The aim of this book is to provide a helpful guide for practitioners in the magistrates' and county courts to the realities of conducting a successful case. The revised text includes the latest developments in all areas of the law of evidence, including confessions and the Codes of Practice, character and similar-fact evidence, the evidence of children and the use of written witness statements in civil cases.;References are made to the changes that may be introduced by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill. Peter Murphy has also written " A Practical Approach to Evidence" and was co-author of "Cases and Materials on Evidence."

This book is about the role of lawyers in constructing a just society. Its central objective is to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between lawyers' commercial aims and public aspirations. Drawing on interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives, it explores whether lawyers can transcend self-interest to meaningfully contribute to systems of political accountability, ethical advocacy and distributional fairness. Its contributors, some of the world's leading scholars of the legal profession, offer evidence that although justice is possible, it is never complete. Ultimately, how much - and what type of - justice prevails depends on how lawyers respond to, and reshape, the political and economic conditions in which they practise. As the essays demonstrate, the possibility of justice is diminished as lawyers pursue self-regulation in the service of power; it is enhanced when lawyers mobilize - in the political arena, workplace and law school - to contest it.

During any period of change, the winners are those that are able to adapt in a changing environment and it is becoming clear that the firms that are doing well, have a small number of characteristics in common. They have: * a clear strategic focus that differentiates them from their competitors; * effective leadership; * a clear grasp and understanding of the numbers. They are also responsive to change. Profitability and Law Firm Management book is intended to help those who aspire to lead a law firm to develop the skills they will need to run a successful business. One that will be better able to adapt and succeed. For most firms simply having good lawyers is no longer sufficient. Having well motivated people with business acumen, able to lead and build teams is more important. Effective business skills, an ability to spot and take advantage of opportunities and an ability to plan, manage and lead a team of people are key skills to nurture and develop. Successful firms identify people with these skills at an early stage and provide training and support to develop them. This book tries not simply to indicate what to do, but to provide some ideas on how to do it.It is not intended to be the definitive or only way of doing things, but is designed to help partners and others involved in law firm management think about their firms differently and identify ways of making them more successful. Its purpose is to help you move forward.

The removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families gained national attention in Australia following the Bringing Them Home Report in 1997. However, the voices of Indigenous parents were largely missing from the Report. The Inquiry attributed their lack of testimony to the impact of trauma and the silencing impact of parents' overwhelming sense of guilt and despair; a submission by Link-Up NSW commented on Aboriginal mothers being "unwilling and unable to speak about the immense pain, grief and anguish that losing their children had caused them." This book explores what happened to Aboriginal mothers who had children removed and why they have overwhelmingly remained silent about their experiences. Identifying the structural barriers to Aboriginal mothering in the Stolen Generations era, the author examines how contemporary laws, policies and practices increased the likelihood of Aboriginal child removal and argues that negative perceptions of Aboriginal mothering underpinned removal processes, with tragic consequences. This book makes an important contribution to understanding the history of the Stolen Generations and highlights the importance of designing inclusive truth-telling processes that enable a diversity of perspectives to be shared.

This book covers legal dissertation level research, embracing both LL.B. and the specific demands of LL.M. dissertations. Adopting a highly practical approach, this book shows the reader how to research and write a dissertation, covering the various stages - planning, identifying key issues, utilising the appropriate research methods, time management issues, and managing one's supervision. KEY FEATURES * Shows how to avoid common stylistic and substantive pitfalls * Discusses the character and pros and cons of adopting law and policy methods for defining the issues and conducting legal research - including black letter, socio-legal, interpretive, experiential * A running example throughout the text illustrates the various points made in each section and provides continuity

