Daily Archives: July 7, 2008

International moot court competition videos

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The University of Hong Kong Library’s Digital Initiatives Department has posted videos of past international moot court competitions held at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law.  Oral arguments from past years are available for the following competitions: Jessup International Law Moot, LawAsia Moot, and the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot. These video segments will assist first time competitors better understand the international moot process and help with FAQs, such as how to address the panel of judges and how to field questions from the judges.

University of Hong Kong Library International Moot Court Videos http://obelix.lib.hku.hk/av/n_law.html

Access to EU Documents – Some Good News…

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On July 1st, the Court of Justice for the European Communities issued a judgment on access to legal opinions that offers good news.   (Judgment of the Court of Justice in two joined cases C-39/05 P & C-52/05 P, Sweden and Turco v Council and Others, July 1, 2008):

The headline on the court’s press release reads: THE COURT AUTHORISES, IN PRINCIPLE, ACCESS TO LEGAL ADVICE GIVEN TO THE COUNCIL ON LEGISLATIVE QUESTIONS [bold text appeared in release].   The press release of the Court also states:

The Court takes the view that disclosure of documents containing the advice of an institution’s legal service on legal questions arising when legislative initiatives are being debated increases transparency and strengthens the democratic right of European citizens to scrutinize the information which has formed the basis of a legislative act.

The Court concludes that Regulation No 1049/2001 imposes, in principle, an obligation to disclose the opinions of the Council’s legal service relating to a legislative process. There are, however, exceptions to that principle as regards opinions given in the context of a legislative process, but being of a particularly sensitive nature or having a wide scope that goes beyond the context of the legislative process. In such a case, it is incumbent on the institution concerned to give a detailed statement of reasons for such a refusal.

For excellent analysis and updates on this topic, check out the Statewatch Observatory on Access to EU Documents.

Unloading Information Overload

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L. Gordon Crovitz’s Information Age column in today’s Wall Street Journal, “Unloading Information Overload,” cites the Atlantic Monthly article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, cites a new book, “Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age” by Maggie Jackson, and quotes the dean at the University of Chicago Law School thusly:

The University of Chicago Law School blocks Internet access from classrooms; the dean said, “One student will visit a gossip site or shop for shoes, and within 20 minutes an entire row is shoe shopping.”

“A Revolution in Online Legal Content”

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A Revolution in Online Legal Content

By Ari Kaplan
Legal Tech Newsletter
July 7, 2008

As summer associates struggle to answer obscure research questions over the next couple of months, they may find an answer to their late-night prayers in JD Supra, a free online service that provides access to legal documents including memoranda, briefs and unpublished court decisions.

Going global

According to its associated blog, JDScoop.com, JD Supra also has contributors in China, from Liang Yongwe, a Beijing-based firm specializing in FDI and overseas direct investment; Italy, from Mantova-based Studio legale Tedioli offering bankruptcy guidance; Spain, from Madrid-based Goni y Cajigas Abogados providing M&A advice; South Africa, from DE Professional Consultants, with offices in various countries advising on tax matters; and, various firms in the United Kingdom and Canada.

. . .

“Ultimately, its utility will end up depending on number of contributors and users,” says Mark Kindall of nine-lawyer Schatz Nobel Izard,  based in Hartford, Conn. He highlights that while court decisions are easy to find, briefs with attachments are much more difficult to source. Schatz Nobel has uploaded 79 documents, including pleadings and decisions from courts across the United States

Interdisciplinary Legal Research

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“The Taxonomy of Interdisciplinary Legal Research: Finding the Way Out of the Desert“

MATHIAS M. SIEMS, University of Edinburgh – School of Law, University of Cambridge – Centre for Business Research (CBR)

Abstract:

This article identifies four different types of interdisciplinary legal research: one basic and three advanced types. Basic interdisciplinary research uses the same questions as starting points as traditional legal research, however, it also considers other academic disciplines in order to answer these questions. Advanced interdisciplinary research goes further: it can either deal with research questions that are not about the law as such (type 1), or incorporate “scientific methods” into legal thinking (type 2), or combine both (type 3.) This new taxonomy is useful in order to identify the benefits and difficulties of different types of interdisciplinary legal research.

 

“A Dynamic Model of Interdisciplinarity: Limits and Possibilities of Interdisciplinary Research into Law“

Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No. 010/2008
Tilburg Working Paper Series on Jurisprudence and Legal History No. 08-02

BART VAN KLINK, Tilburg University – Jurisprudence & Legal History

SANNE TAEKEMA, Faculty of Law, Tilburg University

Abstract:


In the paper we will explore some of the major limits and possibilities of interdisciplinary research into law. In how far is the science of law open to insights from other disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, economics and literature studies? We will approach this question by confronting two contrary positions: pragmatism (Dewey) that argues for the fundamental comparability and compatibility of theories on the one hand and positivism (Kelsen and Luhmann) that points to the limits thereof on the other. Following on this debate, we will present a dynamic model of interdisciplinarity in which different types of interdisciplinary legal research will be presented, moving from the monodisciplinary towards a fully integrated interdisciplinary perspective. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of each type of interdisciplinary research into law will be discussed.

 

Source:  LSN Legal Writing Vol. 3 No. 13,  07/07/2008