News archive 2009

Professor Fitzmaurice receives grant to organise an event on the Permanent Court of International Justice

Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Queen Mary's Public International Law specialist, and Professor Christian Tams, (University of Glasgow) received a conference grant from the Modern Law Review to organise an event on The Permanent Court and Modern International Law Reflections on the PCIJ’s Lasting Legacy. The conference will take place in November 2010.

Dr Prakash Shah on BBC Radio 4 on 'declining Christian religiosity in Britain'

Dr Prakash Shah interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Sunday Programme about a new study from Manchester University about declining Christian religiosity in Britain

Listen to the podcast on the BBC radio 4 website

Dr Prakash Shah to chair panel on ‘Religious-secular distinctions in law and education on 14-16 January 2010

Dr Prakash Shah is to chair the panel on ‘Religious-secular distinctions in law and education’ at the conference on Religious-Secular Distinctions Convened by: Dr Trevor Stack and Dr Tim Fitzgerald, 14-16 January 2010 at the British Academy, London. For more information see www.britac.ac.uk

Jonathan Schwarz, School of Law tax expert gives his perspective on Pre-Budget Report

In the wake of Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report for 2009, tax specialist Jonathan Schwartz at Queen Mary, University of London gives his perspective on the proposed levy on bankers' bonuses.

"A super tax on bonuses draws on popular anger against bankers and is simply a headline-grabbing political move that will soon be forgotten... Read the full story on the Queen Mary media centre.

Professor Ian Walden appointed to the Press Complaints Commission

Professor Ian Walden, media law expert at Queen Mary, University of London, has joined the Board of the Press Complaints Commission, it was announced today. Professor Ian Walden will take over from Colleen Harris, former Director of Strategy and Communications at the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Read the full story on the Queen Mary media centre.

Professor Eric Heinze took part in a panel discussion organized by Student Rights, on the motion: “that student unions should make international political gestures and allegiances” at UCL on 3 December 2009.

Queen Mary law alumna Riam Dean was named Disabled Young Person of the Year at the Human Rights Awards held by RADAR, the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation, on Tuesday 1 December 2009.

Dean, who wears a prosthetic arm, recently won a court case against her former employer Abercrombie & Fitch after claiming the clothes store had taken her off the shop floor because of her false limb... Read the full story on the QM media centre

Dr Prakash Shah discusses Swiss Minaret Ban on BBC Radio 4

Dr Prakash Shah discusses the minaret ban referendum in Switzerland on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme on 6 December. Listen to the BBC Radio 4 podcast.

Dr Phoebe Okowa lectures on Sovereignty Contests and the Protection of Natural Resources in Conflict Zones on 3 December

as part of the 'Current Legal Problems' series at UCL at 6pm

Legal English Certificate scholarship winners

A total of 25 scholarships have been awarded to QMUL students for the purpose of studying Legal English in one of the best recognized legal English language programmes... Read the full article

Dr Leal-Arcas - China and the EU: Concord or Conflict?

Dr Leal-Arcas to speak at the conference China and the EU: Concord or Conflict?, to be held on 9 and 10 December 2009, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Queen Mary LLM student wins 2009 UN agency essay competition

Onyinye Nwezi, LLM Computer and Communications student at Queen Mary, 2008-2009, entered the 2009 ITU Cybersecurity and ICT Applications Essay Competition and was selected as one of the winners. She won a paid three-month Consultancy Contract in Geneva at the UN agency for telecoms from November to January. Read the full story...

Dr Leal-Arcas to speak on "Creating a Nexus between the EU and China: Trade, Investment, and Rule of Law" at Hamburg University School of Law, Hamburg, Germany on 5 November 2009.

European Integration: A ‘One Way Street’?

David Cameron, on 4 November 2009, made a major announcement on the constitutional arrangements a future Conservative government would put in place regarding the UK’s relationship with the European Union. Kenneth Armstrong, Professor of European Law at Queen Mary, University of London, asks three important questions about these proposals. Read the full story on the Queen Mary media centre.

Dr Prakash Shah on 'Inconvenient marriages' at Human Rights Law conference

Dr Prakash Shah is to present a paper on 'Inconvenient marriages, or what happens when ethnic minorities marry trans-jurisdictionally according to their self-chosen norms' at the Conference on 'Human Rights Law as a Site of Struggle over Multicultural Conflicts' at Utrecht University on 5-6 November 2009.

Law Marketing Manager and Thai LLM alumni on the Queen Mary postgraduate law experience at British Council on 7 November

Nichole Carpenter, Law Marketing Manager and QM Thai LLM alumni to talk at presentation on Queen Mary postgraduate law studies at British Council, Bangkok on Saturday 7 November.

This university presentation offers the chance to meet and hear from Queen Mary LLM alumni and gain useful information from the British Council about studying law in the UK.

Time: 13.30- 16.00  
Date: 7 November
Venue: The Landmark Bangkok Hotel (nearest sky train station: Nana), 138 Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok 10110,  Tel: 66 (0) 2254 0404               

Further details: n.carpenter@qmul.ac.uk or Prompen.Wattanabud@britishcouncil.or.th

Read about the LLM programme.