According to masculinities theory, masculinity is not a biological imperative but a social construction. Men engage in a constant struggle with other men to prove their masculinity. Masculinities and the Law develops a multidimensional approach. It sees categories of identity--including various forms of raced, classed, and sex-oriented masculinities--as operating simultaneously and creating different effects in different contexts. By applying multidimensional masculinities theory to law, this cutting-edge collection both expands the field of masculinities and develops new thinking about important issues in feminist and critical race theories. The topics covered include how norms of masculinity influence the behavior of policemen, firefighters, and international soldiers on television and in the real world; employment discrimination against masculine cocktail waitresses and all transgendered employees; the legal treatment of fathers in the U.S. and the ways unauthorized migrant fathers use the dangers of border crossing to boost their masculine esteem; how Title IX fails to curtail the masculinity of sport; the racist assumptions behind the prison rape debate; the surprising roots of homophobia in Jamaican dancehall music; and the contradictions of the legal debate over women veiling in Turkey. Ultimately, the book argues that multidimensional masculinities theory can change how law is interpreted and applied.

Many legal writing texts emphasize how one writes; this book is unique because it also focuses on why one writes. Every chapter challenges the reader to write to achieve a strategic objective. Each assignment has been carefully considered by the authors, and fully vetted to simulate the decision-making involved in the preparation of important legal writing, whether in a general counsel's office, a law office, a government attorney's office, or a judge's chambers. Simply put, the authors' approach is that effective legal writing does not exist in a vacuum. This book provides practical assignments that teach the student that the best legal writing is not an end in itself, but a means to a larger strategic objective.

Thirty years after the adoption of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, this book provides diverse perspectives from countries and regions across the globe on its implementation, critique and potential for reform. The book revolves around key issues including progress in implementing the CRC worldwide; how to include children in legal proceedings; how to uphold children's various civil rights; how to best assist children at risk; and discussions surrounding children's identity rights in a changing familial order. Discussion of the CRC is both compelling and polarizing and the book portrays the enthusiasm around these topics through contrasting and comparative opinions on a range of topics. The work provides varying perspectives from many different countries and regions, offering a wealth of insight on topics that will be of significant interest to scholars and practitioners working in the areas of children's rights and justice.

This study on cross cultural perspectives in child advocacy deals with various topics, including support for children's issues, the factors that influence reporting of suspected child abuse and child advocacy's application to education professionals. The study looks at issues from around the world.

This book presents surveys of significant trends in contemporary philosophy. Contributing authors explore themes relating to justice including natural rights, equality, freedom, democracy, morality and cultural traditions. Key movements and thinkers are considered, ranging from ancient Greek philosophy, Roman and Christian traditions to the development of Muslim law, Enlightenment perspectives and beyond. Authors discuss important works, including those of Aristotle, Ibn Khaldun, John Locke, Immanuel Kant and Mary Wollstonecraft. Readers are also invited to examine Hegel and the foundation of right, Karl Marx as a utopian socialist and the works of Paul Ricoeur, amongst the wealth of perspectives presented in this book. Through these chapters, readers are able to explore the relationship of the state to justice and consider the rights of the individual and the role of law. Contributions presented here discuss concepts including Sharia law, freedom in the community and Libertarian Anarchism. Readers may follow accounts of justice in the Scottish Enlightenment and consider fairness, social justice and the concept of injustice. The surveys presented here show different approaches and a variety of interpretations. Each contribution has its own bibliography.

Technology is everywhere. Its presence is undeniable. The legal industry, steeped in history and tradition, is not immune to the changes brought about by technological advancement. No facet of the legal industry can escape or ignore the increasingly important role of technology in the practice of law. Yet, technology can overwhelm, confuse, or downright intimidate many. By reading and using the insights shared in this title, learn how to reconcile technology's inescapable presence with the fear of the unknown it often brings about. Edited by Colin S. Levy, a well-known legal tech influencer and advocate, Handbook of Legal Tech provides guidance from many of the leading figures within the legal tech space on the different parts of law practice being enhanced and improved by technology. Each chapter covers a key area of legal tech, including automation, contract management, blockchain, use of artificial intelligence, and legal analytics, and contains first-hand insights into the development and adoption of legal technology and actionable data around best uses for different types of legal technologies. Legal ethics and the future of legal tech are also explored. This book is aimed at lawyers both in-house and in private practice globally who have an interest in legal tech and wish to learn more about how it will impact and enhance their work. In this age driven by data and technology, ignoring technology is at your definitive peril. Get up to speed with this engaging and enlightening book on the intersection of the legal industry and the world of technology.

