THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE 2019 EDITION: LSBU STUDENT LAW SOCIETY MAGAZINE

THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE LSBU LAW SOCIETY MAGAZINE CREATED BY LSBU LAW STUDENTS FOR THE LAWYERS OF TOMORROW

CONTENT

1. LAW SOCIETY 2. MINSK COMPETITION 3. MOOTING UPDATE 4. INNER TEMPLE SCHOLARSHIP 5. STREET LAW 6. LAW & TECH SOCIETY HAGUE TRIP REPORT 7. AM I EVEN PART OF THE COMPETITION? 8. IN-HOUSE PARALEGAL 9. MY ERASMUS TRAINEESHIP 10. LEGAL ADVICE CLINIC 11. JUSTICE AND ALGORITHMS 12. HUMAN RIGHTS IN PAKISTAN 13. TRADING WITH CHINA KEY TIPS FOR NEGOTIATORS 14. LAW DIVISION ROUND UP

London Legal Walk June 2019

Designer: Adel Abbes Staff liaison: Kim Silver Student Law Society design liaison: Ashlee Pleaden

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£350 raised for charity!

LAW SOCIETY

A platform which brings law students closer together

The Law Society is a platform which brings law students closer together.

As fellow law students, we understand that at times it may be difficult for students at university when there is a constant focus on studying. As such the main aim of our society is to help students, whether they are undergraduates or postgraduates, to have fun and enjoy university.

This year was like no other, starting with the unveiling of our brand-new logo.

We were very active on the social media front, having set up Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages to provide better reach and interaction with our students. Following the launch of our social media pages, we introduced a marketplace on Facebook, allowing students to have the opportunity to pass on study material they no longer need to other students.

We worked with our academic staff to deliver mentors to first-year students which was received well and benefited both mentors and mentees.

For the first time, we partnered with the Corporate Law Academy for our members who are seeking vacation schemes and training contracts. This allowed members to exclusively access the resources offered by the platform in a bid to raise commercial awareness and gain important insights and tips.

Events Our first event (the Meet & Greet) was held in collaboration with Zoe’s World and a wide variety of students attended.

Alumni speakers, as well as our Dean, Craig Barker, were present speaking about the importance of extra-curricular activities.

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In partnership with the LSBU Law Department, we have invited different international law firms to deliver talks that provide an opportunity for students to gain more insight into how law firms operate. These discussed topics such as the application process, law firms’ expectations and their view on the importance of diversity in the legal profession. Hopefully, students have been much more inspired and motivated to pursue a career in law, knowing that law firms are increasingly recognising the importance of diversity and inclusion.

We held the first ever Non-Russell Group University Law conference, which was well attended. We were fortunate to have four speakers, two of whom were LSBU Alumni, Nicola Willams (Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces) and Jonathan Akinsanya (Barrister) as well as Jessica Berkeley (Solicitor) and Harry Warren (Trainee Solicitor) from Shoosmiths LLP. The speakers introduced themselves and spoke about their law career journeys followed by a series of Q&A before the networking session that concluded the event.

Social events were not forgotten.

This year our annual Christmas dinner was held at Doggett’s Coat and Badge involving a three-course meal followed by dancing and music. Both students and academic staff stepped up and showed their moves.

The summer dinner was held at OXBO, Hilton Bankside and was another great event.

We had a huge focus on Raising and Giving with events such as the Bake Sale proving very successful in our efforts to raise money for LawWorks. In total, these events have raised in excess of £350 for LawWorks

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- a charity working to connect volunteer lawyers with people in need of legal advice who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford to pay and with the not-for-profit organisations that support them.

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to the committee of 2018-19 for all their hard work and effort in ensuring that we raised the society to a new level. The team worked tirelessly throughout the year to host events and help fellow students to make the most of their degree and time at LSBU. We are hoping the new committee can raise the bar even higher.

Grebin Cherian, LSBU Law Society President 2018-19/2019-20 Law Soc committtee 18/19 President: Grebin Cherian Vice President: Abayomi Balogun Treasurer: Nicholas Thompson Secretary: Zahrah Rafiq Events Coordinator: Barbara Nyarko Communications Officer: Lorenzo Agosto Law Soc committtee 19/20 President: Grebin Cherian Vice President: Jannatul Fardous Treasurer: Anya Sharma Raising and Giving Officer: Ashlee Pleaden Commercial Awareness Officer: Kathlyn Mercado

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MINSK COMPETITION

“An amazing cultural and educational experience” Austin Young, LSBU

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The week of 24 September 2018 I was honoured with the opportunity to represent London South Bank University, and the United Kingdom at theMITSO ‘Youth for Peace’ international law competition in Minsk Belarus along with Louise Smith.

In the lead up to the competition, nothing could have prepared me for what an amazing cultural and educational experience I was in for.

Our arrival in Minsk We arrived on Sunday 23 of September and were met at the Minsk National Airport by two volunteers from MITSO along with two students from Finland who were also taking part in the competition.

From here we were taken to the Sanatorium ‘Krynitsa’ just outside of Minsk, which was to be home for the next six days. Though the buildings were dated, one couldn’t ask for more beautiful scenery. It was in the woods and right on a lake that our hosts jokingly called the Belarusian Sea. We immediately began building diplomatic relations by inviting the Finnish delegation to have a drink with us in the bar at the sanatorium.

This was easier said than done, as all signs that could direct us to the bar were in Russian, in which the only word I knew was “nas drovia”, and that wouldn’t serve any purpose until we found the bar.

After this, we ate dinner and had a relatively early night, as the following day would be packed with lectures from eminent professors and field experts.

Our first lecture was by Michael Strauss PhD from Paris Descartes University. He spoke on the theoretical, but frighteningly relevant, concept of a hostile occupation of sovereign territory by means of privatisation of national industry. After hearing this lecture, I knew I was in for a fantastic day if the others were going to be as interesting as the first.

During the day we also heard from Lionel Blackman from London South Bank University on freedom of expression and surveillance, and from Professor David Turns on chemical weapons and the legality of use of force in various circumstances with examples such as the recent air strikes in Syria.

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By the end of these lectures, I was absolutely exhausted, but can honestly say that I have rarely had a more interesting day!

