UCL Laws Events & CPD
The UCL Laws events programme reflects the diversity of teaching and research offered by the Faculty, with a regular selection of lively seminars, lectures, debates and conferences on a wide variety of engaging legal topics. Many of the events are accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board, and IP Reg for CPD credit. The majority of our events are free and open to everyone - unless otherwise stated.
May 2012
UCL Labour Rights Institute - Resocialising Europe and the Mutualisation of Risks to Workers
Friday 18th and Saturday 19th May 2012 - Two-day conference
- Speakers: Prof. Diamond Ashiagbor (SOAS); Prof. Catherine Barnard (Cambridge); Dr Alan Bogg (Oxford); Prof. William Brown (Cambridge); Dr Giuseppe Casale (ILO); Professor Chelo Chacartegui (PFU Barcelona); Prof. Hugh Collins (LSE); Prof. Colin Crouch (Warwick); Judith Kirton-Darling (ETUC); Prof. Anne Davies (Oxford); Prof. Simon Deakin and Dr Aristea Koukiadaki (Cambridge and Manchester); Dr Ruth Dukes (Glasgow); Prof. Keith Ewing (KCL); Prof. Sandra Fredman (Oxford); Prof. Mark Freedland (Oxford); Mr Thomas Haendel MEP (GUE/NGL); Prof. Frank Hendrickx (Leuven); Prof. Sir Bob Hepple QC (Cambrdige); Dr Catherine Jacqueson (Copenhagen); Prof. Claire Kilpatrick (EUI); Prof. Julia Lopez (PFU Barcelona); Dr. Virginia Mantouvalou (UCL); Prof. Sonia McKay (Londonmet); Prof. G. Morris (Matrix Chambers); Dr Wanjiru Njoya (LSE); Ms Lydia Hayes and Prof. Tonia Novitz (Bristol); Dr Colm O’Cinneide (UCL); Ms Hannah Reed (TUC); Professor Mia Rönnmar (Lund); Dr Astrid Sanders (Birmingham); Prof. Monika Schlachter (Trier); Prof. Silvana Sciarra (Firenze); Dr Kendra Strauss (Cambridge); Prof. Alain Supiot (Nantes); Prof. Aurora Vimercati (Bari); Prof. Manfred Weiss (Frankfurt); Dr Chris Wright (Melbourne)
- Venue: UCL Faculty of Laws
This conference seeks to bring together an interdisciplinary group of experts from the UK and the rest of Europe to discuss whether the current phase of ‘social eurosklerosis’ is likely to become a permanent feature of the EU, or whether new regulatory trajectories could and ought to be pursued.
IUS Commune / Institute of Global Law Series - Macroeconomic Co-operation and International Law
Wednesday 23 May 2012, 6-7pm
- Speaker: Professor Eric Posner (University of Chicago)
- Chair: Professor Philippe Sands QC (UCL)
- Venue: UCL Faculty of Laws
The macroeconomic policies of states can produce significant harms and benefits for other states, yet international macroeconomic cooperation has been one of the weakest areas of international law. We ask why states have had such trouble cooperating over macroeconomic issues, when they have been relatively successful at cooperation over related issues like trade. We argue that although the theoretical benefits of macroeconomic cooperation are real, in practice it is difficult to sustain because states' macroeconomic interests are diverse and frequently change over time, creating end-game problems for individual governments...
Institute for Human Rights - Workshop on Right to Work
Friday 25 May 2012, 9 - 5.30pm
- Participants: Professor Guy Mundlak (Tel Aviv University), Professor Hugh Collins (LSE), Professor Sophie Robin Olivier (Paris, Nanterre), Dr Alan Bogg (Oxford), Professor Diamond Ashiagbor (SOAS), Dr Nicola Countouris (UCL), Dr Amir Paz-Fuchs (Ono Academic College), Professor Sir Bob Hepple (Cambridge), Professor John Tasioulas (UCL), Professor David Wiggins (Oxford), Dr Virginia Mantouvalou (UCL)
- Venue: UCL Faculty of Laws
THIS IS A CLOSED WORKSHOP FOR EXPERTS. If you are interested in participating, please contact Dr Virginia Mantouvalou.