An argument for the constitutional responsibility to participate in jury duty It's easy to forget how important the jury really is to America. The right to be a juror is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed to all eligible citizens. The right to trial by jury helped spark the American Revolution, was quickly adopted at the Constitutional Convention, and is the only right that appears in both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But for most of us, a jury summons is an unwelcome inconvenience. Who has time for jury duty? We have things to do. In Why Jury Duty Matters, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson reminds us that whether we like it or not, we are all constitutional actors. Jury duty provides an opportunity to reflect on that constitutional responsibility. Combining American history, constitutional law, and personal experience, the book engages citizens in the deeper meaning of jury service. Interweaving constitutional principles into the actual jury experience, this book is a handbook for those Americans who want to enrich the jury experience. It seeks to reconnect ordinary citizens to the constitutional character of a nation by focusing on the important, and largely ignored, democratic lessons of the jury. Jury duty is a shared American tradition. It connects people across class and race, creates habits of focus and purpose, and teaches values of participation, equality, and deliberation. We know that juries are important for courts, but we don't know that jury service is important for democracy. This book inspires us to re-examine the jury experience and act on the constitutional principles that guide our country before, during, and after jury service.

- The only book providing a one-stop solution for students preparing for the SQE2 examination in advocacy. Structure, content and language designed to meet the requirements of the SQE2. - Written by an author involved in the planning and development of the SQE - essentially an insider. - Rich pedagogy will suit non-law graduates as well as law graduates. Interactive features will give students the opportunity to practice before taking their SQE2 assessments.

This book considers how law is always enacted, or performed, in ways that can be analyzed in relation to fiction, theatre, and other dramatic forms. Of necessity, lawyers and judges need to devise techniques to make rules respond situationally. The performance of law supplements, or it extends the reach of, the law-as-written. And, in this respect, the act of lawyering is in many ways an instantiation of acts often associated with, for example, literature and the plastic and performing arts. Combining legal theory and legal practice, this book maintains that the modes of enquiry found in, and applied to, novels, paintings, and plays can help us understand how things like legal arguments and trials work-or don't. As such, and through the examination of a wide range of both historical and fictional legal cases, the book pursues an interdisciplinary analysis of how law is performed; and, moreover, how legal performances can be accomplished ethically. This book will appeal to scholars and students in sociolegal studies, legal theory, and jurisprudence, as well as those teaching and training in legal practice.

Although legal innovation is critical for law firms, with clients pushing for more efficient, cost-effective, and automated services, very little has been written about how to drive successful enterprise-wide transformation efforts. As innovation and legal operations functions proliferate globally, Nicola Shaver has written the first definitive book to guide legal professionals through setting up an effective innovation function and driving successful culture change and initiatives across a legal organization. In The Handbook for Legal Innovation, Shaver, the 2020 ILTA Legal Innovation Leader of the Year and a College of Law Practice Management Fellow, outlines how to set up an effective strategy for innovation, provides practical guides for conducting current-state audits, establishes frameworks to help identify project priorities, and outlines how to build and grow the right team. With 20 years of experience in the legal industry, including a decade each of practicing law and driving innovation initiatives in large legal organizations, Shaver draws upon her experience as well as broad industry knowledge to inform this practical guide. In addition to strategy suggestions, the Handbook delves deeply into methodologies for change. Shaver provides an overview of effective methods drawn from other industries that can be leveraged within legal to support and supercharge innovation efforts, equipping lawyers and legal innovation leaders with tools that will help them drive real change within their organizations.

