Warwick Law School News

There is no evidence that family courts in England and Wales are discriminating against fathers because of gender bias, a new study by the University of Warwick and funded by the Nuffield Foundation has found.

Dr Maebh Harding, from the School of Law, reviewed almost 200 case files from 2011 and concluded that contact applications by fathers were in fact “overwhelmingly successful”.

Her report, co-authored with Dr Annika Newnham from the University of Reading, paints a generally positive picture of the role of the County Courts in resolving child law disputes at the time of the study.

A group of ten undergraduates, including visiting students from overseas, visited the Warwickshire Justice Centre to experience the atmosphere and daily practises in a Court.

The group was welcomed by a Court Clerk and given a tour of the different Courts before sittings began, and then attended in the Public Gallery. Students were later shown the police and holding cells.

The latest edition of Cambridge University Press’ International Journal of Law in Context is a special issue featuring papers which were presented at Warwick Law School’s 2013 workshop on International Law.

Professor Julio Faundez and Dr Celine Tan introduce the special issue, which features articles from Warwick Law School academics Professor Fiona Smith, Dr Sam Adelman and Dr Celine Tan.

Philip Kaisary, an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick Law School, has received a Fulbright Scholar Award to enable him to research at Vanderbilt University on one of the most prestigious and selective scholarship programmes operating worldwide.

Kevin Hearty, from Warwick Law School, researches transitional justice, with a very specific focus on Northern Ireland. He looks in particular at Irish republicanism and at post-conflict attempts to 'move on' with former enemies.

He said: “When Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and party colleague Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness meet Prince Charles the anticipation is that historic baggage resultant from the conflict in the North of Ireland will be sacrificed on the altar of peace and reconciliation. The meeting, simply the latest in a number of recent engagements Sinn Fein has had with the British monarchy, sees a convergence between the difficulty of personal and collective ‘moving on’ in the aftermath of conflict. Although the meeting may be construed on the somewhat abstract collective level as one between Irish republicans and a figurehead of the long perceived ‘enemy’, there is a much more personalised element to it all."

Theresa May, home secretary of the UK, has written an article in the The Times arguing that the EU is “putting migrants at risk” by asking member states to resettle or relocate more refugees and asylum seekers, and indicated her vehement opposition to the European Commission’s plans. But she made several inaccurate and misleading points in her article.

This volume brings together a broad range of scholars working within a variety of procedural traditions in Europe, North America and China. The first section contains three papers that address the use of discretion during the investigation and prosecution stage of criminal proceedings; the second section deals with negotiated justice and various types of plea agreements in Spain, China and Italy.In the third section, different approaches to the exclusion of evidence are discussed, relating to Switzerland, Germany and a potential EU approach. The fourth section discusses discretion in relation to the death penalty in the US. At the heart of these issues is the problem of reconciling prosecutorial and judicial discretion with the principle of legality. The need to avoid arbitrary decisions is key,but the authors come to differing conclusions as to the impact and value of judicial discretion at different stages of the process and in different jurisdictions.

Law School MSP student, Farhana Hamid Butt, has won a Middle Temple 'Michael Sherrard Access to the Bar' Award.

The purpose of these awards is to encourage able students from underrepresented backgrounds with the potential to be successful barristers to make a more informed choice about a career at the Bar. The award winners gain experience of what a career at the Bar involves via one week’s work experience in a set of barristers’ chambers and one week’s marshalling.

To win one of these awards is a great achievement in a highly competitive process as only 13 awards are available each year. It is very well deserved given Farhana's dedication and hard work.

Find out more about Warwick Law School's MSP programme here.

On 24 February, Farhan Shahid and Pavithra Prakash Nair represented Warwick at the Cambridge Warwick inter varsity moot at Cambridge University.

This moot has taken place annually for the past seven years and is judged by barristers from the prestigious chambers, 20 Essex Street. The moot problem drew on issues in both contract and property law.

This year, we are proud to announce that Warwick emerged victors for the first time in the history of the moot. This moot is one of many inter varsity moots that the Law Society offers and is a wonderful way for students to hone their legal skills and talents.

Professor Shaheen Ali was a plenary speaker at the annual conference of the British Association of Islamic Studies (BRAIS) held at Senate House, London on 15 April. The title of Professor Ali's address was: 'Writing women's human rights: weaving a counter-narrative of Muslim women's contribution to the CEDAW script'.

The annual conference of the British Association of Islamic Studies (BRAIS) is the most important event in the calendar of BRAIS and this year's event was attended by approximately 300 delegates from the UK, USA, Latin America, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Professor Shaheen Ali's presentation was based on her archival research on the drafting processes of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Elimination Against WOmen (CEDAW) and Muslim women's contribution to this treaty.

Dr Dallal Stevens, whose research interests relate to refugee and asylum law and policy, said:

The question is: will EU leaders gathering at their emergency summit today in Brussels rise to the challenge and meet their international protection obligations?

Even before they have met, the outlook does not look promising. The head of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, has already stated that search and rescue missions are not within Frontex’s mandate; former UK foreign secretary, William Hague, has described the issue as one of ‘immigration’ and warned against solutions that ‘relax immigration controls’ or lead to ‘uncontrolled immigration’; and the proposal to destroy vessels used by smugglers, even if feasible, does not resolve the plight of those who are refugees under international law and have a right to seek asylum. If they cannot leave, what then?"