Institute of Advanced Legal Studies PhD training

The training days below may be of interest if you're a PhD student within the Law Department. Student cost is £75 per day.

The How to Get a PhD in Law training days are back for 2018/19 with three days now available to book. MPhil and PhD students in law registered at universities across the UK are invited to attend.

Day One: The PhD in Law and Research Methods Saturday 24th November 2018 Book: http://ials.sas.ac.uk/events/event/16866

Day Two: The PhD journey: Supervision, research ethics and preparing yourself for upgrade and vivas Thursday 28th February 2019 Book: https://ials.sas.ac.uk/events/event/16868

Day Three: Researching, disseminating and publishing in the digital world Friday 10th May 2019 Book: https://ials.sas.ac.uk/events/event/16869

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies library - temporary closure and information about new library cards

The latest news bulletin from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies includes the following information:

Library closure for annual stock moving and refurbishment

The Library will close to readers at 5:00pm on Friday 14th September 2018 for essential annual stock moving and refurbishment work and will re-open at 9:00am on Monday 1st October 2018.

Readers will still be able to access online resources, including thousands of e-books, using the Library Catalogue and the Electronic Law Library.

Apply for a new library card

As of next term there will be new library cards for students and academic members of IALS Library. If your status as a student or academic has not changed then you can reapply for a new card, either in person or electronically, from 1st October. University of London academic staff will be sent their new card automatically. To find out more about access see http://ials.sas.ac.uk/library/joining-library/access-academic-users. If in doubt, please email our admissions team who will be happy to advise you: ials.libadmin@sas.ac.uk.

Two new ejournal subscriptions

The Law School has recently subscribed to two new ejournals, Critical Policy Studies and Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies.

Critical Policy Studies: 

"brings contemporary theoretical and methodological discussions, both normative and empirical, to bear on the understanding and analysis of public policy, at local, national and global levels."

Safundi: 

is a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal that publishes analyses of the United States and South Africa from a transnational and/or comparative perspective, seeking to understand each country in relation to the other.  

Both can be accessed in the usual way, via the ejournals and ebook search on the front page of the library website. 

Resource Material Series - UNAFEI

UNAFEI is based in Tokyo, and includes an interesting Publications section (available on the English version of its web site). Within this section is the Resource Material Series, an ongoing series of congresses and seminars, each on a different subject. Most recently these have covered:

• Juvenile justice & the UN standards and norms
• Effective measures for the treatment, rehabilitation & social integration of juvenile offenders
• Children as victims and witnesses
• Multi-agency cooperation in community based treatment of offenders
• Staff training for correctional leadership
• and The state of cybercrime: current issues and countermeasures.

Within each theme there are 'Visiting Expert's Papers', which are usually (but not exclusively) by academics from Europe, the United States and Australia and 'Participants' Papers' which give an insight from a wider variety of countries into the topic under discussion. For example Children as victims and witnesses has contributions from Egypt, Malaysia and the Maldives, and Cybercrime from Kenya, the Philippines and Thailand. 

Advanced Introductions to Law - new ebooks

Titles within the Advanced Introductions series by Elgar Publishing aim to provide an overview of a particular subject, introducing the essential principles and providing insights which encourage readers to think critically. 

There are 12 titles in the series, with more planned in the coming months. Current titles are:

• Advanced Introduction to Comparative Constitutional Law - Mark Tushnet
• Advanced Introduction to Private Law - Jan M. Smits
• Advanced Introduction to International Sales Law - Clayton P. Gillette
• Advanced Introduction to International Environmental Law - Ellen Hey
• Advanced Introduction to International Intellectual Property - Susy Frankel and Daniel J. Gervais
• Advanced Introduction to the Law of International Organizations - Jan Klabbers
• Advanced Introduction to International Tax Law - Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
• Advanced Introduction to International Trade Law - Michael J. Trebilcock
• Advanced Introduction to Law and Development - Michael J. Trebilcock and Mariana Mota Prado
• Advanced Introduction to International Human Rights Law - Dinah L. Shelton
• Advanced Introduction to International Conflict and Security Law - Nigel D. White

Birkbeck staff and students can access the titles via the library catalogue, or by going directly to the Advanced Introductions web site.

New resource - Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice is an excellent resource if you're looking to gain insight into a particular topic. It's possible to either search or browse the encyclopedia. Broad subject areas are outlined below: 

Each entry provides a detailed discussion of the subject matter, and includes suggestions for further reading, and a reference list. New entries are regularly being added to the encyclopedia, and so it will continue to grow in scope. 

Highly recommended for criminology students. 

Key Legal Concepts Library on Westlaw UK

I've recently discovered the Key Legal Concepts Library on Westlaw, which is a kind of mini law encyclopedia. Each note looks at a legal concept, and relevant case extracts, legislation and Hansard material are referenced.
At the moment it is only possible to browse this resource, and the coverage of concepts is far from exhaustive, but you may find it useful. It can be accessed via the Legislation tab.