2011 6.30pm - 8pm New Theatre, East Building, LSE A European Commission consultation paper suggests a single, "European" law of contract for businesses and consumers across Europe, which might supplant English law. Why? Hugh Beale is Professor of Law at the University of Warwick. He was appointed Honorary QC in 2002 and a Fellow of the British Academy in 2004. Chair: Professor Linda Mulcahy, LSE Department of Law

Nicholas Shaxson & Maurice Glasman
The City of London and its Tax Haven Empire

Tuesday 1 February 2011 6.30pm - 8pm Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE The City of London is an offshore island inside the British nation state, floating partly free from the democratic rules and restraints that bind the rest of us. It is fed by a network of tax havens around the world. Just three of them - Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man - alone funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to the City each year. But the City's global offshore network, which emerged from the ashes of the British Empire, is far larger than that. Nicholas Shaxson will look at how this secretive network emerged and came to underpin the City's fearsome political and economic powers today. Nicholas Shaxson is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and a journalist for the Financial Times and The Economist. Dr Maurice Glasman is Director of the Faith and Citizenship Programme at London Metropolitan University. Chair: Dr Ian Roxan, LSE Department of Law

Stuart Popham
The Globalisation of the Business of English Law

Wednesday 16 March 2011 6.30pm - 8pm Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE Stuart Popham will discuss many of the changes which he has seen in his 35 year career. Stuart Popham is the Senior Partner of Clifford Chance LLP, worldwide. Chair: Professor Michael Bridge, LSE Department of Law

Other notable events

European Public Law Theory LLM Specialist Seminar Series
The European Public Law Theory seminar series is a new initiative of the LSE Department of Law in collaboration with the LSE European Institute. The series will be of interest to those working within the broad fields of public law, European law and legal theory. All staff and graduate students are invited. Queries may be directed to the co-conveners, Dr Grégoire Webber and Dr Mike Wilkinson.

Neil Walker The Place of European Law
Thursday 20 January 2011 5pm – 7pm
Moot Court Room, 7th Floor, New Academic Building, LSE
Neil Walker is Professor of Public Law at Edinburgh Law School

Denis Baranger Title TBC
Thursday 24 February 2011 5pm – 7pm
Moot Court Room, 7th Floor, New Academic Building, LSE
Denis Baranger is Professor of Law at Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), Institut Universitaire de France

Tom Hickman Public Law After the Human Rights Act
Thursday 10 March 2011 5pm – 7pm
Moot Court Room, 7th Floor, New Academic Building, LSE
Tom Hickman is a barrister with Blackstone Chambers

New Staff Publications

Stephen Humphreys
Theatre of the Rule of Law

Published November 2010, Cambridge, ISBN 9781107000780

Dr Stephen Humphreys' new book 'Theatre of the Rule of Law' presents the first sustained critique of rule of law promotion – the push to shape laws and institutions that pervades international development and post-conflict reconstruction policy today. While successful in disseminating a policy everywhere privileging the private over the public, this expansive global enterprise has largely failed in its stated goals of alleviating poverty and fortifying ‘fragile states’. Moreover, in its execution, the field deviates sharply from ‘rule of law’ principles as commonly conceived. To explain this, Dr Humphreys examines the history of the rule of law as a term of art and a spectrum of today’s interventions, as well as earlier examples of legal export to other ends. Rule of law promotion, he suggests, is best understood as a kind of theatre, the staging of a morality tale about the good life, intended for edification and emulation but blind to its own internal contradictions. Click here to visit the publisher's website

Jill Peay
Mental Health and Crime

Published September 2010, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-904385-60-8