The value of work cannot be underestimated in today's world. Work is instrumentally valuable because productive labour generates goods needed for survival, like food and housing; goods needed for self-development, like education and culture; and other material goods that people wish to have in order to live a fulfilling life. In a market economy, productive labour benefits not only those who produce goods by bringing them income, but also those who purchase and consume those goods. But work is not only valuable for the income and goods it generates. It is crucial for a person's feeling of membership in society...
UCL Institute for Human Rights
The Ethics of Human Rights Philanthropy
Tuesday 29 May 2012, 6 - 7pm
- Panellists: Sigrid Rausing (Rausing Trust), Prof. Jonathan Wolff (UCL Philosophy), Anthony Tomei (Nuffield Foundation), Dr George Letsas (UCL)
- Chair: Professor Philippe Sands QC (UCL)
- Venue: UCL Faculty of Laws
This UCL Institute for Human Rights Symposium will address the ethical challenges presented by philanthropy towards human rights organisations, both academic and non-academic. In particular it will consider recent charges that this kind of philanthropic giving distorts national politics; academic priorities; and undermines the will of Parliament.Against the background of the Woolf report, the panel will consider the ethics of philanthropic giving and how this form of funding might be treated so as to avoid accusations of bias, ‘opinion-buying’, and research agenda setting by donors.
June 2012
UCL CICT / Baker & McKenzie Annual Lecture
Investment Arbitration: Cautionary Tales for Commercial Arbitrators
Monday 11 June 2012, 6 - 7pm
- Speaker: Professor Hans van Houtte, FCIArb. (President of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal (The Hague) and Professor at Leuven University)
- Chair: Professor Philippe Sands QC (UCL)
- Venue: Middle Temple Hall
In this lecture Professor van Houtte will touch upon the differences between the commercial arbitration between private parties and investment treaty arbitration, thus furthering the understanding of the specifics of each of these types of arbitration. He will identify critical areas in which the commercial arbitrator, who intends to cross into investment treaty arbitration territory, may wish to tread carefully.
Negotiating Religion Workshop
Legal Frameworks: Schools and Religious Freedom
Tuesday 12 June 2012, 9 - 5.30pm
- Convened by: Dr Myriam Hunter-Henin (UCL Laws)
- Participants: Prof. Patrick Weil (Pantheon-Sorbonne University), Prof. Maleiha Malik (KCL), Prof. Norman Doe (Cardiff), Dr Russell Sandberg (Cardiff), Prof. Ian Leigh (Durham), Peter Cumper (Leicester), Prof. Eric Barendt (UCL), Prof. Lucy Vickers (Oxford Brookes), Colm O'Cinneide (UCL), Dr Ronan McCrea (UCL), Dr Tobias Lock (Surrey), Prof. Julian Rivers (Bristol), Dr Peter Petkoff (Brunel), Dr Julia Ipgrave (Warwick), Dr Javier Oliva (Manchester)
- Venue: UCL Faculty of Laws
- Programme: Download the programme
This workshop will explore four areas of the legal frameworks on religious freedoms in schools - religious symbols; religious education and teaching content; religion and staff; faith schools. It will address some of the crucial questions through analysis of case law and legal scholarship. How and to what extent do legal frameworks - judicial reasoning, legal processes (excluding constitutional frameworks, focus of another workshop) allow a space for negotiating religious issues?
IBIL CPD Course - The Real, Dramatic and Ongoing Changes to United States Patent Law and their Impact on the Practice of Patent Law
Starting on Monday 18 June 2012, 6 - 8pm
- Speaker: Professor Dennis Crouch (University of Missouri, Author of the Patently-O Patent Law Blog)
- Chair: The Rt Hon Prof. Sir Robin Jacob
- Accreditation: 6 CPD hours
This CPD course will address these major events and their impact on procurement, litigation, and monetization of patent rights. The three 2 hour sessions covering Changes in the Way Patents are Prosecuted in the US (18 June), US Patent Litigation Structure and Changes to the Process (28 June), Litigation, Administrative Style; Subject Matter Eligibility (4 July). Although the course is information rich, there will be ample time for discussion both during the talks and informally with the speaker over drinks
INAUGURAL - Purple Haze: The Danger of Being in the Dark about Judges
Wednesday 20 June 2012, 6 - 7pm
- Speaker: Professor Cheryl Thomas, UCL Laws
- Chair: The Rt Hon Lady Justic Hallett
- Venue: UCL Central Campus
- Accreditation: 1 CPD hour
Why in the 21st century is there such a lack of understanding and scholarly research in this country about one of the key institutions of the state – the judiciary? Recent work with juries has dispelled the myth that the law prevents research with and about juries. This lecture will argue that a similar myth exists about researching the professional judiciary and judicial system, and that the lack of Judicial Studies in the UK is academically unacceptable and socially dangerous, leaving our understanding of the judiciary both conceptually and empirically weak...
