Christopher Gale

Prevailing issues in legal education within management and business environments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of prevailing issues in UK legal education in terms of current developments and changing patterns.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is designed to bring together a range of perspectives which inform how legal education is changing in terms of key spheres of influence. The authors are directly involved with the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools in the UK and also have extensive experience of managing law programmes in business and management environments. This experience provides a dynamic opportunity to lead ideas for change whilst being at the forefront of policy and strategy.Findings – Globalisation of legal, business and management education indicates that the stimuli operating in one jurisdiction are not without response to others. Universities are subject to external influences which impact on the extent to which law schools are able to operate. Political, social, economic and technological factors shape the nexus between ...

The Role of Mediation within University Protocols concerning Student Complaints and Appeals.

Purpose – As the predicted escalation in the litigation becomes a reality for universities in the UK, increasing importance is placed on the consideration given to the integrity of institutional protocols regulating decision making at all stages of student progression. The purpose of this paper is to outline the structures that are in place to provide an analysis of the issues that arise when these protocols are activated.Design/methodology/approach – This paper first, provides a brief yet accessible overview of the literature concerning the institutions involved in student appeal, second, explains the principles that should be applied when using and analysing university protocols, third, analyses the role that mediation can play within the sector, and finally, discusses the disability dimension within a complaints context.Findings – It can be seen that disputes between student and institution are on the rise for a number of reasons, be it finance, complexity of legislation or otherwise. The robust nature...

The business of business law

Purpose – The article aims to show the need for business students to receive a relevant introduction to law.Design/methodology/approach – This article is an opinion piece based on current and recent trends.Findings – The article finds that the feeling of the disinterested teaching the disengaged is emerging.Originality/value – Expresses the view that there is a need to ensure that students are getting a relevant introduction to law so that they may be equipped for further legal study enervated by their first brushes with the discipline. This will make them better business employees and managers in due course.

Mark James, Sports Law

provided in the smaller more concise textbooks but feels daunted by the more detailed thicker texts. The book succeeds in going beyond a purely descriptive account of the cases and statutes and offers an explanation, analysis and discussion of how difficult concepts have arisen, which I found to be very interesting and thought provoking. With persistence, “pauses for breath” and reflection upon its contents, I do believe this is a book that law students will find revealing and intellectually stimulating to their understanding of this complex area of law. The summaries and the references to academic journals are also very helpful. There are other textbooks available, including the larger and thicker texts, which will make greater attempts to aid the understanding of the reader through smaller sections and the provision of diagrams. But if what you want is an intellectual read and, like the authors, get frustrated with the use of smaller sections when reading, then you will find this book both revealing and helpful to your studies. The recommended retail price of £24.99 is also very reasonable for a book of this size and content.

Textbook on Civil Liberties and Human Rights, by Richard Stone, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 9th edition, 2012, 535 pp., £31.79 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-19-964197-0

edition is over 150 pages thinner than the second edition and no longer contains chapters on the protocol rights (including the essential areas of property, education and the right to vote). Further, the book has left out previous chapters on articles 16–18 (further restrictions on rights), just satisfaction and advisory opinions, although some information is contained in other chapters. Given for example, recent important decisions in areas such as a prisoner’s right to vote, adverse possession and the right to education, the reader is deprived of some fundamental data, although the prisoners’ voting cases are dealt with in an earlier chapter on the Strasbourg system. This “pruning” is explained on the basis that it follows helpful comments made by previous users of the book, who naturally wanted the text to concentrate on the most fundamental and litigated rights. While accepting that logic, your reviewer feels that many of the readers (including teachers, researchers and academic staff ) would have welcomed the retention of those chapters and their detail. Further, although many students would prefer a more manageable and less expensive text, they will miss the free copy of the Convention provided in the previous editions, and which is now “available on the European Court’s website”. Cases, Materials, and Commentary on the European Convention continues to provide an invaluable source to staff and students on a variety of human rights courses, despite the cuts made to the new edition, and on that basis your reviewer, although disappointed by the omissions, continues to recommend it as an excellent and stimulating text in this area.

The Miller‐Modigliani 1961 Ponzi scheme, alias “dividend irrelevance”

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to expose the Miller‐Modigliani 1961 Ponzi scheme that has masqueraded as a dividend irrelevance proof, and show that it constituted a Ponzi scheme at the time of publication and ever since publication. This is important especially as Miller‐Modigliani 1961 stated in the first sentence of their article that their dividend irrelevance proof was targeted at corporate officials, investors and economists seeking to undertake and appraise the functioning of capital markets.Design/methodology/approach – The equations and notation used by Miller‐Modigliani 1961 to prove dividend irrelevance were carefully considered and analysed in order to establish whether proof reliably, validly and unambiguously proved dividend irrelevance. In addition, statute on both sides of the Atlantic, UK and USA, was considered in order to ascertain the legal standing of their proof.Findings – This article shows that the Miller‐Modigliani 1961 dividend irrelevance proof constituted a recipe for...

Engaging new Law lecturers and reflections on the engagement

This paper reflects on the experience of two new law lecturers who took up their posts in August 2007. It considers the process of “getting the job” as well as the period of settling into a new institution and new career path. Further reflection on those engagements is then offered by the Head of School to provide a balanced picture of the appointment of new law lecturers.

Sharia law and the Qur'an: providing Islamic jurisprudential modules

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline the challenges and potential solutions of initiating a Sharia law module within a UK law school.Design/methodology/approach – The approach is practical with focus placed on the local and international dimensions.Findings – Sharia law is a popular module which adds to a law graduates portfolio of international legal experience alongside the supplementary benefits provided to students attending from other disciplines. The advantages of interactions with local communities are also discussed.Originality/value – Only a relatively small number of UK law schools run a module concerning Sharia or Islamic law, thus the paper facilitates other schools furthering the international aspects involved in the teaching and practice of law.

The Independent Guide to Bullying and Stress in the Workplace: Employers and Employees – a Guide

Purpose – To review and analyse the legal implications of the CA 2006 in respect of directors’ duties and powers, and in particular sections 172(1) and 471.Design/methodology/approach – The use of business management theories complements the primary use of the legal doctrinal approach as applied in this study.Findings – Section 172(1)s wordings generate ambivalent legal implications for directors’ general duties as codified. It appears to give discretionary powers to directors where the review of the six statutory factors is concerned. However, directors will need to treat these seriously when read in conjunction with section 471. The latter pertains to directors’ disclosure obligations for the newly expanded business review section of the directors’ annual report. Available corporate evidence suggests that some corporate directors go beyond the minimum mandatory standards for environmental and social (Corporate Social responsibility, CSR) issues. They have benefited from the integration of their CSR pol...