Meeting our competition Once the lectures were done and we were all buzzing about the concepts that we had been exposed to, we returned to the Sanatorium for dinner and an ice breaker party. This was where we were introduced to all the teams participating in the competition. Represented were 16 teams from 11 countries, from Turkey to Poland and Kazakhstan, to Finland, China and beyond.

At this party, all the participants gave a short presentation introducing their teams, their university, and their country. We were introduced to so many cultures in the couple of hours that the party lasted.

Most of the teams brought food or drink from their countries to share. The bit that has stuck with me the most was one of the delegates from China who sang for us the most beautiful song that is supposed to bring good fortune and peace.

The competition material After the party, we were assigned our opponents for the first round the following day and given the papers for the simulation. The entire competition centred around two countries that didn’t get on very well. The Federal Republic of Wundergrounds and the Kingdom of Carrollland. (The theme was based on Alice in Wonderland.) Back in the 1980s, Carrollland had committed a massacre against the ethnic minority group known as the Gryphonians.

As a result of this massacre, the United Nations Security Council had imposed a no fly zone within 100km from the border on the Carrolllandian side.

With the death of King Pat II, and the ascension of Queen Alice to the throne, the attitude toward the Gryphonian people had improved, but was still strained. In 2014, a private corporation based in Wondergrounds planned to launch hundreds of small communications satellites into geostationary orbit and this sparked something of a space race between the two countries.

The no fly zone was violated and several air strikes had occurred. Our task was to act as ambassadors to the countries at regional multinational organisation meetings and at UN Security Council meetings, both to defend the actions of our country and to try to find diplomatic and non-violent ways to settle the disputes.

We stayed up late that night, going over the papers, researching all the relevant treaties and statutes and in general preparing for the following day. This was made particularly difficult by the fact that we didn’t know which side we were on yet or what the specific topic of debate would be.

We needed to be prepared for anything.

Time to compete An hour and a half before the round we were informed what the task would be, but not which side we were on. This was to be announced 30 minutes before the round. The benefit of not knowing which side we were on, was that it required us to think about the problem from both perspectives and we were better prepared to anticipate the arguments of our opposition. In this round, we were at a meeting of the regional Organization MADTEA regarding the no fly zone and an incursion into this area by the Kingdom of Carrollland. Wondergrounds was requesting sanctions for the breach of the no fly zone, and Carrollland was requesting that the no fly zone should be lifted due to the change in attitude toward the Gryphonian People.

Half an hour before the round, we were assigned to be on the side of the Kingdom of Carrollland.

We were then able to fine tune our submissions and start to combat the pre-moot nerves. Overall, I was very happy with our performance. We clearly got our point across and were able to effectively use international law such as the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Charter to underline and support our arguments.

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The global horror of war After the round, we were taken by bus to the Belarusian State Museum of the Great Patriotic War. Though I have been to museums about the Second World War before, this was completely different.

In the West, we have a tendency to only look at the war from the perspective of the Americans, or British, or French, or German. We tend to forget that the USSR participated and we never look at the war from their perspective. We don’t think about the Soviet soldiers and civilian students who were killed.

This museum reinforced in my mind, the global nature and global horror of the war. Seeing the exhibitions also reinforced the need for International Humanitarian Law, so as to avoid such widespread and wanton suffering ever again.

We were also treated to a bus tour of Minsk, seeing sights such as the KGB headquarters in Minsk, the Island of Tears among other notable scenes.

Round two The second round was based on the same scenario, but we were provided with additional papers detailing developments in the relationship between the two countries. The new information informed us that the Federal Republic of Wondergrounds had conducted an air strike on a research centre in Carrollland within the area of the no fly zone claiming that it was a legitimate act of self-defence following the Carrolllandian incursion into the no fly zone. Following the strike on the facility, a satellite belonging to Carrollland change said course and hit one belongings to Wondergrounds.

Wondergrounds was claiming that this was a deliberate act of aggression while Carrollland maintained that it was an accident caused by loss of operations control infrastructure due to the strike on the research centre.

Again, we were to represent one side or the other at a meeting of the UN Security Council. We were provided our side half an hour before and finished preparing. This meeting was different.

Not only did we defend the position of the country, but we were also required to conduct diplomatic negotiations to try to avoid armed conflict or the Security Council finding a threat to peace and security in the region. I found this round particularly interesting as it required me to research a treaty that I hadn’t even heard of before. The Convention on Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects.

After dinner, we were gathered together to hear the semi-finalists announced. Unfortunately, at this stage we were knocked out of the competition. Later, we were told by several of the judges that it was by the thinnest of margins that we didn’t make it through. Though it was a disappointment that we were unsuccessful, I truly couldn’t be happier with our performance. We were against students from some of the best law schools in their respective countries and many of them had already studied International Law in their courses.

Considering this, to have missed the semis on ‘the thinnest of margins’ is not too disappointing.

The semi-finals Next was the semi-finals. I observed the team from Istanbul, Turkey against the team from Ural State University in Russia. Though both showed a valiant effort, there was a clear winner and Ural State progressed to the finals.

Louise observed the matchup of MGIMO University from Russia against MITSO from Belarus. Again, though both were excellent, the clear winner was MGIMO. Finally we got to the day of the final round, which was held in the event hall where the opening ceremony was. It was a hard fought battle between the two Russian teams with both sides giving a fantastic performance. Following the round there was a break before the winners were announced and the closing ceremony. The winners of the whole thing were MGIMO University, and I was honoured to have been named the ‘Best Speaker’ of the week.

Finally, we were taken to the Belarusian Trade Unions Museum and the Minsk Museum of Miniatures and capped the week off with a BBQ where we were able to eat, drink, and socialise with the other teams. This was one of the greatest experiences and I made some friends that I’m sure will be friends for life.

Austin Young, 3rd year LLB Law student

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MINSK COMPETITION “My mind was racing with all of the new information, and after each lecture I would just say ‘wow’” Louise Smith, LSBU Studying at LSBU I have had a number of opportunities to develop my legal skills and understanding of different legal careers; being offered the opportunity to travel to Belarus to represent my University and the United Kingdom has been by far the most challenging and enriching yet.

From the get go I knew that one of the best parts of the experience was going to be the camaraderie between our fellow competitors. During the week I shared a room with the Finnish team, two enthusiastic, bubbly girls who loved to share their interests, hobbies and thankfully their shampoo. On our first night our teams joined up for a drink at the bar and from that moment on we were sharing breakfast, lunch and dinner with delegates from all over the world.