'Mental Health and Crime', the new book by Professor Jill Peay, examines the nature of the relationship between mental disorder and crime. It concludes that the broad definition of what is an all too common human condition – mental disorder – and the widespread occurrence of an equally all too common human behaviour – that of offending – would make unlikely any definitive or easy answer to such questions. For those who offend in the context of mental disorder, many aspects of the criminal justice process, and of the disposals that follow, are adapted to take account of a relationship between mental disorder and crime. But if the very relationship is questionable, is the way in which we deal with such offenders discriminatory? Or is it perhaps to their benefit to be thought of as less responsible for their offending than fully culpable offenders? The book thus explores not only the nature of the relationship, but also the human rights and legal issues arising. It also looks at some of the permutations in the therapeutic process that can ensue when those with mental health problems are treated in the context of their offending behaviour. Click here to visit the publisher's website

Other notable publications

Tiffany Jenkins Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections
Published October 2010, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-87960-6

Visiting Fellow Dr Tiffany Jenkins is the author of 'Contesting Human Remains in Museum Collections: the crisis of cultural authority'. Since the late 1970s human remains in museum collections have been subject to claims and controversies, such as demands for repatriation by indigenous groups who suffered under colonization. These requests have been strongly contested by scientists who research the material and consider it unique evidence. Dr Tiffany Jenkins is a Visiting Fellow at LSE and her research has been discussed recently in the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Guardian.
Click here to visit the publisher's website

Robert Baldwin, Martin Cave and Martin Lodge The Oxford Handbook of Regulation
Published September 2010, Oxford, ISBN 978-0-19-956021-9
Edited by Professor Robert Baldwin, Professor Martin Cave and Dr Martin Lodge, this Handbook provides a clear and authoritative discussion of the major trends and issues in regulation over the last thirty years. Together with an outline of prospective developments, it brings together contributions from leading scholars from a range of disciplines and countries.
Click here to visit the publisher's website


Andrew Le Sueur, Maurice Sunkin, and Jo Murkens Public Law: Text, Cases, and Materials
Published August 2010, Oxford, ISBN 978-0-19-928419-1
Written by leading academics, this new Text, Cases, & Materials book on Public Law provides a thought-provoking and vivid account of one of the most interesting areas of the undergraduate law syllabus. The authors, including the Department's Dr Jo Murkens, have drawn on their substantial experience as teachers and researchers to write a book that will enable readers to acquire both a thorough knowledge of the practicalities of this area of law and an understanding of the theoretical and political debates.
Click here to visit the publisher's website

And finally

Emeritus Professor Michael Zander, QC honoured

The Department of Law would like to congratulate Emeritus Professor Michael Zander, QC, who has received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from King’s College, London. His citation stated: "He has devoted a long and active career to the study, teaching, practice and improvement of the law, and has made outstanding contributions in both the academic and public spheres. There is no greater authority in the fields to which he has devoted himself: criminal procedure, civil procedure, legal system, legal profession and legal services... The central mission of his professional life has been to make the justice system work better."

Francesca Klug and Jane Gordon guest edit the European Human Rights Law Review

Professor Francesca Klug and Visiting Fellow Jane Gordon have guest edited a special issue of the European Human Rights Law Review on the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Act (HRA). The special issue, which is published in December, examines the impact of a decade of the HRA on law, policy and practice. The issue is dedicated to Lord Bingham who wrote an opinion piece for the issue but sadly died before its publication. The other contributors to the issue are Professor Conor Gearty of LSE, Jack Straw MP, Shami Chakrabarti and James Welch of Liberty, Murray Hunt, Legal Adviser of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and Rabinder Singh QC of Matrix. In addition, Francesca Klug, Jane Gordon and Helen Wildbore of LSE contributed articles. To purchase a copy of the special issue please contact the publishers by email.