Rainmakers: Born or Bred, second edition, is about changing the business development conversation and focusing on how remote working has impacted the way business opportunities can be cultivated and developed. The book explores the personal characteristics that are common in successful rainmakers - and what holds others back from achieving their true potential. The book advocates stripping away the negative associations many lawyers have with the "S" word - selling - as this is a crucial step in redefining our approach to business development. It explores the benefits to stepping out of the safety net of simply being a great lawyer - which is vital in today's competitive market. Successful rainmakers know how to truly engage with clients, how to understand their business needs and challenges, and how to make their lives easier. This combination of skills attracts and builds sustainable, rewarding client relationships. This second edition of Rainmakers: Born or Bred - authored by Patricia K. Gillette with contributions from Rebecca Harding - helps you to identify those seemingly intangible aspects of selling that many lawyers think are unnecessary, and provides you with practical ideas to implement as you set out on your journey to improve your business development skills. Fully updated with an in-depth focus on digital and social media, this book is packed with opinions and advice from actual clients and rainmakers alike. It will help you make the most of the business development opportunities that present themselves every day - while staying true to your own personality.

In the five years since the first edition of this book published, there has been an accelerated rise in the number and influence of COO roles in the legal sphere. No longer the preserve of the largest national and international firms, mid-tier firms and even New Law and alternative legal service providers are considering a COO as a potential - perhaps even essential - component of law firm management, to achieve increased efficiency, productivity, and meet the demands of a highly competitive market. With contributions from a number of current law firm COOs, alongside some of the most respected and sought-after consultants working in this space, this second edition of Rise of the Legal COO examines the scope and variety of the legal COO role, and how the challenges and demands of the position have altered as law firms have evolved. It contains updated chapters from the first edition, and several brand new chapters covering topics such as: How the COO can enable innovation and digital transformation in their firm; The COO's role in managing profitability and client engagement; The use of data in law firm management; and The New Law COO. There are also all-new, exclusive interviews with legal COOs from a variety of national and international firms, covering topics ranging from the importance of relationships and adapting to the new hybrid, post-COVID world, to encouraging innovation in firms and strategies to recruit and retain talent. There is no doubt that a good COO is an invaluable part of a firm's management team, and the opportunities for talented individuals with broad operational management skills will continue to grow. Heavily backed up by the first-hand experience of the contributors, this title provides essential guidance to the current and future legal COO on the skills and strategies they need to succeed, and to law firms on how to recruit, integrate, and develop a COO who will be a good match for their culture and help them achieve their ambitions.

The role of general counsel and in-house lawyers is changing continually. Legal is now considered a vital component of leadership in most enterprises, and it is increasingly common for the GC to be called on for strategic input prior to important business decisions. Added to this is the convergence of social and political trends driving new demand for legal advice and service delivery; an increasing focus on productivity and efficiency; pressure to demonstrate the value of legal to the business in order to gain budget support; and the need to adapt and advance digitally. The competencies required of the general counsel and their increasingly multi-disciplinary team are also growing with responsibilities expanding to encompass reputational risk, government relations, data privacy, ESG and interacting with diverse stakeholders including regulators. Edited by E Leigh Dance and Christoph H Vaagt, both with distinguished careers advising legal departments and teams for more than two decades, the second edition of General Counsel in the 21st Century offers general counsel and all in-house legal professionals a variety of expert perspectives on the evolution of the role of the GC and the corporate legal department. Chapters are written by an international group of well-known general counsel, corporate legal leaders, and other experts, and cover important topics for general counsel today, including: The evolution of the general counsel's role; Legal operations as a competitive advantage; How adaptive legal functions are embracing technology; Managing change in a legal department; and Doing more with less. This title provides guidance on how legal departments can best support the businesses they serve, identify and address areas where change is necessary, and anticipate developments on the horizon. Readers - whether in-house counsel or private practitioners - will gather best practices and learn new and perhaps surprising lessons to help them succeed in their jobs as leaders at the intersection of law and business.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a seismic and lasting impact on how the business of law is conducted. Whilst 2020 certainly expedited changes that were already trending - flexible work schedules, fully-remote offices, revised resource allocations, new client expectations - it also forced firms to adopt practices, methodologies, and strategies that pre-COVID they insisted they could not. These changes are not only here to stay but have become the expectation. Law firm attorneys, staff, and indeed clients are no longer interested in a traditional office, nor the practices that typically occurred within them. The modern law firm needs to evolve with both employee and consumer expectations in order to stay abreast with the post-pandemic world. The Post-Pandemic Law Firm looks at how law firms can make a paradigm shift, adopting an entirely new business model that focuses on providing outcomes, outputs, and results to their clients and internally places the wellbeing of their team as a cornerstone to the future long-term success and sustainability of the legal profession. Chapters include changes to business models, virtual and remote working, how the pandemic has affected women in the profession, the future of dispute resolution, M&A activity and changes to pricing models - all authored by highly respected practitioners in the modern legal system. For those law firms leaders and lawyers that realize a 'return to normal' is exactly the wrong approach, there is an opportunity to create a brighter future where work-life balance, market innovation, and smart use of technology will define the law firm of the future.