Dr Duncan Matthews to give keynote address on 'Creation of IP culture in universities' in Prague on 2 December

Dr Duncan Matthews has been invited to give the keynote address on “The Creation of an Intellectual Property Culture in Universities” at a workshop in Prague on 2 December 2009, jointly organised by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic. He will also give a separate presentation at the same event highlighting the problems to be overcome and the advantages to be gained by integrating IP teaching into university law curricula, as well as providing feedback on the EPO roadmap for the integration of IP teaching in Czech universities’ curricula.

Read more about Dr Duncan Matthews.

See the LLM in Intellectual Property Law programme.

Dr Kern Alexander to give evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on 3 November

Dr Kern Alexander of the School of Law/CCLS and Department of Economics will give oral and written evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on 3 November at 10:15 on the European Commission's proposals for reform of macro-prudential and micro-prudential regulation of Europe's financial markets. Alexander's evidence will address the institutional and legal aspects of the Commission's adoption of a Regulation that creates a European Systemic Risk Board and a European System of Financial Supervision.

Read more about Dr Kern Alexander

See the MSc in Law and Finance programme.

Dr Maher Dabbah spoke at the Portuguese Competition Authority

Maher Dabbah was invited to deliver a speech on The relationship between competition authorities and sectoral regulators: an international-comparative perspective' at the Portuguese Competition Authority in Lisbon, Portugal on Monday 26 October 2009.

Read more about the speech on the Interdisciplinary Centre for Competition Law and Policy (ICC) website

Read the full story on the Queen Mary media centre

Professor Ormerod lectures to the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association

Professor David Ormerod lectured to the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association on Legal Developments in London on 15th October.

Queen Mary speakers at International Tax Conference

Jonathan Schwarz, Queen Mary Visiting Fellow and Barrister, and Dr Christiana HJI Panayi, Lecturer in Tax Law, to speak at International Tax Conference organised by KPMG, 15-16 October, Cyprus

New edition of the book Blackstone’s Criminal Practice published

A new edition of Professor David Ormerod's book Blackstone’s Criminal Practice' has been published.

To order a copy see the OUP website

Dr Prakash Shah to speak on 'Are Western and Islamic laws irreconcilable?'

Centre for European Islamic Thought, University of Copenhagen on 21 October 2009

Dr Maher Dabbah to speak on 'the treatment of vertical restraints in the field of competition law'

Dr Maher Dabbah will speak at a high-level international conference organised by UCL on 'the treatment of vertical restraints in the field of competition law' on 14 October 2009. His speech will offer an international perspective on the topic.

Professor William Wilson on Parasomnias and the law

Professor William Wilson delivered a paper on Automatisms, sleepiness and advice to a conference on Sleep, Consciousness and the Law at the Royal Society of Medicine on 21 September 2009.

Read the article in the Times online: 'Sleepwalking: you wouldn't credit what you can do while you're meant to be at rest'.

Professor Heinze to speak at 'Human Rights in Politics and Consciousness' conference

Professor Eric Heinze is to speak at the conference: Human Rights in Politics and Consciousness on 7 Nov 2009, sponsored by the Human Rights Research Group, University of Newcastle.

Structural coupling between the systems of law and the media: the contrasting examples of criminal conviction and criminal appeal

Professor David Nobles and Professor Richard Schiff gave a conference paper on 'Structural coupling between the systems of law and the media: the contrasting examples of criminal conviction and criminal appeal' at the conference on 'Applied Systems Theory - Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Self-Referential Systems: Theoretical and Empirical Research'. The conference was held at The Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia on 14th-18th September 2009.

Professor David Ormerod lectures to Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

Professor David Ormerod lectured to Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate on recent developments in prosecuting crime in London on 2nd October 2009.

Dr Prakash Shah to give a paper at the Exploratory Workshop on Rights, Legal Mobilisation and Political Participation in Europe

In Athens, Greece, 8-11 October 2009, co-sponsored by the European Science Foundation and the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP, Athens, Greece)

The paper title is:
"The complexity of strategies in legal pluralism: The case of Britain's ethnic minorities"

Professor Kate Malleson - ‘Supreme Court opens as fears raised of US-style selection of judges’

The new Supreme Court opens today, with Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers as President. He admits that there will be a great deal of interest with appointments made to the court and that public scrutiny of this will be inevitable. Professor Malleson said that these public-made decisions would ensure the new court will not function with anonymity and that as the court receives more attention so will composition that lacks “diversity”.

Read the full article on Times online

Professor David Ormerod lectured to Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office on recent developments in fraud in Manchester on Sept 30th 2009.

Queen Mary Professors contribute to a book about the Law Lords
Professor Andrew Le Sueur and Professor Kate Malleson have contributed essays to The Judicial House of Lords 1876-2009, recently published by OUP. Andrew’s contribution surveys the events surrounding the government’s controversial plans to abolish the Law Lords and create a new supreme court. Reviewing the book in the Times Literary Supplement, Joshua Rozenberg says, ‘If David Cameron becomes Prime Minister, he could learn a great deal about how not to introduce constitutional reform by reading Andrew Le Sueur’s narrative ...’. Kate’s chapter examines how the appointments process to the House of Lords operated as a ‘closed promotions system through the higher courts’.