As we all had an interest in international humanitarian law it was refreshing to be in the company of people who enjoyed debate and suggesting solutions to some of the biggest legal issues we’re faced with on an international scale. Having such a broad range of experiences and perspectives forced me to think outside of the box and massively broadened my understanding of the topics in question.

Our second day was jam packed with lectures at MITSO University from some of the leading professors on International humanitarian law and beyond. On a typical day one might expect a day of back to back learning to grow boring but from start to finish my mind was racing with all of the new information, and after each lecture my team mate Austin and I would turn to each other and just say ‘wow’.I was so inspired by every facet of what we were being told, from Descartes professor Dr Strauss’s lecture

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on privatisation to Cranfield’s Turns on the use of chemical weapons. Note to anyone taking part in the future, take the biggest notebook you can find and at least two pens!

That night we were all invited to an ice-breaker party which was one of my favourite nights of the week for three reasons. Firstly, it gave us all the opportunity to present the best side of our nations, be it through video presentations, anecdotes, food or song. Some of the competitors actually got up and sang a song, all this time I thought I was brave standing up to moot!

Secondly, this was the night that I started talking to delegates about their career ambitions and it was clear that differing legal systems have a massive impact on the way we study and think about the law. This wasn’t something that I had given any thought to until that night, and I now have a strong desire to learn more about comparative law.

Thirdly, once all the teams had finished their presentations we were handed the bundle of information for the competition and though everyone was exhausted we all rushed back to our rooms to get stuck into the materials. I thought that I’d be overwhelmed with all of the information but the simulation was so complex, engaging and well thought out that Austin and I were like children on Christmas morning.

The Opening Ceremony The next morning, despite pouring over the bundle until almost 4am, we were up bright and early to go over what we’d prepared and to head to the University for the official opening ceremony and press conference. I wasn’t expecting a single part of what we were confronted with!

Not only was the main hall filled with the competitors, but with cameras from local television stations and officials from all over the world. One of my room mates was interviewed and made it to the national news!

The opening ceremony was brilliant, with dancers and music, from the 2017 Belarussian Eurovision team no less. When the ceremony had finished we were plunged back into reality; it was time to receive the brief for the competition.

The competition The competition itself involved moots based upon the information we had received. When the first round began we had 1 hour and 30 minutes to familiarise ourselves with both sides of the problem, before receiving the side that we would be representing 30 minutes prior to the moot. Having only ever been in situations where I had weeks to prepare, this was certainly what felt like being thrown in at the deep end. We both had to be alert to the specifics of the task at hand, speedily identifying the points that needed to be made and adding our own creativity to deliver a strong argument.

I was so nervous when we entered the room and saw the judges that I was physically shaking, but Austin assured me that we were in it together and that as a team we could rely on one another if the pressure got the best of us. My submissions were a blur, but I found that having prepared a strong argument I was able to keep my cool when the interventions from the judges came. When the time had run out I felt on top of the world. Not only had Austin and I performed well but we’d done it as a team, both assisting each other and communicating when the going got tough.

The second round was just as trying.

We had received further developments to the simulation and were frantically familiarising ourselves with the relevant law. This time, however, before we had even stepped into the room to compete we had agreed that communication was our greatest strength and should one of us struggle the other would do their best to help. Following some tricky questions from the judges we had covered three out of four of our submissions within the first half of our time. We had to think quick to strengthen our position, and thankfully my knowledge of the materials enabled me to think on my feet.

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Dealing with the judges’ intervention was nerve racking but the confidence I had gained in the first round allowed me to be assertive and not bow under pressure. I left the room a little shaken, but after talking to the team we had just faced, Ukraine, I remembered that we were all in the same boat and that the experience was about more than winning. We didn’t allow our desire to win to taint the relationships we’d built with the other delegates and shortly after the moot was over we were all drinking coffee and laughing together again.

A rewarding experience Though we didn’t get through to the next round I couldn’t be happier with how we performed in the competition. We congratulated the semi-finalists when the results were announced and began signing the other teams up to a Facebook page, so that we could stay in touch and hopefully visit each other’s home countries in the future. Throughout the rest of the week we were taken sightseeing and visited some fascinating museums, getting a feel for the town and taking photographs. When it came to the day of the final we were excited to see how the relations between the simulation states had escalated and the two teams presented such a detailed argument that we were able to follow without any physical materials.

After the winners, MGIMO University from Russia had been announced some further awards were called out, and Austin took home a beautiful plaque for being the ‘Best Speaker’ of the competition.

Our final night with the other competitors was probably my favourite night of the week. We all sat outside in little cabins whilst the organisers cooked a BBQ banquet over open fires. Finally everyone could share ideas and talk about the competition itself; again I was amazed by the variety of thought processes and how differently everyone had approached the challenges. As the night progressed it felt like we had all been together for much longer, I already knew a lot of the delegates so well and I couldn’t help but feel sad knowing that it was all over.

The week had been taxing for everyone: late nights, long days and a lot of adrenaline. I would do it all over again, knowing that I made great friends and gained the knowledge and confidence that I have today.

Louise Smith, 2nd year LLB Law student

3 “Perhaps what is becoming clear to students is that there is nothing quite as valuable as mooting”

MOOTING UPDATE This year LSBU has had great success in mooting. We went further than we have ever gone before in the English-Speaking Union Competition (ESU). Led by myself and Josie Spence, we beat other universities to become the sole remaining London based university in the competition and securing a place in the quarter finals. Unfortunately, we were defeated in our winning streak by Oxford Brookes who won by a fraction. See elsewhere in this issue for detail of how mooters Austin Young and Louise Smith represented London South Bank University, and the United Kingdom at the MITSO ‘Youth for Peace’ international law competition in Minsk, Belarus.

However, there is even more promise for the future of external mooting as we are due to conclude our Internal Mooting Competition in October 2019. The skills that the internal mooters have demonstrated so far this year have been phenomenal with record number of students taking part. Mooting will allow you to find your voice, develop your style and grow your confidence in a way that no other activity can.

Earlier this year I became Mistress of the Moots, Louise Smith and Josie Spence will be deputy Mooting Coordinators.

