Centre for Law and Society Highlights

Conference: "The Pinochet Case and its Consequences Ten Years On"

11 November 2008, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London

In the 10th anniversary year of the arrest of General Pinochet in London and the Pinochet precedent, the objective of this one-day Conference was to examine the Pinochet precedent, its implications and its legacies. Several key figures in the Pinochet case, as well as leading experts in the field of international criminal justice, and with respect to the Pinochet case, agreed to participate. Read more»

This event was sponsored by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, the Centre for Law and Society at Lancaster University, the Lancaster Human Rights Forum, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London and JUSTICE (the British section of the International Commission of Jurists).

LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD (who became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1996, and was one of the Law Lords who heard the Pinochet case (Pinochet 3) of March 1999) is on the left, chairing the first session of the conference.

GEOFFREY ROBERTSON QC (who wrote the amicus brief for Human Rights Watch in the Pinochet case, and was the First President of the UN War Crimes Court in Sierra Leone) is on the right, delivering his lecture entitled, “Ending Impunity: From Pinochet (1998) to Franco (2008)” to an audience of over 100 participants that included diplomats and other government representatives, NGOs, victims and their relatives, judges, lawyers, UN representatives, journalists, academics and Lancaster University Law School students (past and present).

Conference: "From the Utoptianism of Human Rights to the Primacy of the Political"

7th-8th November 2008, Lancaster University

Bringing together academics, practitioners and activists from a wide range of disciplines, this conference offered a rare opportunity to confront and reflect upon one of the most relevant concerns of contemporary jurisprudence and legal and political practice. Find out more.

Credit and Debt Conference

17th April 2008

Lancaster Law School's Centre for Law and Society co-hosted a conference with Stephensons solicitors on Credit and Debt looking at aspects of consumer credit and personal insolvency law. Professors Geraint Howells and David Milman co-chaired the conference as well as presenting papers. It is hoped this will become an annual event underlining the School's expertise in this area of law.

External Events

9th April 2008

The Centre for Law and Society helped organise a major conference for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on The Modernisation of UK Consumer Law in London on 9th April 2008. Professor Geraint Howells both shared the chairing of the conference and presented a paper on "Pre-contractual Information and the Right of Withdrawal." The Department is shortly to issue a call for evidence as to whether the UK needs a consumer code.

Iredell Lecture in Law and History 2008

13th March 2008, 5:30pm

This year's Lecture entitled Truth and Justice in the Wake of Dictatorship and Armed Conflict was given by Professor José Zalaquett, Professor José Zalaquett, Proessor Of Human Rights at The School Of Law, The University Of Chile. More»

Watch a video of the lecture.

Spring 2008 Programme of Events

Access to Justice and Human Rights
Roger Smith, Director of Justice
18th February 2008, 4.00pm

Personal Injury Lawyering and 'Doing Justice'
Colin Ettinger, Hon. Research Fellow, Lancaster University Law School, and Partner, Irwin Mitchell, Solicitors
25th February 2008, 4.00pm

The Symbolism of Law
Reiner Schulze, professor of Law, Munster University
11th March 2008 at 5.00pm for 5.30pm
Manchester Civil Justice Centre, The Crown Court, Crown Square, Manchester

This Lecture celebrates the appointment of our new Honorary Professor, Reiner Schulze, who is also Professor at Münster University and one of Europe's foremost scholars of legal history and European Private Law.

Conference: "Legal Services in North-West England - The Changing Landscape"

Institute for Advanced Studies, Lancaster, 27 September 2007

This conference featured speakers (left) ZAHIDA MANZOOR CBE, Legal Services Complaints Commissioner and Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales and (right) DES HUDSON, Chief Executive, The Law Society of England and Wales.

The conference was co-sponsored by the Centre for Law and Society and Institute of Advanced Studies, Lancaster University and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Studies, University of London

The proceedings of the Conference on “Legal Services in North West England: The New Landscape” were published in Amicus Curiae (Issue 76, Winter 2008), the journal of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (PDF attached).  Issue 76 of Amicus Curiae is available as a hard copy and via the Web.

More»

US Army Muslim Chaplain James Yee

28th November 2007

Captain James 'Yusuf' Yee reflected on his service as a US Army Muslim Chaplain serving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and his subsequent wrongful arrest on charges of spying and aiding the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. More»

View poster

Other Events

The Centre sponsored the conferences:

• 'Law, Religion, Culture: An Interdisciplinary Symposium' on 14th September 2007 which featured academic speakers from across the UK.
• 'The Role of NGOs in Governance' on 21st September 2007, which brought together speakers from civil society and national and international policy-makers.

Joint Seminar - Law and Linguistics: "In Internet's Way'

Prof. Raphael Cohen-Almagor presented a paper entitled “In Internet's Way” on Wed. 21 March 2007 at 4.30pm in B80 Bowland. The seminar was co-sponsored by the Law School (Centre for Law and Society) and the Linguistics Department (Centre for Language and Social Life).

Prof. Cohen-Almagor’s paper addressed issues of freedom of expression and the scope of tolerance when the Internet is used to sustain terrorism, racism, hate speech and child pornography.