"Baby safe haven" laws, which allow a parent to relinquish a newborn baby legally and anonymously at a specified institutional location-such as a hospital or fire station-were established in every state between 1999 and 2009. Promoted during a time of heated public debate over policies on abortion, sex education, teen pregnancy, adoption, welfare, immigrant reproduction, and child abuse, safe haven laws were passed by the majority of states with little contest. These laws were thought to offer a solution to the consequences of unwanted pregnancies: mothers would no longer be burdened with children they could not care for, and newborn babies would no longer be abandoned in dumpsters. Yet while these laws are well meaning, they ignore the real problem: some women lack key social and economic supports that mothers need to raise children. Safe haven laws do little to help disadvantaged women. Instead, advocates of safe haven laws target teenagers, women of color, and poor women with safe haven information and see relinquishing custody of their newborns as an act of maternal love. Disadvantaged women are preemptively judged as "bad" mothers whose babies would be better off without them. Laury Oaks argues that the labeling of certain kinds of women as potential "bad" mothers who should consider anonymously giving up their newborns for adoption into a "loving" home should best be understood as an issue of reproductive justice. Safe haven discourses promote narrow images of who deserves to be a mother and reflect restrictive views on how we should treat women experiencing unwanted pregnancy.

Partner compensation and how partners share profits is central to the cohesive fabric of any professional partnership. While one adage says that "there are as many profit-sharing systems as there are partnerships", there has recently been the emergence of a global practice about what "merit" means and how risk and reward are shared among partners in professional service firms. In The Partner Remuneration Handbook, Michael Roch and Ray D'Cruz provide guidance for senior partners, managing partners, partnership boards, remuneration committees and others involved in the partner compensation process (department heads, CFOs, HRDs), on designing effective profit-sharing systems, reaching fair reward decisions efficiently and implementing motivating contribution management processes. Filled with practical insights, this book draws on principles of partnership, motivation and incentives in human capital management, and executive compensation in closely held businesses. Looking beyond the numbers, the authors balance the big picture with a detailed how-to for any professional partnership irrespective of geography, size and maturity. This title encompasses three core elements: Exploring the different partner reward systems found in most professional firms. Showing how partnerships define and discuss partner contribution commitments that further the firm's overall strategic, operational and financial objectives. Providing decision-making guidance about marrying reward to performance and on Remuneration Committee governance. It also addresses a myriad of special topics, such as rewarding partners in management roles, and provides a proven approach for how firm leaders can take partners with them on the journey of evolving their partner compensation system.

Published in 1996, this book presents an innovative method for studying the work of professionals with clients that was applied to an evaluation study of legislation and of lawyers working with clients seeking a divorce. With the simulated client methods, the researcher plays the role of simulated or hypothetical clients with predetermined characteristics who are consulting a lawyer, the research subject. The research is carried out in the natural setting of the lawyer's office and the lawyer conducts business as usual. The method overcomes problems of access due to client confidentiality that are commonly found in research of professional groups. It is a qualitative but focused method for evaluation research which has strengths for making comparisons across professional practice. The book will be useful to those conducting research on professionals and other elite groups working with clients as well as those interested in the socio-legal study of legal professionals. This book was originally published as part of the Cardiff Papers in Qualitative Research series edited by Paul Atkinson, Sara Delamont and Amanda Coffey. The series publishes original sociological research that reflects the tradition of qualitative and ethnographic inquiry developed at Cardiff. The series includes monographs reporting on empirical research, edited collections focussing on particular themes, and texts discussing methodological developments and issues.