Read more about Professor Andrew Le Sueur

Read more about Professor Kate Malleson 

Dr Leal-Arcas to speak at NZCIEL conference “Trade Agreements: Where Do We Go from Here?”

Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas to speak at the New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law conference, “Trade Agreements: Where Do We Go from Here?", to be held at the Victoria University of Wellington Law School on 21-23 October 2009.

For more information see the Victoria University of Wellington website.

Dr Shah to give a paper on "Comparatively Indian: Living with Legal Plurality"

Dr Prakash Shah will give a paper titled "Comparatively Indian: Living with Legal Plurality" at the 32nd Conference of the German Society for Comparative Law at the University of Cologne, 17 - 19 September 2009.

Dr Matthews to give public lecture at the University of Cape Town in South Africa

On 15 September Dr Duncan Matthews will give a public lecture at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The lecture will outline patterns of recent activity by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in relation to intellectual property issues negotiated at the WTO, WIPO, WHO, CBD-COP and the FAO. It will explain how and why international NGOs play an important role by supporting the work of developing country delegates to these multinational institutions and will suggest the further activities that NGOs could undertake to enhance their role. The lecture will then describe how NGOs in the Global South (with particular emphasis on Brazil, India and South Africa) have been able to play a such crucial role in addressing the negative impacts of intellectual property rights at the domestic level and will suggest how these NGOs could make more effective inputs in the future.

Dr Matthews commissioned to assist UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to develop an international IP strategy

Dr Duncan Matthews has been commissioned by the IPO to assist in the design and delivery of a UK government response to the challenges facing the international IP system. Issues to be covered in the study include access to medicines, food security, climate change, access to knowledge and development policy.

Dr Shah to speak at South Asian Culture à la barre Workshop in Paris

Dr Prakash Shah to speak on Transnational Hindu Law Adoptions: Recognition and Treatment in Britain at the South Asian Culture à la barre: Words of Experts in Transnational Case-Law workshop in Paris on 20 November 2009.

ICC: 8th Annual Competition Law Summer School success

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Competition Law and Policy (ICC) held a hugely successful 8th Annual Competition Law Summer School from 9-16 August 2009. 35 participants attended the school this year and were taught by Dr Maher M. Dabbah.

Read more about Dr Maher Dabbah.

Read more about the ICC

Professor Fitzmaurice's book Contemporary Issues of International Environmental Law is published

Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice has just published a book on Contemporary Issues of International Environmental Law with Edward Elgar Publishers. The book deals with many fundamental questions of international environmental law, such as sustainable development and the precautionary principle and critically assesses their status and role in international environmental law. See www.e-elgar.co.uk to order a copy.

Professor Ormerod's book 'Fraud: Criminal Law and Procedure' is published

A new release of the book Fraud: Criminal Law and Procedure by David Ormerod and Clare Montgomery QC has been issued by Oxford University Press. See ukcatalogue.oup.com to order a copy.

Dr Leal-Arcas on 'China in the Far East and South-East Asia: The Economic Nexus'

Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas to speak at the two-day workshop:
China in the Arab World and Emerging East Asia-Middle East Nexus at Durham University on 29-30 September 2009.

For more information see www.dur.ac.uk

Professor Mistelis interviewed by leading Spanish financial newspaper on the future of international arbitration

Professor Loukas Mistelis has conducted two major empirical surveys in 2006 and 2008 on corporate attitudes towards dispute resolution. Expansion interviewed him about these findings and his views on Madrid as a seat of international arbitration

Read a summary of the Expansion interview

Dr Brekoulakis argues for a clear interface between arbitration and litigation at EU policy meeting in Brussels

Dr Stavros Brekoulakis participated in the roundtable discussion of the EU Green Paper on the Jurisdiction and Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters.

The roundtable was held on 1 July 2009, at the offices of
WilmerHale in Brussels, to discuss the Green Paper recently issued by the European Commission to review the Reg. 44/2001 on the Jurisdiction and Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters.

The Green Paper contains proposals to amend the Regulation (currently excluding Arbitration from its material scope), which will affect arbitration proceedings taking place within Europe.

The round table attracted an array of high profile arbitration and litigation practitioners, academics and most notably the European Commissioner of Justice and Home Affairs, Ms Karen Vandekerckhove. The round table effectively acted as a consultation board for the European Commission on possible ways to improve the effectiveness of the Regulation 44/2001 regarding the issue of the relationship between Arbitration and Litigation in the European Communities.

Dr Stavros Brekoulakis teaches Arbitration and International
Litigation, and his research focuses on conflict of jurisdictions between tribunals and national courts. He participated in the discussion representing the School of International Arbitration (SIA), Queen Mary, University of London. Established in 1985, SIA is widely recognised as the leading academic institution in the area of arbitration, and dispute resolution more generally.

For more information on the roundtable see globalarbitration.com (subscription required) for the policy backdrop, summary of the roundtable on EU Green Paper and segment on anti-torpedo torpedo.

Dr Leal-Arcas to speak at Inside/Outside: 60 Years in Chinese Politics in Hong Kong 20-21 August

Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas is to speak on "China and multilateral economic governance" at Inside/Outside: 60 Years of Chinese Politics: An International Conference, in Hong Kong on 20-21 August 2009.