IBIL / Nominet Workshop: '.uk' Domain Name Dispute Resolution: Overview of Precedent and Practice
Thursday 21 & Friday 22 June 2012
- Speaker: Tony Willoughby (Rouse), Nick Wenban-Smith (Nominet), Claire Milne (LSE), Michael Silverleaf QC (11 South Square), Phil Roberts (One Essex Court), Ian Lowe (Nabarro), David Taylor (Hogan Lovells), Matthew Harris (waterfront solicitors), Simon Chapman (Lewis Silkin), Steven Maier (Maier Blackburn)
- Venue: UCL Faculty of Laws
- Accreditation: 12 CPD hours
The Nominet domain name Dispute Resolution Service has now been in operation for over 10 years. The purpose of this 2-day conference is to provide a high level, in-depth review of the operation of the service for the benefit of academics, practitioners and domain name registrars and registrants, the end-users. The event will include workshop break-out sessions tutored by members of Nominet’s panel of independent Experts and its team of in-house mediators. This will be the first seminar of its kind dealing in depth with the Nominet DRS, which is now handling on average as many as 60 disputes per month. It is a ‘must’ for anyone with a serious interest in the procedure.
UCL Bentham Association: Summer Alumni Drinks Party
Monday 25 June 2012, 6 - 8pm
- For: Graduates of the UCL Faculty of Laws and UCL graduates now working in the legal and associated professions
- Venue: Offices of SJ Berwin LLP
- Fees: £20 (£10 for UCL graduates from 2009-2012)
The Summer Drinks Reception is a highlight in the Bentham Assocation events calendar and is generously hosted by SJ Berwin on their roof terrace, weather permitting, overlooking the Thames. All income from this event supports the UCL Laws Students Hardship Fund which helps our students in most need.
IBIL 4th Annual Sir Hugh Laddie Lecture: The Growing Imperative to Internationalise the Law
Wednesday 27 June 2012, 6 - 7.15pm
- Speaker: Chief Judge Randall Rader (US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit)
- Chair: The Rt Hon Prof. Sir Robin Jacob
- Venue: UCL Central Campus
- Accreditation: 1 CPD hour
Randall R.Rader was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1990 and assumed the duties of Chief Circuit Judge in 2010. Chief Judge Rader has won acclaim for leading dozens of government and educational delegations to every continent (except Antarctica), teaching rule of law and intellectual property law principles.
July 2012
Current Legal Issues Colloquium: Law and Global Health
Monday 2 & Tuesday 3 July 2012
- Speakers include: James Orbinski (Toronto), George Annas (Boston University School of Medicine, and School of Law), Richard Ashcroft (Queen Mary, University of London), Belinda Bennett (University of Sydney), Scott Burris (Temple University), Angus Dawson (University of Birmingham), Lawrence Gostin (Georgetown Law School), Sofia Gruskin (University of Southern California), Mark Heywood (Section 27, South Africa), John Harrington (University of Liverpool), Florence Luna (University of Buenos Aires), Jeffrey Kahn (Johns Hopkins University Berman Institute of Bioethics), Jean McHale (University of Birmingham), David Patterson (International Development Law Organization), Jonathan Wolff (UCL Philosophy) and others
- Venue: UCL Faculty of Law
- Accreditation: TBC
The 2012 Current Legal Issues Colloquium is on Law and Global Health and is convened by Professor Michael Freeman (UCL Faculty of Laws) with Dr Sarah Hawkes (UCL Institute of Global Health) and Professor Belinda Bennett (University of Sydney).