We have some very exciting plans for this year, including the formation of a new society which will support mooting for all LSBU students mooting and provide a range of new experiences for students. We have supported, encouraged and prepared the internal mooters this year and we plan on doing the same next year, together we will continue to push LSBU further than it has ever gone before in both national and international mooting competitions.

Many thanks to Austin Young, who as Master of Moots guided mooting in this academic year and to Paul Wynell-Sutherland the Director of Mooting, ably assisted by Sarah Whale.”We are very much looking forward to next year’s successes.

Jade Eastmond, Mistress of the Moots, 2nd year LLB Law Student

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INNER TEMPLE SCHOLARSHIP Law student Sarah Whale has been awarded two scholarships from the Honourable Society of Inner Temple the Exhibition award of £19,500 and the Duke of Edinburgh Award of £175.

Having applied by letter, Sarah was offered an interview, which involved a number of practical exercises, including analysing an unreported case. Of the 500 candidates that took part, the Inner Temple chose Sarah as worthy of their investment.

For Sarah, winning the awards means she can take her Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), which costs £19,000, without having to worry about getting into debt. The scholarship will also help her application for pupillage, the final, vocational stage of training for those wishing to become practising barristers, as the Inner Temple holds much esteem in the world of Law, giving Sarah a good recommendation for the future.

Sarah credits multiple lecturers for granting her the opportunities to develop and grow as a student: “Paul Wynell-Sutherland gave me confidence in presenting a legal argument and thinking on my feet. Tracey Aquino always let me take the floor in Street Law and also wrote references for my scholarship. Louise Andronicou has always chosen me to speak publicly at events LSBU hold for Access Students and has always included me in any training days they hold.”

Sarah started her journey with LSBU as a mature student at 28.

A single mother of two small children, she was planning to become a nurse, having been told by a careers adviser that she wouldn’t be “smart enough to do a law degree”.

“I found myself at the LSBU Extended Project workshops as an Access to Health and Human Sciences student. Louise came to give a talk - she told us about a partnership that would allow students to receive conditional offers to certain courses.

“I had a realisation that maybe I can do Law after all.

I applied and received an unconditional offer for LLB Law, which I took up without hesitation. In my first year, I became Deputy Street Law Co-Ordinator and entered the Internal Mooting Competition. In my second year, I became Head of Street Law and won the Internal Mooting Competition. In my final year, I became the Deputy Mooting Co-Ordinator and became involved in external competitions representing the University.

“Whilst it’s easy to say that it was all my own hard work and determination, I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for the Access Recruitment programme run by Louise Andronicou.

LSBU provided the tools and I used them to better myself.”

Sarah Whale, 3rd year LLB Law Student

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Throughout your time at LSBU, you will be provided with a range of opportunities to go out and experience law in action. A lot of these opportunities arise in second year when students have had at least a year of law under their belts.

The Street Law programme is the exception to that.

It is the only extra-curricular activity currently running within the Law Department that gives law students across all three years the opportunity to go out into the community and represent the University while teaching young adults about the law in a fun and interactive way.

Street Law is run by barrister and senior lecturer Tracey Aquino, with the assistance of student members (Street Law Coordinators).

So, what do we do? We attend schools and colleges in the community found through the extensive contact network of Associate Professor, Louise Andronicou, Director of Student Recruitment and Admissions for the School of Law and Social Sciences. There we hold mock criminal trials as well as presentations on topical legal issues such as social media misuse, knife crime and rights in a stop and search. Our mock trials have been hugely successful with schools and colleges having us back year after year.

A mock trial is a mock court room scenario.

We provide the case papers consisting of several witness statements and the college students choose roles. These include the defendant, barristers for the prosecution and defence, witnesses, members of the jury and a judge. LSBU students then work alongside them to prepare for their mock trial. The mock trial then takes place with the jury coming to a final verdict. It is always an excellent day enjoyed by all.

This is a priceless opportunity to get out into the community and put the skills you are learning on your course to use. Street Law is a great addition to any CV with employers always taking an interest in it.

The best part of going out to do these mock trials is the impact that we have on some students.

By the time we leave, we have students who had never considered doing law, or perhaps thought that they would not be able to, asking how they can begin studying law.

Street Law really is the most rewarding experience. Opening one person’s eyes to something they never thought was possible is hugely satisfying, imagine what we could achieve next year with your help. Please do get involved. You won’t regret it!

Jade Eastmond, Street Law Coordinator, 2nd year LLB Law student

STREET LAW

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INNOVATING JUSTICE Law & Tech Society Hague Trip Report In February, members of the Law and Technology Society travelled to The Hague in the Netherlands to take part in the Justice Innovation Forum 2019 run by The Hague Humanity Hub: “From Justice Innovation to Scale”. How do we get data, innovation, and funding together in a real transition that produces user friendly justice at scale?

The forum attracted all people involved in legal matters as well as the public in general to create a wide network where people at risk can have access to justice by contributing to the proper management of data, the concise development of innovation and a peaceful transformation of administrative frameworks.

A key message was that prior identification of user needs is recommended before developing a solution.

A complex case is to succeed in appropriate interaction of law and innovation. Good ideas are not enough, creativity is the key element of legal design.

Opening of the Innovating Justice Forum: Working Sessions The 9th annual Innovating Justice Forum 2019 was introduced by Wim Jansen, director for International Affairs The Hague. His work is based on cooperating with international organisations and NGOs in the areas of peace, justice and security. Before September last year he was active in international co-operation within the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Finance, especially focusing on international entrepreneurship.

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INNOVATING JUSTICE Legal Design Thinking - by Legal Design Thinking Network This session was guided by Bram Van Hasselt who is Co-founder of Wunderpeople and director of Waterzee, which both explored technology, design, science and innovation to discover opportunities for a more sustainable, egalitarian, and resourceful world.

In addition to this, he is associated with Visual Contracts, a platform that encourages lawyers and designers to learn and apply Legal Design Thinking with the aim of improving access to justice in a more human friendly way.

Working in neighbourhoods and cities with NGO’s, municipalities and ministries Bram uses design thinking as methodology to develop new concepts and prototypes to increase accessibility of law.

He co-started the Legal Design Thinking Network in The Netherlands to build an open community of practitioners to share cases and support new ways of working in justice.