See www.hkpsa.org for more information

Dr Dabbah on 'Political economy constraints in the implementation of competition law regimes in developing countries'

Dr Maher M. Dabbah delivers a speech on 'Political economy constraints in the implementation of competition law regimes in developing countries' at a very high level conference for judges, ministers, policy-makers, heads of competition authorities and academics held in The Gambia in July 2009.

Committee welcomes new corporate bribery offence, but calls for it to be stronger

Professor Peter Alldridge, Head of the Department of Law was specialist adviser to the Joint Committee on the Draft Bribery Bill.

The Committee's report was published on 28 July and welcomes the draft Bill as an important step forward in tackling corruption and fulfilling the United Kingdom's international obligations.

Download the press release for an overview of the report [PDF 85kb]

Download the full Joint Committee report on the Draft Bribery Bill [PDF 808kb]

Read more about Professor Peter Alldridge

Read about the draft Bribery Bill

Professor Van Bueren, 'Cutting tuition fees could be unlawful'

Professor Geraldine Van Bueren, Professor of International Human Rights Law at Queen Mary, University of London writes in the Independent about proposals that would see tuition fees waived for students living at home. She argues that this scheme would eventually “give rise to further expenditure” through a series of legal challenges based on the Human Rights Act. The Act says that nobody should be denied the right to education, which includes going to university; however students are no longer guaranteed a place. She said: “To link the right of access to university to such an arbitrary basis as parental location will be open to challenge in the courts. The nearest university may not even specialise in a student's chosen subject.”
Read the full article in The Independent - Education p.4

Dr O'Shea on 'ECJ Direct Tax Cases Update'

Dr Tom O'Shea to speak on the topic: "ECJ Direct Tax Cases Update" on 31 July 2009 at HM Revenue and Customs and HM Treasury. Download a brief introduction to Dr O'Shea's [PDF 180kb] speech

Professor Fitzmaurice to speak on Settlement of Disputes in International Environmental Law

Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice has been invited to lecture at the prestigious External Programme of The Hague Academy of International Law in Beijing in October 2009.

Read about more about the programme on the Hague Academy website.

Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism report published

The House of Lords Committee report on Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism was published today, 22 July.

Earlier this year, Queen Mary law students taking the LLM class in Economic Crime submitted evidence to the House of Lords Committee, under the guidance of the course leaders Professor Peter Alldridge and Dr Valsamis Mitsilegas.

The Committee looked at the EU and international cooperation to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. They considered how effectively EU Member States, the UN and others cooperate in this area, and whether there is an effective formal legal framework for criminal justice cooperation.

On the basis of the submission, Professor Alldridge and Dr Mitsilegas gave oral evidence to the Committee on 1 April 2009.

• Read the Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism report
• Read the evidence to support the report

Read about our LLM in Public International Law

Read more about Dr Valsamis Mitsilegas

Read more about Professor Peter Alldridge

Dr O'Shea on 'The Regulatory Framework for Tax in the EU'

Dr Tom O'Shea is speaking on 'The Regulatory Framework for Tax in the EU' to the AVRIO Association in Brussels on Friday 24 July 2009. Download the introduction to his speech [PDF 96kb]

Read more about Dr Tom O'Shea

Congratulations to the Class of 2009 - Read more...

Dr Kern Alexander invited to give evidence on the UK banking crisis and regulation

Course Director Dr Kern Alexander, director of the MSc Law and Finance programme, was invited to give oral and written evidence on the UK banking crisis and regulation to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on 23 June 2009.

Read Dr Alexander's testimony on the parliament website.

Professor Le Sueur - ‘Britain prepares to open first Supreme Court’

The most senior judges in the UK are preparing to move to the new Supreme Court when it opens in October this year. A dozen judges will transfer from the House of Lords to the court that will serve as the highest court of appeal. Some experts see this as a milestone in the UK while others believe the court will have little impact on the justice system. Professor Andrew Le Sueur said: “It's significant but not a big change. It's going to be the same judges and have the same legal jurisdiction. That makes me think that we shouldn't expect any significant change in the substance of judicial decisions." Read the full story on USA Today

House of Lords Constitution Committee

Andrew Le Sueur (Professor of Public Law) has come to the end of a three-and-a-half year stint as legal adviser to the high-profile House of Lords Constitution Committee. He said: "It's been a fascinating experience and I leave with a much deeper understanding of the worlds of practical politics and parliamentary procedure than I could possibly have gained just from being an interested academic bystander".

Read more about Professor Andrew Le Sueur

More on the Constitution Committee

Dr Jill Marshall to speak at 'Erasing the natural family? Rethinking adoption' seminar
One-day seminar at Birkbeck University of London

Dr Jill Marshall to speak on 'Giving birth and refusing motherhood'.

Download seminar information [PDF kb]

Read more about Dr Jill Marshall

Professor Van Bueren on BBC Radio 4 discussing the 'child executions in Iran'

Professor Geraldine Van Bueren, Professor of International Human Rights Law at Queen Mary, University of London was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's 'Woman's Hour' programme on 29 June 2009.