Conor Gearty begins work on an interactive writing process

Professor Conor Gearty is beginning work on a new book, The Rights' Future. Its production process will be unique: an interactive experience, unfolding weekly as a series of online essays, shaped not only by the author’s views but by his online audience. The completed book will be presented at LSE's third Literary Festival in February 2011. At the start of each week, Professor Gearty will publish a chapter of the book online in the form of a 2,000 word essay. Students and the general public will then have the opportunity to comment and respond to the piece, with Professor Gearty summarising the responses, and how they have impacted on his thinking, in a reworked essay by the end of the week. The process will begin again the following Monday with the next instalment of the book. In a series of twenty essays written in this way over the coming three months he will address the history and politics of human rights, their present state in the world and map out some of the possible futures that await this morally important but highly contested phrase. Titles of the topics to be discussed include: ‘If human rights are not despised by the powerful they are not human rights’; ‘Double standards are valuable as long as they don’t last too long’; ’A world court of human rights is vital – but only if it seems powerless’ and ‘Do trees have rights?’. Click here to visit the project's website

Student Prizes for 2009-2010 studies

Each year, the Department of Law awards outstanding students with prizes sponsored by various law firms. As ever, the 2009-2010 academic year brought us a bumper crop of students, including multiple awards for LLB students Mohsen Ameeri, Alim Amershi and Samay Shah. We are very pleased to announce the following awards:

LLB Prizes 2009/10

Intermediate

• John Griffith Prize: Yi Jun Kang
• Hughes Parry Prize: Shi Min Lee
• Blackstone Chambers Prize for Public Law: Yi Jun Kang
• Lovells Prize in Obligations & Property I: Liam Loan Lack
• Dechert Prize Property I: David Dwyer
• Dechert Prize Introduction to the Legal System: Sarah Trotter
• Routledge Cavendish Award: Riaz Pirmohamed
• Sweet & Maxwell Law Prize: Liam Loan Lack
  

Part I & II

• Slaughter & May Prize for Best exam Performance in Part I: Mohsen Ameeri
• Herbert Smith Prize for Best performance Part I: Richard Hanstock
• Morris Finer Memorial Prize for Best performance in Part I: Alessandra Crawford
• Slaughter & May Prize for Best Overall Performance: Samay Shah
• Slaughter & May Prize for Best Performance in Part II: Krishnan Patel
• Sweet & Maxwell Law Prize: Carolina Bracken
• Rouse legal Prize in IT Law: Charmaine Tam
• Lovells Prize in Business Associations: Grace Cheng
• Blackstone Chambers Prize in law and Institutions of the EU: Mohsen Ameeri
• Clifford Chance Prize in Property II: Sally Zhu and Alim Amershi
• Linklaters Prize for Commercial Contracts: Alim Amershi
• Lauterpacht/Higgins Prize in Public International Law: Mohsen Ameeri
• Lecturers Prize in Jurisprudence: Samay Shah
• Bracher Rawlins: Glen Barlow
  

LLM Prizes 2009/10

• Lauterpacht/Higgins Best performance in Public International Law: Radha Govil
• 1 Essex Court Prize for Finance Law: Christoph Friedrich, Eike Keller and Lindsey Adair Greer (split award)
• 1 Essex Court Prize for International Business Law: Catherine Simard
• 1 Essex Court Prize for Corporate Law: Conor Joseph Redmond
• Blackstone Chambers Prize in Commercial Law: Duncan Alan Ronald Henderson
• Blackstone Chambers Prize in Public International Law: Fathima Mehnaz Yoosuf
• Goldstone Prize for Criminology: Rosie Harriet Brighouse
• 11 Kings Bench Walk Prize, Corporate and Securities Law: Roberto De Simone
• 11 Kings Bench Walk Prize, Human Rights Law: Mitsuru Namba
• Stanley De Smith Prize in Public Law: Sam Andrew Trowbridge
• Otto Kahn Freund Prize, European Law: Annick Schaeken
• Pump Court Prize, Taxation: Joanne Hwee Hoon Lim
• Rouse Prize, IT Law: Jose Pereyo
• Law Department Prize for Best Dissertation: Yegor Vasylyev
• Law Department Prize for Legal Theory: Emily Betts
• Law Department Prize for Best Overall mark: Catherine Simard

MSc Law and Accounting Prize 2009/10

• Herbert Smith Prize for Best Performance: Gloria Viedma

Edited by Bradley Barlow, Department of Law, London School of Economics and Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Tel: 020 7955 7687. Fax: 020 7955 7366. Email: b.barlow@lse.ac.uk

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