Legal Scholarship BlogA Service from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, University of Georgia School of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and University of Washington School of Law

Society of Legal Scholars Research Conference – Shaping Policy, Changing Law — London, UK

The Society of Legal Scholars presents The Research Conference – Shaping Policy, Changing Law Fri., Feb. 1, 2013 at The Law Society, London.

The Law Society is organising a conference to explore the relationship between academic legal research, policy development and law reform.

LJ Jackson’s review of civil costs and the ensuing legislative process to enact his recommendations highlights the importance of, and necessity for, academics and their research in the development of policy and law reform.

The requirement in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework exercise to demonstrate the impact of research, combined with the growing policy need for research and commentary, provide strong impetus for the relationship between legal scholars and policy users of research to be explored and strengthened.

The conference aims to bring together: academics, parliamentarians, civil servants, representatives of legal services organisations policy practitioners, judges and other users of research in the field of law and social science.

Programme

Keynote Speaker: David Howarth (details to follow)

Parallel Session A: Criminal Justice

• A1 The proposed EU Directive on legal assistance in criminal proceedings – necessary but not sufficient. Speaker: Prof. Ed Cape, Professor of Criminal Law and Practice, UWE
• A2 Reforming the criminal justice response to medical error. Speakers: Dr. Danielle Griffiths, Research Associate, University of Manchester; Dr. Sarah Devaney, Lecturer in Law, University of Manchester; Prof. Andrew Sanders, Head of Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
• A3 The danger of being in the dark about juries: The impact of jury research on court practice, government policy and criminal law reform. Speaker: Prof. Cheryl Thomas, Professor of Judicial Studies, UCL

Parallel Session B: Rights of the individual and access to justice.

• B1 The ceremonial law of marriages and civil partnerships. Speaker: Prof. Peter Edge, School of Law, Oxford Brookes University
• B2 The non-Unionised workplace employee representative – A new era of workplace democracy? Speaker: Dr. Jereme Snook, Senior Lecturer in Law, Sheffield Hallam University.
• B3 Third party funding in civil litigation: what can comparative law teach us? Speaker: Prof. Willem van Boom, Durham University

Plenary theme: legal environment/foundations for justice

• Protecting Professional Independence in the NHS. Speakers: Prof. Mark Freedland, Professor of Employment Law, Oxford University; Jeremias Prassl, Supernumerary Teaching Fellow, Oxford University
• Judging ‘Hot Tubbing’: Evaluating the Impact of Procedural Innovation on Judicial Decision-Making. Speaker: Prof. Dame Hazel Genn, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, UCL

User perspective on impactful research. Speaker: TBA.

Panel: on strategies for engaging with policy and Law Reform

The Criminalisation of HIV transmission, exposure and non-disclosure: A comparative analysis of activism, policy development and law reform. Speaker: Prof. Matthew Weait, Professor of Law and Policy, Birkbeck, University of London

Law, Terrorism and the Right to Know: Trials, Tribulations and Impact. Speaker: Dr. Lawrence McNamara, Reader in Law, University of Reading

Research, reform and implementation – but not necessarily in that order: a case study from the introduction of the pre-proceeding process for care. Speaker: Prof. Judith Masson, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, Bristol University

User or policy perspective. Speaker: TBA

mw