Lex Chat - podcast from Lexis

Launched in August 2018, the Lex Chat podcast seeks to look at topics that affect legal professionals and their clients. It's also worth a listen if you're studying law. 
Episodes vary in length from 15 to 40 minutes. So far topics covered include:

• The Gender Pay Gap
• Fake News
• Smart Contracts and Block Chain
• The Gig Economy
• Autonomous Vehicles and the Law

Lex Chat is available via Spotify, Google Play, iTunes and Lexis' Future of Law blog.

Podcast - Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice

Caught, a WNYC Studio podcast is 9 episodes in, and has already covered a range of topics around child imprisonment in the US.

The associated web site provides some context:

America incarcerates more people than any country in the world. It starts with kids. On any given night, roughly 53,000 young people are in some form of lockup. Nearly 60 percent are black or Latino. We all make dumb mistakes in our youth. But for these kids, those same destructive choices have a lasting impact.
Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice tells the stories of young lives forever changed by collisions with law and order. We’ll also hear from their parents, guards, counselors and judges, who hold the power, but whose hands are often tied by laws that ultimately fail our children.

A difficult but enlightening listen about the impact imprisonment has on children, as well as an exploration of alternative interventions.

Podcast - Get out of jail: time for prison reform

I'm a regular listener to Ed Miliband & Geoff Lloyd's 'Reasons to be Cheerful' podcast, and thought that this particular episode would be of interest to those studying criminology and/or the penal system. It comes in at just under an hour & a half, so not a quick listen, but it raises some interesting points. 

From the podcast's web site:

Hello! Our prison system is in crisis. Overcrowding, re-offending, self-harm and riots. What is to be done? Our guests tell us there is reason to think things can change for the better. Nils Oberg tells us how they do it so much better in Sweden, Vicky Pryce tells us what the economics teaches us, and former Lord Chancellor Charlie Falconer tells us how we can navigate the politics.

What is life in prison really like? Ear Hustle provides an insight.

Ear Hustle brings you stories of life inside prison, shared and produced by those living it. 

The podcast is a partnership between Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, currently incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, and Nigel Poor, a Bay Area artist. 

Each podcast covers a different topic, from the importance of getting a cell mate you’re compatible with, to serving time in solitary confinement, to what it’s like getting old in prison.

Not always an easy listen, but informative and a unique insight into the lives of prisoners. Highly recommended.

Not sure if it’s for you? A short introduction is available to listen to at:   

https://www.earhustlesq.com/listen/2017/5/28/this-is-ear-hustle

Law in Action - interview with governor of HMP Edinburgh

I've previously flagged up Law in Action, and it's worth subscribing to podcasts from the series. 

Rather belatedly I've recently listened to the last episode from the most recent series entitled 'Joshua Goes to Prison' in which the presenter, Joshua Rozenburg visits Edinburgh Prison and speaks to the governor, Caroline Johnston about how she and her staff are managing the challenges of operating a prison in the 21st century. The prison is involved in some interesting initiatives, including employing a Throughcare Support Officer, a prison officer who works both inside and outside the prison itself. The officer's sole purpose is to work with short-term prisoners in the run up to release and focus on helping with issues relating to areas such as housing, employment prospects and addiction support. The officer then remains in contact post-release and continues to offer support.

Definitely worth a listen if you're a criminology student, and/or are interested in the penal system.

NB If you're a Birkbeck student, or member of staff and are reading this post after the episode has disappeared from BBC iplayer, then you can listen via our subscription to Box of Broadcasts National 

Crossing Continents podcasts

If you're interested in the human angle of international affairs, then the BBC Radio 4 programme Crossing Continents may be of interest. The range of the series both in terms of subject matter and geographical scope is wide, with many of the episodes addressing human rights concerns.

I've recently listened to A Mediterranean Rescue, where reporters talked to some of the migrants pulled off unseaworthy boats as they sought to make the crossing to Europe, and 'Police State' Portugal which focused on an incident in the Cova de Moura suburb of Lisbon where a group of young black men alleged that police beat and racially abused them. Residents, mostly from immigrant backgrounds say that such police behaviour is common place and the episode investigates this claim.

At around half an hour an episode, these are a relatively quick way of keeping abreast of current affairs.

Oxford Law Vox - new podcast series from Oxford University Press

Oxford Law Vox, a new monthly podcast "introduces leading experts from a wide variety of disciplines to discuss significant aspects of their respective fields in a series of accessible and stimulating discourses".

Kicking off the series is Mary Bosworth, Reader in Criminology at the University of Oxford, Professor of Criminology at Monash University. Author of ‘Inside Immigration Detention'. She talks about her research on immigration detention centres.

I've had a listen, and it's an informative piece, well worth half an hour of your time if you're interested in this area of research.

Further information about the podcast, provided by OUP, is below:

In this podcast Mary outlines her research journey, methods, and the challenges she faced. Mary outlines the number, scale, location, and growth of detention centres in the UK and discusses the political climate surrounding the recent increased use of immigration detention as well as the circumstances under which an individual might find themselves in a detention facility.

Mary discusses the similarities and differences between modern immigration facilities and the prison service, as well as highlighting inconsistencies in the capturing and housing of detainees and the lack of an established ‘straightforward’ route to detention or release. She calls into question the fact that there is no statutory upper limit to periods of detainment and the psychological impact of this on detainees, leading her to call for more discussion of the purpose, processes, aspirations, and current failings of immigration detention centres.

A Law Unto Themselves - conversations with legal practitioners

Last month Radio 4 ran this short series (four episodes) in which Helena Kennedy spoke to eminent international lawyers and judges about their lives and careers.

