Research Seminar Programme 2011-12
The Department holds regular Research Seminars in which both staff and postgraduate students participate. These take place during term-time on Wednesdays from 1.10pm to 2.00pm in the Law Conference room.
Wednesday 16 May 2012
Speakers: Mr Gareth Martin and Mr Zhaodong Li
Titles: to follow
Wednesday 9 May 2012
Speakers: Mr Sitki Tellioglu and Ms Cynthia Cordova
Titles: The role of the Lex Mercatoria as a third legal system in Arbitration and The context of the prison and its role in rehabilitation
Synopsis: The intention of the presentation is to analyse the Lex Mercatoria (Transnational Commercial Law) within the arbitration as a Third Legal System, evaluating via the economic and legal angles in the context of globalism.
Synoposis: The Rehabilitation established in prison, should not only be considered as effective or not because of its content, but also for the other factors that have participate in its process. The approach towards Rehabilitation when is holistic and considerate the characteristics of the participants, the program and the context can lead to better results. My research will explore the importance of the context in a prison where Rehabilitation is not based on the procedures of manuals.
Wednesday 2 May 2012
Speaker: Tamina Preuβ, Law Faculty of Julius-Maximilians-Universitat, Wurzburg
Title: Secrecy of telecommunications and employment law
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Speaker: Dr Catrin Huws
Title: My Pet Fish Goes to Law/School
Synopsis: This paper explores how semanticists and pragmatists unpick the meaning of the seemingly simple sentence that provides the title for this discussion, and considers how their approaches might be applied to the interpretation of law, especially when that law is both bilegal and bilingual.
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Speaker: Ms Ann Sherlock
Title: Sabbatical report: A tale of two parts: The EU and the ECHR, and the protection of children's rights in Wales
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Speaker: Dr Ruth Atkins
Title: From Computers and Contracts to Cafe tables and Copyright
Synopsis: This session reports on the delightful mix of computers, contracts, copyright issues and an unforgettable cafe experience with one hundred technology lawyers, academics and consultants, which threaded together my recent sabbatical period. The presentation examines the interaction between computers, contracts and copyright and considers the numerous challenges which can be faced in an IT project. Also discussed is the effectiveness of the World Cafe experience - an innovative method of creating an interactive dialogue and thus revolutionishing the way in which software development and project management more broadly can promote collaboration between the parties, ensuring advances in technology can more readily meet client expectation.
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Speaker: Ms Sofia Cavandoli
Title:
Wednesday 11 January 2012
Speaker: Professor Noel Cox
Title: Constitutional Paradigms and the Stability of States'
Synopsis: The question of why some parts of the world have advanced politically, economically and technologically, while others have remained relatively less developed, is one which has interested historians, economists, social scientists (and to a lesser extent lawyers) for generations. What has been called the 'Great Question' is nothing less than an attempt to explain the rise of one civilisation when others are in decline or stagnation, though the narrower phenomenon of state failure is under-researched.
I will consider the degree to which constitutional flexibility, rather than broader societal and environmental factors, may have led to the rise of 'successful' states, and to the decline of 'unsuccessful' states, by promoting stability. Economic growth is one, but not necessarily the sole criteria of success. The 'Great Question' may be based upon a yet more profound 'grand question' (as Cosandey calls it): why do civilisations rise and fall? Answering that question is beyond the scope of this or indeed of any single work or author. But it is the underlying hypothesis that the constitutional paradigm of a country is a prime influence upon that country's success or failure, and that this principle can be extended to regions and continents also. Thus, although environment broadly defined, if often a crucial element - for a country totally devoid of natural resources is scarcely likely to prosper - the model of constitution, or shape of the body politic, is critical.
Wednesday 7 December 2011
Speaker: Dr Anel Boshoff
Title: Beware the Wrath of an Angry Woman...
