School of Law News

The delegates enjoyed a packed day at the University of Sheffield’s School of Law 2013 A Level Law Teachers Conference last Wednesday 12 June. From updates in the curriculum; to new styles and practices in learning and teaching in HE; to changes in the legal profession and the impact on their students as lawyers of the future, delegates obtained lots of information and advice for their colleagues and their pupils. The delegates also took back goodie bags stuffed with further information and handouts, including fees and funding.

Feedback for the day was very positive:

“brilliant”
“really beneficial to our students”
“informative and hopefully will help me with my teaching in the future”
“really enjoyed”

For information and to see the schedule for this years conference see: http://shef.ac.uk/schools/outreach-programmes/lawteachersconference

Get the date in the diary for next year’s A Level Law Teachers Conference:

11th June 2014

On 6 June 2013, the School of Law was delighted and honoured to receive a visit from the Chief Justice of Malaysia, the Right Honourable Tun Arifin bin Zakaria. The Chief Justice is one of Sheffield’s most prestigious alumni, having graduated from the School in 1974. His Lordship was accompanied by The Honourable Datuk Dr. Haji Hamid Sultan Bin Abu Backer, The Honourable Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai (both Judges of the Court of Appeal), the Honourable Dato’ Mary Lim Thiam Suan, a High Court Judge from Kuala Lumpur, and Mr Soo, Senior Counsel and Treasurer of Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Malaysia.

During his visit to Sheffield, the Chief Justice met staff and students of the School of Law to discuss current trends in law and legal practice in both the United Kingdom and Malaysia. The School of Law has a long tradition of welcoming Law students from Malaysia, as part of the three-year LLB Law degree and our 2+1 bilateral agreements with Taylor’s University, HELP University, INTI International University and Brickfields Asia College.

The School of Law extends grateful thanks to the Chief Justice and the Judges of the Court of Appeal and High Court for taking the time to visit Sheffield. The School of Law also congratulates the Chief Justice on his appointment as an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn.

More photos from the visit can be found on our flickr pages at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uoslaw/sets/72157633987937894/

Professor Joanna Shapland, Head of School

The British Society of Criminology has announced that its 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award is to be given to Professor Joanna Shapland, Head of the School of Law, for her groundbreaking work on restorative justice.

This research, which Joanna undertook with colleagues within the School and the Home Office, was the first ever randomised controlled trial of restorative justice in the UK, and evaluated three Ministry of Justice-funded schemes dealing with adult and juvenile offenders at all stages of the criminal justice process.  It was the first large-scale evaluation of restorative justice for adult offenders and serious offences in Europe, and led to four reports to the Home Office, numerous academic papers and a book, Restorative Justice in Practice (Routledge, 2011).

The research has heavily influenced the Ministry of Justice’s commissioning of sentencing options in England and Wales, and directly informed legislation implementing restorative justice from 2012.  The project has led to further research and to the publication of the Best Practice Guidance for Restorative Justice Practitioners in the UK.  Its key messages have been taken up by the Scottish Government and by the Commission of the Republic of Ireland.

Society President Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe said:  “I am delighted that the BSC is awarding the Outstanding Achievement Award for 2013 to Professor Joanna Shapland.  Amongst many other laudable research achievements she has made major contributions to policy developments in both the UK and elsewhere in Europe through innovative and robust empirical research, leading to clear evidence-based policy recommendations.   The award is richly deserved”.

Joanna will be presented with her award during the opening ceremony of this year’s BSC annual conference at Wolverhampton University in July.

Read the British Society of Criminology’s press release here:  BSC OAA winner 2013 Joanna Shapland.

Dr Gwen Robinson has recently presented a conference paper and taken part in a writing retreat, both as part of the European-funded COST Action on Offender Supervision in Europe.  Along with Professor Kerstin Svensson of Lund University in Sweden, Gwen leads a working group within this Action on practising offender supervision;  the other three groups are concerned with experiencing supervision,  decision-making and supervision, and European policy and practice.  Gwen and Kerstin presented a paper entitled ‘Practising Offender Supervision in Europe’ at the Action’s first international conference, which took place at Liverpool Hope University on 26-27 April 2013 and was attended by over 150 people from academic research, policy and practice, and people with life experience of supervision.  The writing retreat, held at the end of May in Loch Lomond, was then used to to develop an edited collection of papers stemming from the Action’s first year of work.  The working groups’ next meeting will be held in Bratislava, Slovakia in October 2013.

COST is the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, and is Europe’s longest-running intergovernmental framework for cooperation in the funding of science and technology  projects.

On 30th May 2013 Dr Matthew Hall contributed to a government consultation event hosted by the Minister for Victims and Courts in Leeds concerning proposed changes to the statutory Code of Practice for Victims of Crime. The event was attended by representatives of most criminal justice agencies, local criminal justice boards, the police and victim support organisations as well as senior civil servants from the Ministry of Justice and the Minister. The event was intended to collate knowledge and views in an effort to improve proposed changes to the principles document spelling out the entitlements of victims of crime within and beyond the criminal justice system in England and Wales.

Hilary Mantel CBE, former law student at this School of Law, has been short-listed for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Hilary is unique in having twice won the Man Booker Prize, the only author ever to have done so.

Her novel “Bringing Up the Bodies” is set in 1535 and examines Thomas Cromwell’s pivotal role during Anne Boleyn’s final days. The winner of the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced on 5th June.