During the session, relevant concepts of what is legal design thinking, analysis on all processes from understanding the problem to testing the new ideas with users were explained. He clarified the importance of knowing user needs and ensuring all processes interacted efficiently. The aim is to provide a solution that must be deeply studied in order to evaluate its societal impact.

Innovating Justice for Equal Rights of Women and Girls - by International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) The workshop was conducted by Margarita Milikh, Program Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia IDLO, Rea Abada Chiongson IDLO Senior Legal Advisor on Gender , IDLO where other exponents, Barbara Kawira Japan, Senior Advisor Regional Programs at IDLO, and Romualdo Mavedzenge, Regional Manager for New Initiatives in Africa at IDLO contributed with their experience on actual real cases.

The session was developed such in a way that participants focused on innovations applied in and lessons learned from consolidating gender in legal and justice work. Participants were persuaded to share lessons and innovative practices from their experience in gender and justice programming.

Specifically, it discussed the main strategic and practical lessons, good practices and challenges in creating a gender - responsive justice sector.

The Risks of Innovation - by HumanityX This Workshop was directed by Thomas Baar, project designer and delivery at Humanity X. He specialised in the exploration of digital technologies. This session was totally interactive as attendees participated actively by exposing their own ideas and concerns on the development of new digital applications and evaluated the possible harms resulting from innovation and ways to mitigate these risks.

Conclusion The invaluable knowledge, concepts and ideas explained by either the lecturers and attendees during all working sessions clearly contribute to the improvement of new techniques on innovating and transforming justice into a more user-friendly path to achieve harmonious life in the society.

Anira Chang, LLM student

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AM I EVEN PART OF THE COMPETITION?

Accessing the legal profession

48% women make up the legal profession

21% lawyers are BAME

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There is no denying the competitive nature of the legal profession. However, for many law students like us, the most pressing question is arguably: How are we even going to be part of that “competition”?

Nicola Williams (LLB Law 1984, pictured above) in her alumni lecture talk (Am I just a Tick box?) said it best – “It is not a question of talent, but of access.”

Besides the challenges of securing a minimum of 2:1 (in our degree), at least two pages of “quality” work experience on our CV; and getting the right “connections”, there are less obvious (yet equally restricting) barriers that many law students still struggle to overcome.

“Am I Just A Tick box” primarily addressed the subtle and unconscious bias that society still has regarding women and more specifically women of colour, as well as those individuals who would often be put into categories of “minority” groups.

What inspired us to write an article about the concerns that we personally have, was Nicola’s invitation to put an end in reducing people to acronyms such as “them.” She correctly recognised that what we often do not realise is that “Individuals within those groups have different experiences.”

As Ashlee and Kathlyn will discuss, that is not usually the case. But this is not of course to deny the reality that individuals in those categories do (because of society’s subtle bias regarding gender and race), struggle to access the profession – this, Bunmi will discuss further.

Barriers in pursuing a career in Law Bunmi: I am a Black Woman As children, we all think that the world is our oyster, not knowing or acknowledging the barriers that may come in pursuing a career in the legal profession.

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Like a magic wand, my ultimate wish was to become a lawyer, which I thought would instantly happen. I did not realise that it was going to be a lengthy process. From a child, till now, as a 2nd year Law (LLB) student, the message has always echoed in my head that as a black woman I need to work ten times harder than my peers. And when I examine the Solicitors Regulation Authority 2017 Statistics, women make up 48% of the profession, but 21% of lawyers are BAME, and 34% of BAME lawyers are partners in sole practitioner firms.

This only emphasises that we all need to work harder in improving these statistics, so that we can see more diversity represented in the higher judiciary, and well established firms. The statistics remain relatively low, as they were in 2014.

So when Nicola Williams (Service Complaints Ombudsman for the armed forces) returned to London South Bank University (LSBU) as an alumna to share her experiences, and ongoing struggle as a BAME woman within the legal field, I felt very inspired to know that it is also possible for me to access the legal profession.

Prompted by wanting to see improvements in society, the question she asks is “am I just a tick box?” which invites us all to have the same question as future entrants to firms or chambers. Will we be included for the right reasons? Are we truly accepted and embraced for our individual uniqueness? Or are we just merely there to tick boxes? Imagine… recruiters are like bakers who display eye-catching cakes on shop windows because of their bold appearance (i.e. being a woman, BAME or both.), as opposed to their actual taste (i.e. hard- work ethic, dedication, passion). Surely, the taste, is just as important, if not more important than the outward appearance.

Therefore, when Williams stated “we still don’t live in a post-racial world, [there is] still inequality, and racial bias, and there’s more to do”, I undoubtedly agreed with her. It is clear that some progress has been made, as the Law Society has put more pressure on chambers and firms to give all individuals a fair and equal chance when it comes to applications. However, as I mentioned earlier, this needs to be more visible when we attend courts, and other organisations.

AM I EVEN PART OF THE COMPETITION?

Ashlee: I come from an unconventional background In 2012 I successfully graduated from Uxbridge College with two distinctions and a merit in Graphic Design. Whilst at college I always thought that there were two separate ends to the spectrum: the creative individuals at one end, and the academics at the other end. Many of you will have just read that sentence and thought ‘how naive can she be? Individuals can be both creative and academic!’ No, I didn’t think that was possible until a few years later – during my first year at university.

Before I came to LSBU as a mature student, I spent a number of years in various job roles: I started as an art-worker for a large pharmaceutical company – which was the career path I thought I wanted; I also worked in various retail roles as I tried to work out where I wanted to go next. It was during this period that I began to feel like the ‘weakest link’ who would amount to nothing. But over the next few months, I began to realise that if I wanted these feelings to change, I needed to be open to new challenges and be unafraid to fail. This led to my first initial experience of the law. I saw a job advert for a Court Usher role at my local Crown Court, and the experience I gained from my time there allowed me to gain an understanding of how the court system operates, as well as the importance of free legal advice to defendants and their families. During this time, I also visited the Supreme Court and the Royal Courts of Justice to gain further knowledge in order to write

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my personal statement for my application to study at LSBU. When I received an unconditional offer to study Law, I was ecstatic but petrified at the same time. I knew there would be a number of written examinations that I would need to sit every year and by my recollection, the last exam I took was approximately seven years ago when I was in secondary school completing my GCSEs. So as a mature student whose academic background does not relate to law, I was anxious that I was at a disadvantage in “the competition.”

