Category: Forthcoming events

‘As we approach the centenary in 2019 of women’s admission to the legal profession in the UK and Ireland, lawyers and legal scholars have initiated several projects to mark this achievement which aim to uncover and recover the history of women’s experiences of law. These include the Women’s Legal Landmarks project, the First 100 Years project and the First Women Lawyers in Great Britain and the Empire Symposium series. This is a golden age for legal scholars undertaking historical work on women and law and for historians working on legal issues.’

Date: 26th October 2016, 10.00am-5.00pm

Location: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR

Charge: Standard Rate: £75.00; Student Rate: £35.00

More information can be found here.

‘Join Halsbury’s Law Exchange and our panel of experts as we:

Examine the way in which female offenders are treated by the sentencing system.
Consider whether there is a true, principled, case for reform.
Debate whether or not women ought to be treated differently to men and, if so, how that should be approached.
We will be releasing an accompanying policy paper shortly before the event, which will raise issues for discussion and question the appropriateness of certain proposed reforms.’

Date: 8th November 2016, 6.30pm

Location: One Great George Street, SW1P 3AA

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘This is an annual public lecture to be delivered at the beginning of each academic session by a notable friend of SOAS School of Law, addressing a topical subject of general public interest which relates to the role of law in society in a broad sense. The inception lecture is intended to serve as an inspiration for our students, contribute to public debate and enhance our academic environment. The lecture is open to all new and returning students, academics, practitioners and the general public.’

Speaker: Michel Massih QC

Date: 20th October 2016, 6.00pm

Location: Brunei Gallery Room: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘This lecture will be given by The Rt Hon The Lord Falconer of Thoroton. The lecture is accredited for 1 CPD hour and is open to members of all four Inns.’

Date: 14th November 2016, 6.30pm

Location: Inner Temple, London, EC4Y 7HL

Cost: £10 including drinks reception (£5 for Inner Temple pupil/student members)

More information can be found here.

‘We will be kick-starting the Trans Equality Legal Initiative with a day of discussion and knowledge sharing from various activists from across the human rights world. It will be taking place on Friday 18 November. The conference will be divided into several plenary sessions, each lead by panels of experts and activists from both the legal and trans activist sectors.’

Date: 18th November 2016, 9.00am-6.00pm

Location: Linklaters LLP, One Silk Street, London EC2Y 8HQ

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

‘As Home Secretary, Theresa May was more hostile to human rights than was any other cabinet minister in David Cameron’s government. Now as Prime Minister she must not only make a definitive decision about where human rights fit in her vision of Britain but also whether they can have any place at all in light of the need to reconstruct Brexit Britain. Is this another piece of European clutter than needs now to be thrown out? Does the Human Rights Act get in the way of negotiating Brexit with the EU? Might it even prevent radical change on for eg immigration after Brexit is achieved? Or as many Tories have long argued, is the answer a new bill of rights for Britain? Or perhaps the answer is no change at all – might a defiantly unrepealable Human Rights Act be our lifeline to a civilised Continent, preserved until the country comes to its senses and returns to the European family?’

Date: 8th December 2016, 6.30-8.00pm

Location: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

‘Over the last decade hostile political rhetoric has been mirrored by the entrenchment of discrimination in our laws and our policies and a sustained threat to our Human Rights Act. In 2016 politicians entered a race to the bottom on human rights and migration issues. Recent polling has found that more people think there are more tensions between communities than there were six months ago. Hate crime has spiked. Now more than ever human rights must be our unifying values. As the UK looks to its new future, this talk will reflect on how human rights – and human rights activists – can offer a national identity of tolerance, diversity and equality, and where the battle lines will be drawn in the months to come.’

Date: 19th October 2016, 6.30-8.00pm

Location: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

‘Dr Matthew Green is the author of the acclaimed book London: A Travel Guide Through Time which was described by the Londonist as “easily the best social history of London for a decade”. Matthew also writes historical features for the Guardian, Financial Times and Telegraph, has been seen in many TV documentaries and is the founder of Unreal City Audio which produces immersive tours of historic London.

Exquisitely judgmental but chronically shy, fired by ambition yet lacerated by self-doubt, snooty though a quivering jelly in female company, Dudley Ryder, a 23-year old law student from Hackney, was the greatest 18th century diarist you’ve probably never heard of.

Matthew will introduce us to a social chameleon who was always ready to adopt different guises to fit the prevailing mood but who entrusted his ‘true’, darker personality to the leaves of his diary. As the Thames freezes over and lurid reports from the battlefields of the North permeate the city, Matthew and Dudley will be our guides as we explore the dark nooks of Fleet Street, guzzle ale and jig in Hanoverian mug houses, watch beheadings on Tower Hill, skate on the New River and sip “bitter gruel” in smoky coffee houses before retiring to our chambers in the Temple to read Ovid and Quintilian.

Sir Dudley Ryder rose to be Solicitor General, Attorney General and finally Lord Chief Justice (before Lord Mansfield). It is remarkable that his 2,000-page manuscript diary has slipped through the fingers of history. In its evocation of London as probably the most exciting place on earth, it is a brilliant successor to Pepys’s more famous chronicle.’

Date: 14th July 2016, 6.30pm

Location: The London School of Economics and Political Science: 9th Floor, Tower Two (TW2), 2 Clement’s Inn, Mobil Court, London WC2A 2AZ

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

‘JUSTICE’s annual lecture is held in London, generally in mid-October. Each year, we select a high profile speaker – from practice, the judiciary, academia or politics – to lecture on a topical issue.

