The focus of this comparative account is the potentially radical and fundamental changes that are taking place within criminal justice in Britain and in France and the ways that these are driven by wider domestic, European or international concerns.

A new edited collection, inspired by research from the Warwick Monash Alliance, considers the impact of and response to cuts in legal aid budgets and access to justice at a transnational level.

'Access to Justice and Legal Aid: Comparative Perspectives on Unmet Legal Need', co-edited by Professor Jacqueline Hodgson (Director of the Criminal Justice Centre, Warwick Law School) and Dr Asher Flynn (Monash), examines different responses to the current legal aid crises across criminal, civil and family law in England and Wales and Australia.

“As common law jurisdictions, England and Wales and Australia share similar ideals, policies and practices, but differ in their legal and political culture and in their approaches to providing access to justice,” explained Dr Flynn.

“The nature of the communities they serve is also different, however, our work highlights how in both regions it can be the most vulnerable groups who lose out in the way that law is now done in the 21st century.”

In recent times, there has been a raft of new legislative initiatives aimed at reducing systemic risk in financial markets.

In their article published in the Journal of International Banking and Financial Law (JIBFL), a leading periodical for practitioners, Dr Stephen Connelly and PhD student Saveethika Leesurakarn from University of Warwick’s School of Law looked at how these initiatives interacted and asked whether there could be problems.

The article is available through LexisNexis, featuring highly in the edition immediately following acclaimed contributors to the field, and headlining the print edition.

A push to reform Islamic divorce could make Sharia councils redundant in Britain

Controversy over Sharia councils in Britain has resulted in an ongoing parliamentary enquiry on their role and remit. Some of those giving evidence before MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee suggest Sharia councils should be abolished altogether, while others are calling for reform or for a code of conduct to be introduced to regulate these institutions. A separate independent review is also ongoing about whether Sharia law is being used to discriminate against women.

Read the full article  

Ming-Sung Kuo will be visiting the States next week to present a paper entitled ‘From Fact to Norm: Narratives and the Constitutionalization of Founding Moments’ at Symposium on Founding Moments in Constitutionalism at Yale Law School (USA) on 15-16 April, 2016. For more information please click here.

Ming-Sung Kuo has been invited by Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (University of King Juan Carlos (URJC) in Madrid, Spain) to speak on issues about global administrative law at a workshop on global governance and the rule of law on Thursday, 07 April, 2016. This workshop is part of Globalization, Institutions, and Environmental Justice Seminar Series at URJC.

During a public event hosted by the City Law School (City University of London) on Thursday 25 February 2016, Giuliano Castellano discusses the relationship between regulation and financial markets in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis with Joris Luyendijk (author, anthropologist and journalist with The Guardian), Brett Scott (author, anthropologist), and Elaine Fahey (City Law School). The event is titled 'Reforming the City through, by or in spite of Law? Exploring Legal and Anthropological Perspectives on Banking and Finance’, for further information and free registration see: https://www.city.ac.uk/events/2016/february/reforming-the-city-through-by-or-in-spite-of-law

On the 15th of September, Shaheen Ali moderated a Side Event on the Promotion of the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Remedies and Procedures on the Right of Anyone

Deprived of His or Her Liberty by Arrest or Detention to Bring Proceedings before Court. This event took place in Room XXIV, Palais des Nations, Geneva. This event was held after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention submitted these Principles and Guidelines to the Human Rights Council at its 30th session."

Professor Shaheen Sardar Ali was elected as Associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL) in its election round of 2015. Founded at The Hague on 13 September 1924, the IACL is the leading international institution bringing together scholars in the field of comparative law. According to its Statutes, membership of the IACL is composed of Titular Members and Associate Members who in turn, elect new Associate Members

In the UK Research Excellence Framework results (announced 18 December 2014), Warwick Law School was assessed as coming 6th out of 67 Law Departments in terms of its Research Environment, 7th in terms of the Quality of its Research and 10th overall.

Full details can be found on the REF website.

Reflexive Labour Law in the World Society investigates trends in labour and employment law from the perspective of modern social systems theory.

It uses Niklas Luhmann’s theory of the world society and Gunther Teubner’s reflexive law concept for an analysis of modern employment law and industrial relations. Areas investigated include: reflexive employment protection; the reflexive regulation and deregulation of labour market policies and labour law; reflexivity in labour and employment conflict resolution; reflexive coordination and implementation of EU social and employment law; and reflexive global labour law.

Since the mid 1990s, the focus of European employment and social policy has shifted from protection to promotion. This book provides a timely analysis of this new form of governance, and the new forms of policy delivery and audit which accompany it.