Episode 1 - Justice Michael Kirby, the first Australian High Court judge to come out as gay and who argued forcefully, in the face of considerable opposition, for equal rights for homosexuals.

Episode 2 - Gareth Peirce helped free convicted Irish bombers such as the Birmingham Six and Guilford Four, secured the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees, and for years thwarted government attempts to deport the Muslim preacher Abu Qatada. 

Episode 3 - Jeremy Hutchinson - his career ranged from defending Penguin Books in the Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial, to taking on the might of the British intelligence service in the ABC official secrets trial. He also represented society call girl Christine Keeler and the art thief Kempton Bunton.

Episode 4 - Eva Joly, the Norwegian-born judge investigated a multi-billion euro fraud involving the state-owned Elf oil company. Thirty people were eventually convicted and senior members of former President Francois Mitterand's government implicated after she revealed that company directors had siphoned off billions of francs to pay for bribes and luxurious lifestyles.

Each episode is around half an hour long, and well worth a listen.

Podcasts from Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre

Nearly 100 podcasts produced by the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University are available for download. Recent topics covered include:

• The child in international refugee law
• The price of rights: regulating international migration 
• Turning wrongful convictions into rights? Asylum seekers and the criminal law.

The podcasts are available to listen to from the university's podcast site, or via iTunesU and range from around 45 minutes to an hour and quarter in length, so cover their subject in some depth.

Inside Track podcasts

The web site of the College of Law includes a section which currently hosts 12 podcasts recorded over the past 2 years. Each podcast takes the form of an interview with a member of the legal profession, many of whom are high profile figures (e.g. Shami Chakrabarti, Keir Starmer QC). Subjects covered include Women in Law, Life at the Bar and the Future of the Legal Profession.

The podcasts are between 15 and 30 minutes long, and transcripts of the interviews are also available.

Key cases discussed on the BBC's Westminster Hour

The latest Sunday Supplement, part of the Westminster Hour saw Clive Coleman from Radio 4's Law in Action talking about 'Cases that Changed Our World'.
Each of the 4 episodes lasts just under 15 minutes and discusses influential cases from the past, including Carbolic Smoke Ball and Donoghue v Stevenson. Definitely worth a listen if you have a few minutes to spare.

With thanks to Matthew Weait, Reader in the Law School for providing me with the web link.

Insite Law Magazine

Billed as providing 'Daily online law news and law blogs', Insite Law Magazine is an online offering edited by Mike Semple Piggot (who founded BPP Law School in the early 1990s).

The site contains lots of information, and to get the most out of it you may find you need to spend a bit of time familiarising yourself with its structure.
Insite provides comment on all areas of legal practice, and makes good use of Web 2.0 tools.
The News Archive includes summaries of postings drawn from a variety of law blogs as well as highlighting current legal stories in the news. Discussion Board (you need to register to be able to post) hosts wide-ranging discussions on legal topics. And there is a sizeable collection of podcasts available via the site. Recent topics for the Lawcasts have included developments in employment law, the recent rise in fees for the Legal Practice Course and the debate over ID cards.

If you would like information to be sent directly to you, it is possible to subscribe to a weekly newswire which includes links to news, recent law report summaries & blog posts.

Podcasts from Practical Law Company (PLC)

PLC, in conjunction with CPDcast (usually a paid-for subscription service) have made the following podcasts available free of charge. They will be adding further material until the middle of February. Topics covered so far are:
* Employment Law Update - January 2009
* Team moves when there are no restrictive covenants
* Disability Discrimination: Developments in the Duty to Make Reasonable Adjustments
* The New ACAS Code
Each podcast features barristers and/or solicitors discussing the selected topic and lasts between 30 and 40 minutes in length.

In addition, PLC have launched a 'Looking Back, Looking Forward' series of podcasts. These aim to look at current topics of importance. So far the following areas have been covered:
* Trade marks, copyright and patents
* Implications of the economic downturn for IP
* Privacy
* Outsourcing

With thanks to James Mullan for bringing this to my attention via the BIALL blog.

British Library Exhibition

I thought that I'd give the British Library's current exhibition a bit of a plug. Entitled 'Taking Liberties - The Struggle for Britain's Freedoms and Rights' it runs until 1st March 2009.

To quote from their promotional material "Taking Liberties tells the story of the 900 year struggle for rights and freedoms in Britain and of those who have campaigned to make political and social change a reality".

As well as the exhibition there's a series of events (free and charged for) taking place. These include a discussion on 'Equality and Human Rights in Modern Britain' and 'Is Liberty British?' at the end of January.

You may also like to listen to the podcasts which are being added during the course of the exhibition. Currently these include a discussion on the Wolfenden Report and an interview with Shami Chakrabarti on the erosion of our rights and freedoms.

BBC Radio 4 - Law in Action

This weekly 30-minute look at legal issues in the news is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (Tuesday, 4pm). It is possible to subscribe to a podcast of the show (although there are currently no episodes available) and to listen to the previous week's show via the listen again feature.

In addition to the show itself, the Law in Action web site offers a round-up of recent legal developments - particularly useful for students endeavouring to keep up-to-date with issues which may impact upon the areas they're studying.

Thanks to Jonathan Thorpe (Birkbeck LLB) for bringing this site to my attention.

Podcasts from Sweet & Maxwell

Sweet & Maxwell currently have 17 podcasts freely available to play or download. In the majority of these, authors of key textbooks talk about recent developments in a particular area of law.

In one of the podcasts Carl Stychin and Birkbeck's Linda Mulcahy talk about working together and their approach to Legal Methods.

For more information see: http://podcasts.sweetandmaxwell.co.uk/