Bio Note: Raphael Cohen-Almagor received his D. Phil. in political theory from Oxford University (1991). He is Founder and Director of the Medical Ethics Think-tank at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (1995-1998); and member of the Israel Press Council (1997-2000). Raphael is also the Founder and Director of the Center for Democratic Studies at the University of Haifa (2003-2007). He was Fulbright Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Law and Dept. of Communication (1999-2000), and Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University (2003-2004). Raphael has published several books, including one poetry book, and dozens of refereed articles and book chapters on education, free expression, media ethics, medical ethics, multiculturalism, democracy and political extremism.

Personal Insolvency Law: International Perspectives

Date: Monday November 27 2006

Time : (1pm - 5pm)

Venue: Institute of Advanced Studies, Lancaster University.

Draft Programme

1-00pm - 2.00pm       REGISTRATION AND BUFFET LUNCH

2.00 pm     WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Professor Geraint Howells, Head of School of Law, Lancaster University.

2.05pm - 2.50pm   “BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN CHANGING THE BANKRUPTCY LAW”

 Professor Karen Gross, President Southern Vermont College, Professor  New York Law School,

2.50pm -3.35 pm   “RESPONSIBLE CREDIT - HOW TO COPE WITH OVERINDEBTEDNESS IN THE EU” 

Professor Udo Reifner, Institut fur Finanzdienstleistungen, Hamburg.

3.35- 3.45 pm    COFFEE BREAK

3.45 - 4.30 pm    “CREDITOR RIGHTS IN ENGLISH PERSONAL INSOLVENCY LAW”

 Professor David Milman, School of Law, Lancaster, University

4.30pm - 5.00 pm     OPEN DISCUSSION

 Chaired by Professor Geraint Howells, Head of  School of Law,

Lancaster University.

This seminar was sponsored by the Centre for Law and Society, Lancaster University and the European Coalition for Responsible Credit

Contact and further details: David Milman d.milman@lancaster.ac.uk

Selected Papers from the Personal Insolvency Law Conference

We have included some select documents from the PIL Conference. More papers will be added in due course.

Personal Insolvency Regime in Japan (Powerpoint Presentation) (Takeshi Muramoto)

Social Segregation and Financial Inclusion (Draft, Co-authored paper) (Udo Reifner)

Event details

War on Terrorism - Law School Seminar

Date: 15 November 2006
Time: 4.15 pm

Craig Murray

Writer and Broadcaster

As Britain’s outspoken Ambassador to the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan, Craig Murray helped expose vicious human rights abuses by the US funded regime of Islam Karimov.  He is now a prominent critic of Western policy in the region.

The venue was IAS building, Room MR 2/3

Event website: http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/
Contact: d.sugarman@lancaster.ac.uk

Lawyering and the Legal Profession in Late Modernity (Workshop)

The Centre for Law and Society welcomed participants attending the Workshop on "Lawyering and the Legal Profession in Late Modernity”. This was held on Thursday 21 September 2006 and was co-organised by Dr Daniel Muzio, a former Lancaster Law School graduate, and currently a lecturer in the Management School. The event was also supported by the IAS.

Event details

THURSDAY 21st SEPTEMBER 2006

10.00 – 12.30 Room A2/3, Institute for Advanced Studies, Lancaster University.

Chair: David Sugarman

10.00 – 11.00: LEAD DISCUSSIONS by:

• Glenn Morgan - 'Constructing Markets: Law and Derivatives in Global Capitalism'
  
• John Flood - ‘The Legal Profession in the Face of Commodification, Clementi and Charisma -(the UK Faces its Tsunami with Equanimity)?’
  
• James Marshall – ‘Are Small Firm Lawyers Positivist about the Law’
  
• Ashly Pinnington - ‘Lawyers’ Accounts of the Firm's Strategy and its Internationalisation -A Case Study’

Without Let or Hindrance: Inclusion and its Subversion from the Medieval to the Modern (Joint Conference with Department of History)

The Centre for Law and Society was pleased to collaborate with the History Department in their recent conference:

"Without Let or Hindrance": Inclusion and its Subversion from the Medieval to the Modern

which was held on 7-9 July 2006, Institute of Advanced Studies, Lancaster.

"Without Let or Hindrance" was an International and Interdisciplinary Conference with Keynote Speakers including:

• Professor Radhika Mongia, Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz.
• Professor S. N. Balagangadhara, Comparative Science of Cultures, Ghent University.
• Professor Steve Hindle, Department of History University of Warwick
• Dr. David Ditchburn, Department of History, University of Aberdeen.

Papers at the conference covered a remarkable range of topics, and the speakers were engaging and eloquent. This conference provided a truly fascinating insight into the many faces of inclusion and subversion, and the conference's dedication to interdisciplinarity meant that many of the themes resonated across the diverse panels. The event was a resounding success, and any resulting publication will be reflective of the high quality of the conference as a whole.

Professions in the Knowledge Based Economy

1 September 2006

The Centre for Law and Society presented two workshops on "Professions in the Knowledge Based Economy" as part of the First International Conference of the Institute of Advanced Studies.

Events details and draft titles and abstracts (pdf format)