Kathlyn: I am not confident enough While I do acknowledge, and by no means intend to deny the existence of the most talked about “barriers” such as race, age, gender and disability (to name a few), I do think that it is just as important to shed light on the barrier that we students, all have in common – fear. Like most, if not all students, I too have always struggled with lack of confidence - keeping me from not only seeking relevant work experiences and “right” connections, but even in believing that I could achieve a mark greater than average in my studies.

What really caught my attention during Nicola’s talk was that story of her being told by her teacher that because she’s black, she needs to start “preparing to work for Woolworths’.” It was very encouraging for me that she did not let that comment restrict her aspirations.

Although I have not had any teachers limit my potential in the way that Nicola’s did, I did grow up in an environment where I was constantly told, “you can’t”, and little did I know, this would have an adverse effect on how I would later deal with class participation, presentations, interviews, networking events, and even in my inability to pay for my own food at McDonald’s.

It was during my first year that I started to appreciate how restricting a barrier lack of selfesteem is. A few nights before I met with my personal tutor for my PDP appointment, I was staring at my CV for a good hour. I was ashamed to see that there was almost nothing on it; and when it came to asking myself why, I realised that I have never really tried to seek work experiences or be involved in any extracurricular activities because I have always been afraid that I was inadequate and incompetent.

Yet at the same time, I was starting to truly recognise how competitive the legal profession is and how determined my peers are to succeed in it.

At one point, I remember telling myself: “They’re all worried about getting a first, I’m worried about whether I could even pass. She’s all worried about getting accepted for vacation schemes/training contracts, I don’t even know if I am eligible to apply.

He’s all worried about getting an email back from that trainee solicitor he met, I do not even have the confidence to attend networking events.” I felt so behind, I did not even feel like I was part of “the competition,” and I wondered whether I was the only one who felt that way.

Breaking the Barriers The earliest stage of students’ journey in their pursuit of a career in law is arguably during their study of the LLB. That is why it is vital that students at this stage not only become aware of any “barriers”, but to also be equipped in overcoming those.

Bunmi: Events & Extra-Curricular Activities Coming to LSBU, which is a champion of diversity, I always felt accepted and encouraged to pursue my legal profession. The Law Department ensures that all students are given equal opportunities and exposure.

This they do through the extra-curricular activities on offer such as: Mooting; Street law; the Legal Advice Clinic; Law Society; Zoe’s World Society; Law and Technology Society; and the Devil’s Advocate – to name a few.

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These opportunities not only help us build our CVs, they also allow us to gain and develop key transferable skills – making it easier for us to transition into the legal workplace.

When it comes to ensuring that students are exposed and connected to the relevant people or “right connections”, the Department regularly hosts a range of talks inviting guest speakers like Imran Khan QC and Dame Linda Dobbs, which not only motivate us, but also offer a platform for us to network, develop our confidence, and be further exposed to the profession outside academia.

They also work closely with organisations like Aspiring Solicitors whose ethos is that of diversity and inclusion.

Being BAME or a woman may make the legal profession inaccessible and shut certain doors.

However, when one door shuts, another will open.

Whether your barrier is being a: woman, BAME, LGBT, disabled, not fluent in English, single parent, or even being a part-time employee. You and I, can still achieve our aspirations, as long as we never give up, stay focused, and continue to utilize the opportunities and resources we have such as work placements, extra-curricular activities, and lecturers’ office hours.

Ashlee: The Law Division My anxiety and fear relating to my academic abilities slowly began to dissolve throughout the first year of my degree. This was due to the unlimited support and encouragement that the Law Division at LSBU provides. The tutors’ commitment is evident not only in the way that they prepare and deliver their teaching materials, but more importantly in their willingness to offer extra support during their office hours. Besides being allocated a personal tutor who is always readily available to offer support on a one-to-one basis, other members of the academic staff are also very effective in offering constructive feedback. They help identify students’ weaknesses in the work that they produce and ensure that those are addressed either by going over a topic(s) that is/are misunderstood, or by directing us to relevant departments that could offer further support i.e.

Skills for learning. Just recently, the Legal Writers’ Club was set up with the aim to help students improve their essay writing skills, which is particularly useful for students like myself, who have previously studied courses that are not normally essay-assessed.

AM I EVEN PART OF THE COMPETITION? With these, it is undeniable that the support on offer by the Law Division at LSBU ensures that students’ academic background does not have to determine the extent of their potential.

Kathlyn: Mentoring and Working In the Law Adding to what Ashlee and Bunmi have already mentioned, there were two other schemes that have been instrumental in developing my confidence.

It was by the start of the second semester in Year 1 that I started to develop confidence in my academic abilities, that is after having achieved first in my previous modules as a result of my tutors’ support. Ecstatic, I realised that if it was possible for an “average student” (that is me) to achieve a 1st, perhaps I was also mistaken about my other doubts and fears. It was then that I decided it was time to get involved in extracurricular activities so that I would also find confidence in my practical abilities. Determined, I have taken advantage of the mentoring scheme – specifically set up for the benefit of first year students. Knowing that she was a second year student, which meant that she’s likely able to relate to me, I sought advice from my mentor regarding opportunities that are available within the university. My fears and doubts remained, but with that in mind, she guided me by introducing opportunities that I was not previously aware of, explaining application processes, and in directing me to relevant departments/resources where I could get further support. A few months later, I was able to add “Secretary for Zoe’s World Society” on my CV. As I started to progress, I also started to recognise the significance of a mentor’s role in one’s personal development. It was for this reason that I decided to apply for the role in my second year. This is not only another experience to add to my CV, it is also another opportunity for me to gain new skills and develop my confidence further – requiring me to put into practice what I know in theory (that which I used to consider my weakness), all the while providing support to students who may be in the same position as I was a year ago.

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Working In the Law on the other hand, is a second year module that has been specifically designed to address what most students like myself are not very aware of – the practical side of law.

Others have deemed it a “taste of LPC” – referring to the Legal Practice Course.