The 2016 annual lecture will be given by The Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Briggs, Lord Justice of Appeal on Tuesday 18 October 2016, 6.30pm at Shearman & Sterling LLP, 9 Appold St, London EC2A 2AP.

The lecture is open to the general public but JUSTICE members and Friends will be given priority booking.’

Date: 18th October 2016, 6.30-7.30pm

Location: Shearman & Sterling LLP

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘One of the highlights of the human rights lawyer’s CPD calendar, the JUSTICE Annual Human Rights Conference offers a key opportunity to update your legal knowledge and gain valuable insight into the human rights issues of the year.’

Date: 14th October 2016, 9.30am-5.00pm

Location: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Charge: See website for details

More information can be found here.

‘From expert evidence in the courtroom, to the use of scientific knowledge in the justification for, and framing of, legislation, law and science are inextricably intertwined. Yet the extent to which science is well represented in law has long been doubted by virtue of a ‘clash of cultures’ (Jasanoff 1992). The issue has become more pressing in recent years due to the growth of scientific and technological innovation, which draws into the adjudicative, legislative and policy realms areas of great scientific complexity for which legal expertise, in and of itself, proves insufficient (Vick 2004; Schrama 2011). Such work also highlights the significant barriers and obstacles for regulators understanding other disciplines and the problems that can result. The same dangers confront non-legal disciplinary experts that are drawn into, or whose work is ‘dropped’ in, the legal and political realms.’

Date: 20th-21st September 2016

Location: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR

Charge: See website for details

More information can be found here.

‘Speaker: Dame Sian Elias, Chief Justice of New Zealand.

Chair: The Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC’

Date: 25th November 2016, 6.00pm

Location: Old Hall – The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, London, WC2A 3TL

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘The Urban Law Day is a specialised forum aiming to bring together a multidisciplinary circle of academics and practitioners interested in urban legislation, including planners, architects, policy makers, economists, urbanises, and lawyers. The purpose of the Urban Law Day is to facilitate discussion, the exchange of views, networking, and the presentation of new research findings or emerging issues. The third Urban Law Day will take place on 15 July 2016 at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (University of London), and will address challenges in developing countries related to good urban legislation and practical solutions for improving them.’

Date: 15th July 2016, 9.30am-1.30pm

Location: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘Additive manufacturing or ‘3D printing’ has emerged into the mainstream in the last few years, with much hype about its revolutionary potential as one of latest ‘disruptive technologies’ following the Internet. This lecture will examine 3D printing from a socio-legal perspective, looking at how various areas of law – including intellectual property, product liability, gun laws, data privacy and fundamental/constitutional rights – interact with 3D printing, and comparing this to the Internet’s legal encounter before it.’

Date: 12th July 2016, 6.00-7.00pm

Location: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies – 17 Russell Square Charles Clore House, London, WC1B 5DR

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘Fraud costs the UK economy more than £50 billion annually, of which £20 billion is attributable to the public sector. Dr Mike Gilbert has recently conducted a major review of the response to public sector fraud and will present his findings. Private Prosecution is another recent development in the fight against fraud and this together with the legislation concerning the recovery of criminal proceeds will be discussed by experts in the field.’

Date: 11th July 2016, 2.00-6.00pm

Location: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, Charles Clore House, London WC1B 5DR

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

‘The Annual Bar and Young Bar Conference 2016 is a key opportunity for all involved with the Bar to come together to learn, network and share ideas to ensure the continual development and success of the Bar.’

Date: 15th October 2016

Location: Westminster Park Plaza

Charge: See website for details

More information can be found here.

‘The European Court of Human Rights has been at the crossroads of two legal civilizations: the Continental Civil Law on the one hand and the British Common Law on the other. The common-law construction with its analogical reasoning is based on the formula that ‘the like cases should to be decided alike’. This legal tradition is more open-textured than the logical reasoning in the Continental legal system. Also, Continental judges are, since Montesquieu, thought of as merely ‘les bouches de la loi’ – bound to derive their judgements from an abstract normative major premise. Here we have yet again two different approaches to reality.’

Date: 17th November 2016, 6.00-7.00pm

Location: Barnard’s Inn Hall

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

‘When Hamlet posed the like question as he contemplated suicide, he faced the voyage to ‘the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns’. Similar dread was faced by judges when considering the possibility of a death sentence, due to the awesome finality of such a judgment. Even after the abolition of the death penalty, life and death decisions still have to be made by judges, such as whether a very seriously mentally disabled baby should be allowed to die rather than be force-fed, or in the case of the conjoined twins where the stark issue before the court was whether it would be lawful to kill one to save the other.’

Date: 22nd September 2016, 6.00-7.00pm

Location: Barnard’s Inn Hall

Charge: Free

More information can be found here.

‘On 6 July the long-awaited Chilcot inquiry into the invasion of Iraq will be published. It hopes to answer some fundamental questions about the UK’s role in the US-led war: did Tony Blair make assurances to George Bush about British support for the war? What led the UK government to make claims about Iraq’s WMD that turned out to be untrue? Were the invasion, occupation and reconstruction of Iraq mishandled? Will these findings support the popular assertion that the Iraq war was in fact, illegal?’

Date: 7th July 2016, 7.00-8.30pm

Location: Kings Place, London, N1 9AG

Charge: £15

More information can be found here.