The Foreign Policy Centre published a report 'From Cradle to Coffin - Child Executions in Iran' on Tuesday 30 June 2009. President of Stop Child Execution and co-author of the report, Nazanin Afshin-Jam was interviewed with Professor Van Bueren to discuss Iran's record of executing juvenile offenders and Iran's commitments under international law.

Listen to the BBC Radio 4 podcast 'child executions in Iran'

Read more about Professor Geraldine Van Bueren

See the Foreign Policy Centre website

In recognition of the current economic situation, Queen Mary is offering a £1000 bursary towards tuition fees for taught Masters programmes. Find out more details and who is eligible for the Queen Mary Masters bursary

Success for Queen Mary PhD student

Elise Muir, a Queen Mary PhD candidate with Professor Tridimas, has been appointed to an academic position with Maastricht University.

Maastricht University is one of the best Dutch law schools and is internationally renowned for its European Law School.

Elise Muir will be a University Lecturer at the department of International and European Law (Faculty of Law) as from next academic year.

Professor Lastra contributes to House of Lords report - The Future of EU Financial Regulation and Supervision

Professor Rosa Lastra has been acting as Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords with regard to their inquiry into EU financial regulation and supervision and responses to the financial crisis.

The report of the European Union Committee of the House of Lords on the Future of EU financial regulation and supervision was published on 17 June 2009. Professor Lastra’s contribution is acknowledged in paragraph 20 on page 10 of the report.

You can view the full The Future of EU Financial regulation and supervision report on the House of Lords website.

Professor Lastra will be live on Bloomberg TV at 8.15am on Tuesday 23 June 2009 to discuss EU and UK financial supervision and regulation.

Read more about Professor Rosa Lastra

Download the House of Lords press release [154kb]

Lord Hoffmann joins Queen Mary as Honorary Professor of Intellectual Property Law

Lord Hoffmann joined Queen Mary in June 2009 as Honorary Professor of Intellectual Property Law, following his retirement as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.

The last fourteen years of his judicial career were spent as a Law Lord, prior to which he was a member of the Court of Appeal between 1992 and 1995 and a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division between 1985-1992. He remains an active arbitrator and mediator and continues to be a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.

In his judicial career he gave judgments which have shaped modern English law, ranging from the reading of arbitration clauses and patent specifications to the scope of the Convention rights under the Human Rights Act. His unrivalled knowledge and experience of law means that his contribution is felt across the whole of the School of Law.

Read more about Lord Hoffmann

Dr Prakash Shah on 'Diversity of Laws in a Diverse World: But why don't we get it?'

Dr Prakash Shah gave a lecture titled 'Diversity of Laws in a Diverse World: But why don't we get it?', at the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission - Launch of Legal Network conference on 'Limits and Possibilities of the Law in a Rapidly Changing World', London 13 June 2009.

Trends and Developments in Global Competition Law conference success

The ICC-Crowell and Moring Third Annual Conference on 'Trends and Developments in Global Competition Law' was held in Brussels on 16 May 2009.

As in the past two years, the event was a huge success and well attended. The most important topics in the field of competition law globally were debated by a high-level faculty of speakers. The areas of international merger control, international cartel regulation, the interface between IP and antitrust and unilateral conduct were all examined.

The audience was excellent and very active. It was mixed, with judges, regulators, practitioners, academics and eight students.

The Interdisciplinary Centre for Competition Law and Policy (ICC) is a cross-disciplinary research centre based at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London.

House of Lords publish work submitted by Queen Mary LLM students

In response to a call for evidence, Thai, UK and Italian current students taking the LLM class in 'Economic Crime' were able to demonstrate the skills and knowledge they have gained from their classes, when they submitted evidence to the House of Lords Committee, under the guidance of the course leaders Professor Peter Alldridge and Dr Valsamis Mitsilegas.

The written evidence was for the Committee's inquiry on EU initiatives to counter money laundering and terrorist finance.

On the basis of the submission, Professor Alldridge and Dr Mitsilegas gave oral evidence to the Committee on 1 April 2009.

Read the written evidence for the parliamentary committee

Read about our LLM programmes

The Public-Private Law Divide: Potential for Transformation?

Papers from a conference on the public/private law divide, co-hosted by the School of Law in 2007 with funding from the British Academy, have recently been published by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. The conference was held under the auspices of the 'Dornberg Research Group', a European network of administrative Law scholars, including co-founder Andrew Le Sueur.

The Dornberg Research Group's next meeting will be in Paris in October 2009 on the subject of legitimacy in public administration.

Read more about the Public-Private Law Divide book

Read about Professor Andrew Le Sueur

Professor Alldridge to advise the joint parliamentary committee on the draft Bribery Bill

Professor Peter Alldridge, Head of the Department of Law at Queen Mary, University of London is to be a specialist advisor to the joint parliamentary committee on the draft Bribery Bill.

The draft Bribery Bill aims to reform the criminal law to provide a new, modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences that will enable courts and prosecutors to respond more effectively to bribery at home or abroad.

Read more about Professor Alldridge

Read about the draft Bribery Bill

Dr Duncan Matthews commissioned by Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP) to advise on “Patents in the Global Economy”

Dr Duncan Matthews has been commissioned by the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy (SABIP), as part of its project on the role and rationale of intellectual property rights, to write a paper on the “Patents in the Global Economy”. It is anticipated that a book of commissioned papers from SABIP’s role and rationale project will be published in Winter 2009. SABIP was established in June 2008 as an outcome of the 2006 Gowers Review of Intellectual Property and its role is to give independent, evidence-based advice to UK Government Ministers and the Chief Executive of the UK’s Intellectual Property Office on the development of policy.

