UCL Faculty of Laws

Preliminary research, carried out by UCL Laws Professor of Judicial Studies, Cheryl Thomas, has revealed that almost a quarter of jurors are unclear about the rules surrounding internet use during trial. It is hoped that the findings will provide an empirical basis for any Law Commission reform proposals in this area.

UCL Laws last week hosted the Inaugural Bentham House Conference on the theme of the philosophical foundations of contract law. The conference was a major event in contract law and legal theory, bringing together the leading professionals in debates about the nature of the subject.

UCL Laws Lecturer, Dr Virginia Mantouvalou spoke at a House of Commons Panel Discussion on the new visa for overseas domestic workers, arguing that the visa regime, which ties overseas domestic workers to a particular employer, may be in breach of article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour.

The Bentham Project is pleased to announce the online publication of a preliminary edition of Jeremy Bentham’s Not Paul, but Jesus Vol. III. This is the first time that the third volume of Not Paul, but Jesus has been published in any form.

UCL Laws Professor, Dr Jane Holder, is to be part of the UCL team selected by the Higher Education Academy to participate in this year’s Green Academy change programme, a process enabling HEIs to embed sustainable development in teaching and learning in more integrated and holistic ways.

A reception for UCL Laws Alumni, current students, offer holders and their parents was held in Hong Kong on 26 April. The reception was generously hosted by Paul Hastings LLP, Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, with UCL alumni Sammi Li and William Cheung taking the lead on arrangements at Paul Hastings.

France’s 2010 ban on the wearing of the burqa cannot be justified on the grounds of laïcité (the separation of church and state), equality, dignity or public policy doctrine, according to UCL Laws lecturer and co-director of the Institute of Global Law, Dr Myriam Hunter-Henin.

Speaker: His Excellency Dr Ambassador Kriangsak Kittichaisaree (Member of the International Law Commission of the United Nations). This event has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We hope to have details on rescheduling the event shortly.

Speaker: Professor Stephen Gardbaum (MacArthur Foundation Professor of International Justice and Human Rights, UCLA)

Speakers include: Kai-Uwe Kuhn (European Commission), Howard Shelanski (US Federal Trade Commission), Christian Ewald (Bundeskartellamt), Judge Douglas Ginsburg (DC Circuit, Court of Appeals), Judge Frederic Jenny (OECD, OFT, ESSEC, UCL), Mr Justice Roth (Competition Appeal Tribunal) and many others.

Speaker: Prof. Brigitte Stern (University of Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne)

Speakers include: Judge Claire L’Heureux-Dubé (Supreme Court of Canada 1987-2002); Judge Kate O’Regan (South African Constitutional Court 1994 – 2009); Dr Octavio Ferraz (University of Warwick); and Dr Virginia Mantouvalou (UCL Institute for Human Rights and Lecturer in Law). Chair:Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC, Equal Rights Trust

Topics covered: One tool, many uses ? : Regulatory impact assessment, public policy and institutions; The contribution of the regulatory impact assessment tool in reframing "public policy" analysis; Regulatory impact assessments and their actors; and Regulatory impact assessments as political arguments.