This is because the module involves not only the study of civil and criminal procedures, the activities set out also involve advocacy and debating, as well as opportunities for students to attempt applying for pupillage or training contracts, and the interview process involved. It was in fact, for these very reasons that the module was initially very daunting and challenging for me. But the tutors’ obvious commitment in cultivating students’ potential was very encouraging that within this module, I have had the opportunity to overcome my fear of public speaking, attempt writing an application form, and develop the confidence to attend networking and career insight events. My work placement at the Legal Advice Clinic had also allowed me to develop skills I would not have otherwise achieved in my studies such as obtaining relevant information from clients in order to identify their needs, effectively conduct research and deliver an advice that would meet those needs. By the end of this module, not only did I feel that I am part of “the competition,” I also now do think that I may well have a chance.

Ticking all the boxes Whether you are worried about being a “tick box”, your academic background, lack of confidence, or whatever you may consider a “barrier” in your pursuit of a career in law, it is our hope that you become aware of the fact that although the legal profession is competitive and often difficult to access, it is possible to be a part of it. There is support within and outside the university which is readily available for students, ensuring that you can jump any barrier.

Kathlyn Mercado, Bunmi Oloko-Oluwatobi, Ashlee Pleaden, 2nd year LLB Law students

IN-HOUSE PARALEGAL It is that time of the year when we law students are thinking about those dreaded training contracts. I think about the number of hours I spent researching law firms, their niche areas of law and then completing those application forms.

The entire time I knew that being in a law firm was not for me, but at the time I did not know about any other way into the profession.

After much research and Googling into “alternative routes into the legal industry”, I came across the in-house route. Working within the legal team of a business where you solely advise on matters that concern the company and you get to leave at 5:30pm every day sounded great and if I am honest, the idea of those sleep pods I heard from those I knew in city firms terrified me.

Set on working in-house, I was lucky to find a Legal Assistant role within an American IT company, which transitioned in to a paralegal role. I remember my first day, I had no idea what to expect, however I really got into the role immediately.

What I really love about being in-house is that every day is varied and you end up dealing with a range of queries, really applying your knowledge of the law to the business and mitigating risk.

Queries could range from an employee stealing company property to whether we were legally liable for what a contractor accessed on a company laptop. Working within the sales led company really taught me how to communicate effectively and explain legal terms to non-legal people. I routinely had to explain to teams what a non-solicitation clause was and the need for these in contracts, despite the pushback from the other party. Explaining legal terms in a non-legal way really strengthened my knowledge of contract terms.

Working in-house taught me drafting skills such as non-disclosure agreements which were the first agreements that I learnt to negotiate.

Whilst these are very basic, getting them wrong can prove costly. Around 6 months into the role I was on the phone negotiating contracts with a wide range of international entities such as BNP Paribas, Dell and McDonald’s.

The uniqueness of the in-house role was that I also undertook corporate paralegal work meaning that I could get involved in company secretarial work such as drafting board minutes and filing the confirmation statements to Companies House.

The team you work with when in an in-house role are really what make the experience a unique one, I worked in a small team of six, of which three were secondees from City Law firms. Working with these secondees allowed me to benefit from the private practice knowledge that they had, including case management, which meant that my skills in that area significantly improved.

After 18 months I took this experience and confidence over to a different company in which the work is even more varied. In my 6 months at the company I have dealt with land leases, recruiter terms and an incredible amount of GDPR related work. A part of my role is to manage GDPR enquires and facilitate deletions, subject access requests and investigate any breaches. I have even updated the group’s policies to comply with GDPR and anti money laundering regulations.

Working in-house has given me the confidence to learn, to feel supported and to have a work-life balance. In addition to this, as I gained a CILEX qualification at LSBU, I can apply to qualify as a legal executive through the experience route once I have had three years’ experience.

Sophia Khan, PGDip, Legal Studies

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MY ERAMUS TRAINEESHIP I participated in the Erasmus programme for two months from July 2018 to September 2018 in Antalya, Turkey. This was one of the best decisions I have made so far in terms of my law degree because I had the opportunity to work with outstanding lawyers in Antalya with the law firm of my own choice.

This meant that I could pick the area of expertise that I preferred. Another positive outcome for me was having the chance to socialise and I met countless number of important people such as politicians, judges, more lawyers and business firm managers.

I was even offered jobs from my host law firm and other people who wanted me to use my English and Turkish skills which was an honour.

The weather was amazing during my time there, the sun was shining every day and I was able to tour the city on the weekends, go to the beach to relax and return to work at the Court of Justice and the office during the week.

Upon completing the Erasmus programme, it stood out on my CV and it’s really helpful to discuss my experience abroad in interviews. The lawyers that I have worked with in Antalya were very happy with the work I did and they are always there for me to help in terms of applying for more jobs. They have also become my referees that I can use in the future.

I made a lot of long-term friendships that I am proud of and I always feel at home as I returned again during the Christmas break. The lawyers I have worked with were very friendly and made me feel comfortable by giving me my own desk, space to work, sharing their folders with me and teaching me all that they can about the Turkish legal system.

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I met inspiring people of all ages who were kind enough to keep me company and show me around the local areas. I visited the Aksu police department and the Buyuksehir Belediyesi which was also a different experience. One of the most positive outcomes of participating in the Erasmus programme is that you are able to experience everything first hand and are able to witness real life client and lawyer interaction. I would highly recommend more students to pick their own firm that they are aspiring to work in someday and choose the type of people you want to work with and experience a different culture which on its own is an exciting experience to have. I received a lot of help from the Erasmus team at LSBU which I am grateful for and as I am close to graduating from Law, I have chosen to go back to Antalya, Turkey to study for my Masters and to complete another Erasmus traineeship that I am very much looking forward to!

Yaren Ertunc - 3rd year LLB Law student

LEGAL ADVICE CLINIC

Why volunteer at the Legal Advice Clinic?

The knowledge and skills gained from being a volunteer at the Legal Advice Clinic has made my time at London South Bank University more worthwhile.

Not only has it been beneficial for students to participate and gain advocacy skills but the Clinic has also provided free advice for the local community and students.

The Legal Advice Clinic comprises of 2 hour sessions each week, whereby students are accompanied by a supervising qualified solicitor, providing face to face advice to drop in clients. The drop-in sessions include an interview to identify the subject area which can help establish what the client wants to achieve. Once this is established the student volunteers research in the office, using numerous advice nets and other resources.

The student volunteers will then consult the supervisors ensuring that they agree on the appropriate level of service provided and ensure that they have gathered the correct resources. A second interview will take place with the client using the information gathered to provide the client with further advice or any referral to a specialist if needed. The students are then required to write up a thorough but concise case record, again this is a valued skill learnt as it requires attention to detail and the ability to deliver only the relevant facts, which will be valuable in any field of law.