Read more about Dr Duncan Matthews

Read more about SABIP

Law Firm Dewey LeBoeuf to sponsor a student to study International Arbitration at Queen Mary

The law firm Dewey LeBoeuf is sponsoring for the first time the best oralist of the Frankfurt Investment Moot to study International Arbitration at Queen Mary. The first recipient, Lukas Rusch of St Gallen University, Switzerland, who won first prize in 2008, will start his LLM at Queen Mary in September 2009.

James M. MacDonald of La Trobe University, Australia, won 'Best Advocate' in 2009 and will receive a scholarship for an LLM or Diploma at Queen Mary.

Queen Mary students demonstrate skill at Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot 2009

Read the full story about the International Moot 2009

Read more about Dr Leal-Arcas

Read more about the American Society of International Law

New edition of Professor Ormerod's book, 'Smith and Hogan Criminal Law: Cases and Materials' published

Smith and Hogan Criminal Law: Cases and Materials is the original and definitive casebook on criminal law. Serving as the perfect companion to a textbook such as Smith and Hogan Criminal Law , this book provides extracts from all of the key cases, statutes, reports, books, and articles needed to fully grasp this complex subject.
  

Read more about Professor David Ormerod

Read more about the book or order a copy from the Oxford University Press website

Queen Mary, School of Law is placed 9th in the UK in the Guardian University Guide

The status of the Queen Mary School of Law as one of the UK’s leading law schools was confirmed in the Guardian Rankings which placed the schools 9th in the UK and 8th in England.

Professor Rachael Mulheron appointed to the Civil Justice Council of England and Wales

Professor Rachael Mulheron has recently been appointed to the Civil Justice Council of England and Wales, for a three-year period commencing 1 May 2009.  The Civil Justice Council is a civil advisory body, established under the Civil Procedure Act 1997, which provides advice to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs on the effectiveness of aspects of the civil justice system.  As part of its remit to oversee and co-ordinate reform, the Council makes recommendations to test, review or conduct research into specific areas of the civil justice system.  Professor Mulheron was formerly a member of the Council’s Comparative Law Sub-Committee, and in that capacity, undertook extensive work for the Council on the subject of collective redress reform for England and Wales.

Read more about Professor Mulheron

Read more about the Civil Justice Council

Dr Leal-Arcas on 'China - The Rise of a Global Economic Superpower', at the METU conference

Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas is to be a panelist in the conference 'Patterns of Change in the Global System', 8th METU conference on international relations, 17-19 June 2009, Ankara, Turkey

Read more about Dr Leal-Arcas

Find out more about the METU conference

Read more about Professor Le Sueur

Read the Times online Supreme Court news story

Jonathan Schwarz's new book 'Schwarz on Tax Treaties' published

A new book “Schwarz on Tax Treaties” by Jonathan Schwarz (Visiting Professorial Fellow) was published by CCH (Wolters Kluwer) in May 2009. It is the definitive analysis of tax treaties from a UK perspective and provides in-depth expert analysis on the interpretation and interaction of the UK’s network of double tax treaties with EC and UK tax law. This book significantly expands on the author’s 2001 work and is updated to include the latest UK tax treaty developments, European Community law and the 2008 OECD Model Convention along with related cases and legislation. It is published along with “CCH Annotated Double Tax Treaties 2009” of which Jonathan Schwarz is consulting editor.

Read more about Dr Shah

Read more about the Citizenship and Immigration Law symposium

Read more about Dr Shah

Dr Dabbah on 'The role of competition policy in times of economic crisis' at Crisis and Competition Policy conference.

Dr Maher Dabbah delivered a speech on 'The role of competition policy in times of economic crisis' at the Crisis and Competition Policy conference organised by the Turkish Competition Authority. You can watch the speech on the TCA website www.rekabet.gov.tr

Dr Suthersanen spoke on the 'public domain' at the WIPO Development Agenda and the Public Domain
Dr Suthersanen, Reader in Intellectual Property Law and Policy, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, spoke on the 'public domain' at the UNCTAD/ICTSD Side-event on 30 April 2009 at the World Intellectual Property Office, Geneva. This event responded to calls from WIPO member states for intensified cooperation between WIPO and UNCTAD on intellectual property (IP) related issues. The event was linked to the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP).

Read more about Dr Suthersanen

Read Dr Suthersanen's paper for this event

Read more about the WIPO event

David Ormerod, Professor of Criminal Justice, delivered a paper at the Changing Face of Fraud Trials Update 2009
This conference examined ways in which the criminal law is developing to combat fraudulent conduct in the UK and overseas.

Read more about Professor Ormerod

Read about the Fraud Trials Conference

Read more about Dr Shah

Read more about the 'After Metock' seminar

Read more about Professor Ormerod

Read about the Fraud Seminar 2009

Professor Mistelis comments on the debate over transparency in international investment arbitration

Professor Loukas Mistelis, Director of the School of International Arbitration within our School of Law, was interviewed by The Economist. Read his comment in the Economist's review of the debate over transparency in international arbitration.