Synopsis:
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Speaker: Dr Marco Odello
Title: Culture, Identity and Rights: The Need for Interdisciplinary Research
Synopsis:
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Speaker: Professor Diane Rowland
Title: From privacy and pictures to programs and patents
Synopsis: This seminar will report on the research done in a period of sabbatical leave which involved working in two very different areas; software patents and photography and the law. Photographs are a tripartite activity involving the photographer, the photographed and the viewer, all of which may have a different subjective view of the process and of their respective rights. The seminar will explore the legal consequences of this subjectivity and will consider the manner in which the different disciplines of law, information technology and art have contributed to the debate in the context of a particular genre of photography namely, street photography. Software patents on the other hand represent an arcane and technical area of the law and one in which there is continuing disagreement on the correct approach between the Court of Appeal and the Technical Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office. At first sight this appears to be explained by a conflict between the legal decision making process of both bodies, but closer examination reveals a more fundamental schism which may perhaps be attributed to the differing disciplinary assessments of lawyers and engineers. Whether this apparently irreconcilable difference could have been resolved by the ill-fated proposals for a European Patent Court will also be considered.
Wednesday 2 November 2011
Speaker: Professor Ryszard Piotrowicz
Title: Sodomy, Rum and the Lash and Cats and Human Rights
Synopsis: The speaker discussed the legal ramifications of a recent court decision that an alien could not be deported because of his existing family connections in the UK. He criticised this decision as being too wide an interpretation of the right to family life. He also argued that States should be more willing to deport aliens who pose a threat to the public good, and considered the margin of appreciation and the extent to which it might allow greater discretion to States in this field.
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Speaker: Dr. Nathan Gibbs
Title: The Discipline of Law: Between Science, Ideology and Hermeneutics
Synopsis:
Wednesday 19 October 2011
Speaker: Professor Alan Clarke
Title: Dealing with domestic violence: a coordinated community response
Synopsis: Criminal justice policies and practices have become more victim-focused, with an increasing emphasis being placed on public protection and the needs of victims of crime. The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004) introduced a Code of Practice for Victims of Crime, and in the case of domestic violence made breaches of non-molestation orders a criminal offence. Risk assessment and risk management are now key tools in protecting victims of domestic violence and recent years have witnessed an increase in initiatives designed to protect women in their own homes. The electronic tagging of perpetrators and sanctuary schemes are just two examples of such approaches. In England, the Home Office is currently piloting Domestic Violence Protection orders, which give the police the powers to prevent the alleged abuser from returning to the victim's home within a specified period of time. Despite these measures, the criminal justice system can only provide part of the solution. The presentation will describe, and comment on the impact of, a pioneering, community-coordinated programme which re-houses perpetrators, supports adult victims and provides safety planning for children living with domestic violence.
Wednesday 12 October 2011
Speaker: Dr Olaoluwa Olusanya
Title: Criminal Responsibility, Punishment and Sentencing: A transdisciplinary and multi-jurisdictional perspective
Synopsis: The discussion pertains to efforts to employ a transdisciplinary perspective that combines relevant areas of law, sociology, psychology and pharmacology to explain offending among different cohorts of offenders—War criminals, Racial minorities and War veterans.
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Speaker: Professor Chris Harding
Title: Business Collusion! More about pathology and mythology – Milana makes a box and Christopher works on a map
Synopsis: This presentation reports on continuing work on writing a criminology of cartel behaviour. The critical stance which is emerging more and more strongly in this work centres around some challenging issues :
- the need for a clear theoretical basis, and an agreed definition of the subject-matter (leading to the idea of the cartel as a box, as explained in Harding and Joshua, 2011)
- the need for a convincing pathology of cartel conduct, understanding what is objectionable in such activity and to what extent (bearing in mind the complexities of agency (human and corporate actors) and business culture (‘Atlantic’ and ‘Rhenish’ traditions)
- the need to explore the mythology of anti-cartel enforcement (regulatory claims that deterrent measures are necessary and effective and that criminalisation is inevitable)
The report so far can be based on a summary of some encounters, discussions and presentations over the past twelve months – in Leuven, Sussex and Stirling, and with researchers and professionals in Belgium, Australia, the US, and Finland. It also provides an example of an application of concept of the ‘cartel as a box’, tells of the growing conviction that we need a good atlas of cartel criminalisation and a biographical approach to testing deterrent effect, and reflects on the virtue of playing games.
All of this leads to the question: is it still correct to view the business cartel as ‘a bunch of lonesome and quarrelsome heroes’ (Harding, 2010)?