Read more about Professor Mistelis

Read about our LLM in comparative and international dispute resolution.

Merris Amos on The One Show speaking about the Human Rights Act and Naomi Campbell

BBC The One Show (Wednesday 15 April) - Watch again

Merris Amos, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law was on The One Show speaking about the Human Rights Act and how Naomi Campbell used it against press intrusion into her drug addiction.

Read more about Merris Amos

Watch The One Show

Legal Advice Centre commended at Pro Bono Awards
Queen Mary's Legal Advice Centre was highly commended at the Attorney General's Pro Bono Awards 2009 in the House of Lords. The Centre was commended for its 'Pink Law' service, offering free legal advice to the lesbian and gay community in east London. The Department of Law was also highly commended as one of the best pro bono law departments in the country.

East London Advertiser p.6

Woolf reforms and cost-cutting have led to acute shortages and a ‘deficient’ system

Queen Mary School of Law alumni, David Oldham is calling for the Government to increase funding for civil courts as he believes they are woefully under resourced. He wants reforms to 'ensure that all who need it have access to free and efficient expert advice and assistance from a duty solicitor or advice agency independent of the Courts Service'.

Lord Justice Collins among new supreme court justices

Lord Justice Collins, a visiting professor at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, School of Law and a member of the CCLS's advisory council, is among the first two judges to be appointed to the new supreme court.

Lord Justice Collins is also the first judge hailing from the solicitors' branch of the legal profession to reach the UK's highest court.

Read the full Times news story

Read more about Lord Justice Collins

LLM exchange programme celebrates 10th anniversary

Dr Guido Westkamp, who oversees the exchange programme in Intellectual Property Law with the Technical University, Dresden, attended the celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the LLM programme. The programme is offered by the Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Media Law in Dresden, and led by Professor Horst-Peter Goetting.

The celebrations included a symposium on problems of over-protection in Intellectual Property law, with impressive papers delivered by alumni.

The symposium yet again proved the high quality of the prize winning programme. Each year Queen Mary School of Law welcomes students from Dresden for one semester taking courses in Intellectual Property law. Many of the former students now enjoy top positions or have continued as researchers.

Read more about our Intellectual Property LLM programme or see the Technical University, Dresden website.

Read more about Dr Guido Westkamp

Read about the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute

Professor Lastra advises House of Lords on EU financial regulation and responses to the financial crisis

Professor Rosa Lastra is acting as special adviser to the House of Lords on its investigation into European Union (EU) financial regulation since November 2008.

Rosa Lastra, Professor in International Financial and Monetary Law, is advising the EU Committee [Sub Committee A] of the House of Lords in its inquiry into what the EU has done in response to the global financial crisis, what steps it can take to protect the economies of member states, and a course of action to prevent a banking meltdown happening in the future.

Commenting on her appointment, Professor Lastra said: "I am delighted and honoured to be able to contribute to the debate in this country, offering my knowledge and expertise on EU and International financial regulatory matters to the House of Lords.

"I am also learning a lot from working with such a distinguished group of peers and listening to some of the top people in my field who come and give evidence to the Committee".

Professor Lastra, who is based at Queen Mary's Centre for Commercial Law in Lincoln's Inn Fields, is providing her expert opinion throughout the inquiry, which is expected to sum up its conclusions and publish a report in the summer of 2009.

2009 George Hinde Moot Final

George Hinde Moot Final took place on Tuesday 24th March 2009 in the Octagon, Queens' Building, Mile End.

The final was judged by Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Sweeney and HHJ David Radford. The winner was second year LLB student Laura May-Scott.

The co-sponsors for the event were Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP.

Read more about undergraduate mooting.

Dr Anna Bryson's biography of Thekla Beere is published

Thekla Beere's life story shows that law degrees can open up various and often unexpected doors. Beere's landmark 'Status of Women' report provided a charter for women's rights and she was three times mooted as a prospective presidential candidate for Ireland.

Dr Anna Bryson's biography 'No Coward Soul: A biography of Thekla Beere' was published in March by the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin.

Read the Irish Times news story

Read a summary of the biography and find out how to order a copy

Examining the structural roots of violent crime in Greece

Dr Leonidas Cheliotis (with Dr Sappho Xenakis, of the LSE) had an article published in AthensPlus on the structural roots of the recent apparent upsurge in violent crime in Greece. The article drew attention to 'the mounting socioeconomic inequalities generated in considerable part by the corrupt quagmire of Greek social and political life, and exacerbated by the rise of neo-liberalism'.

Read the full article 'Violent crime in Greece: the structural roots of the problem' on pages 4-5 of AthensPlus. AthensPlus is a weekly newspaper published by the International Herald Tribune and Kathimerini SA.

Former Queen Mary student appointed as law clerk at the European Court of Justice

The School of Law is delighted to announce that Jose Gutierrez Fons has been appointed to a highly prestigious appointment as law clerk (referendaire) with Judge Lenaerts at the European Court of Justice.

Jose recently successfully defended his PhD thesis on comparative aspects of the US Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice.

Legal Advice Centre shortlisted for awards

Following on from the success of winning the 2008 Attorney General's Best New Pro Bono Activity, the Legal Advice Centre (LAC) and Pro Bono Group have been shortlisted in three categories for the Attorney General Law Awards 2009

• Best Contribution by a Team of Students - for Queen Mary
• Student Pro Bono Group
• Best New Pro Bono Activity - for Pink Law
• Best Contribution by a Law School

Julie Pinborough, Manager of the Legal Advice Centre commented:

"We are thrilled that both the Legal Advice Centre and the Student Pro BonoGroup have jointly been shortlisted for three out of four of the award categories. It is confirmation that our pro bono initiatives are a great success, providing much needed free legal advice to the local community, as well as demonstrating our commitment to the professional development of our undergraduate law students."

Convention on Modern Liberty

Geraldine Van Bueren was invited to speak on 'Making Human Rights Popular' to the Convention on Modern Liberty on February 28th. The Convention on Modern Liberty was the largest gathering of those concerned with human rights in the UK and was addressed by judges, government ministers and a wide range of artists and the professions.

Dr Kern Alexander invited to give the annual Academy Lecture at the Moscow State Law Academy

• Read more about Dr Alexander's lecture, 'The World Financial Crisis and Banking Law Reform'.
  

Making human rights popular

Professor Van Bueren of the School of Law argues the fight for human rights has been forgotten in recent times and we should work to restore its popularity. This can be done by talking about the British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities through local and national conversations.
She also argues we need to install a group of human rights that are not included in British law. “The right to the highest attainable standard of healthcare, of access to housing and the right to work are all rights recognised by the British government in international treaty law but not yet brought home,” she argued.

Read the Guardian article on human rights

Read more about Professor Geraldine van Bueren

Intellectual Property and Public Health

Professor Johanna Gibson is in Singapore at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to participate as an academic expert in a five-day meeting on intellectual property and public health, with government officials from countries throughout Asia. The meeting is examining intellectual property implementation, development and public health in developing countries, addressing especially access to medicines.

Queen Mary Professors elected to Peer Review Council

Kenneth Armstrong, Professor in European Union Law and Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Professor of Public International Law, have been elected to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) peer review council. The Peer Review College is a group of experts covering all the subject areas in which the AHRC awards grants. The appointments reflect the high esteem in which the AHRC holds Queen Mary's staff and their research.

Find out more about the AHRC peer review

Read more about Professor Kenneth Armstrong

Read more about Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice

Help with postgraduate fees

A significant number of Masters' bursaries and PhD studentships are available for students wishing to commence study in the academic year 2009/2010. For more details see our postgraduate fees page.

Queen Mary School of Law ranked seventh in RAE Assessment

The results of the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008) confirm Queen Mary Law School’s position as one of the country’s leading legal research institutions. The Law School has consolidated its 2001 position as being ranked seventh in England with 60 per cent of its research activity classed as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*). The independent assessment of research quality takes into account the quality of research outputs, research environment and esteem indicators.

Professor Richard Ashcroft appointed Fellow of the Institute of Biology

Professor Richard Ashcroft has been invited to become a Fellow of the Institute of Biology in recognition of his work in bioethics and ethical issues in the life sciences.
The Council of the Institute awarded Professor Ashcroft the prestigious Fellowship at the end of December 2008.
Reacting to the announcement, Professor Ashcroft said: “I am delighted at this honour. I look forward to being of service to the community of biologists in the UK.”
Richard Ashcroft, Professor of bioethics, is currently involved in various high-profile research projects funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on the regulation of biomedicine.
He has studied ethical and philosophical aspects of evidence-based medicine, participation in large-scale genetic databases, the use of ethnicity concepts in genetic research, and patients’ attitudes to the use of their personal information in medical research.
Professor Ashcroft, also deputy editor of the Journal of Medical Ethics, is currently developing research on the relationship between human rights and bioethics, and on ethics in international health.
He is a member of the Ethics and Policy Advisory Committee of the Medical Research Council and the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee.

'Law-making for cyberspace' project wins funding

The Leverhulme Trust, which has annual funding of some £40 million for research and education, has just announced its 2008 winners of Major Research Fellowships. Chris Reed, Professor of Electronic Commerce Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law & Social Science, has been awarded £95,549 for 24 months for his project -"Law 2.0 - effective law-making for cyberspace".

This project will investigate how law-making for cyberspace can be effective, by identifying and analysing the fundamental principles and techniques which produce successful cyberspace law, and by explaining the application of those principles and techniques to cyberspace law-making and the limitations on their use. It will produce two books: a detailed analysis of these fundamental principles and techniques, together with fully-worked explanations of their application to achieve effective law-making, and a book for a non-academic audience, aimed at policy-makers and the general public, explaining how the most pressing issues of concern in cyberspace can be regulated effectively.

Find out more about the Leverhulme Trust

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence – it’s a war crime’
A letter to the Sunday Times from a group of UK academics, including Dr Phoebe Okawa from the School of Law, called for an end to the Israeli strikes on Gaza. On Israel’s attacks, they said: “The manner and scale of its operations in Gaza amount to an act of aggression and is contrary to international law, notwithstanding the rocket attacks by Hamas.”

read the letter to the Times