The clinic gives students a valuable insight into dealing with real life client issues and ensure that we are able to find the best possible initial solution to their enquiries. However, if areas were outside of the clinic’s expertise we guaranteed that they were referred to other law centres or other law firms who were capable of handling their specific case. Where the client needed more specialist advice we were able to refer them to evening sessions held at the clinic.

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The Legal Advice Clinic is a real CV booster ensuring that students have the opportunity to get real law work experience during their time at university, enhancing employability in the future and developing a range of transferable skills such as client contact and interaction.

While studying law is very academic, experience in the legal advice clinic is advantageous as it gives students practical skills that are required in future law careers and enables students to use their legal knowledge learnt throughout their degree by applying it to real life situations. Students have the opportunity to provide and tailor advice to their clients’ needs and learn to express it in ways they are able to understand.

I have learnt numerous skills throughout my experience at the advice clinic including the ability to structure an interview and ask the relevant questions in order to maintain a focused discussion and gain the information needed to carry out the advice. The clinic has also increased my exposure to other legal professionals especially through the evening sessions where I have worked with specialist lawyers from local law firms, helping me to understand some of the pro-bono work involved by other law firms and the ways in which they deal with situations.

In an increasingly competitive job market, it is essential to get the best possible experience and be able to apply the knowledge and skills learnt in practice which will help law students stand out to future employers.

If you, as a law student, get the opportunity to volunteer in the legal advice clinic I would thoroughly recommend this experience.

Lydia Mann, 3rd Year LLB Law Student

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those exemptions exists within the present evidence.

The US takes an alternative approach, relying on a catch all approach with fair use. It relies upon four tests set out under legislation. The court will be required to consider the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount of the work used and whether it was substantial and the impact it will have on the original work.6 The first question, as to the purpose and nature of the use, looks at whether the resulting work is transformative and provides something new.7 The court will also take into account purposes such as critique as opposed to superseding the original work.8 Both tests are by their nature interpretive, it was stated by Lewison J that the evidential questions answered by both parties are tools for the court to ascertain whether an infringement has taken place or not.9 When looking at the systems implemented by services like YouTube, Facebook and Twitch, the algorithms focus on matching selected content with even the smallest snippets used by content creators ignoring the additional questions that may negate an infringement being present.

The issues are further discussed by various academics, who highlight the lack of transparency and accountability that exist due to the use of these systems.10 Even though there are in most cases an appeal mechanism in place, this may not be sufficient especially when multiple claims can be issued within the same timeframe that brings about action taken under the three strikes policy from YouTube for instance. Another issue highlighted by Urban is that most people tend not to use the appeals systems set up by the online platforms, owing to a lack of understanding or a belief that nothing will be done.11

JUSTICE AND ALGORITHMS

Matthew Quigley (LLB, 2016) recently graduated with an LLM in Law and technology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Academically focused on Intellectual Property Law, Internet Law and, Technology and Justice.

Introduction As technology moves forward, the law has struggled in many ways to keep up in both regulating new technology and making use of it. However, in areas where technology has been used, such as in online enforcement of copyright by algorithms to deal with large volumes of content, other issues have been observed in their use. Further to this in the United States, there has been an uptake of the use of decision-making algorithms in the criminal justice system, as was seen in New Jersey.1

1. Cassandra Aquart, New Jersey Used An Algorithm To Revamp Its Bail System: Is It Working, And At What Cost? (2018) Available at https://medium.com/rethinking-tech/new-jersey-used-an-algorithm-to-revamp-its-bail-system-is-itworking-and-at-what-cost-1bb42d60f451 (accessed 21 July 2019).

2. 17 U.S.C §512 (Digital Millennium Copyright act 1999)

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In the context of Copyright With the advent of the internet, legislators and policy makers had to address the new challenges of mass infringement. In the US this took the form of the Safe Harbour provisions,2 which required those hosting content to respond expediently to infringement claims.

Similar provisions were introduced in the EU; though in Europe a prohibition was placed on the imposition of general monitoring obligations.

When determining whether a piece of content that utilises a copyrighted work falls under the exemptions, the main test was best illustrated by Lord Denning in the case of Hubbard v Vosper. In the case he outlined that, the relationship between the length of commentary and the length of the extracts used, would be an indicator as to whether fair dealing was evident in cases of journalism and critique.4 Illustrating the value judgement that has to be taken into account when assessing certain infringement cases. Fair dealing however is not a catch all exemption, under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 it is referenced within the list of specific exemptions.5 Fair dealing is best viewed as an interpretative tool to determine whether one of

3. Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘Directive on electronic commerce’) OJ L178/1, Art. 14 4. Hubbard v Vosper [1976] 2 Q.B 84 5. Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, eg s.30

6. 17 U.S.C §106 (U.S Copyright Act 1976) 7. Campbell v Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. 510 U.S 569 (1994) 8. Folsom v Marsh 6 Hunt Mer. Mag. 175, 9 F.Cas. 342 [1841] 9. Ultra Marketing v Universal Components Ltd [2004] EWHC 468 Ch

10. Perel & Elkin-Koren, Accountability in Algorithmic Copyright Enforcement, Perel & Elkin-Koren 19 Stan. Tech. L Rev. 473 (2016) 11. Urban, Karaganis & Schofield, Notice and Takedown in everyday practice (2017), UC Berkley Research Paper No. 2755628

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The recent passage of art 17 of the new EU Copyright Directive12 (art 13 of the draft Directive) has added fresh fuel to the flames of debate in this area. Under the Directive, which Member States have three years to implement, responsibility for obtaining licences for user uploaded material will fall on online service providers. However, the Directive preserves the ability of users to “generate and upload content freely, for purposes of quotation, criticism, review, caricature, parody and pastiche”. How will technology reconcile these competing principles?13 Criminal Justice and Algorithms As mentioned previously, in some states in the US, there has been an uptake and trial of the use of algorithms to help judges make bail decisions.14 The purpose of these algorithms is to make a risk assessment based on a variety of factors, that is to inform the decision of the judge when granting bail.

Aquart mentions that the recommendations made by the algorithm used in New Jersey are not solely relied upon and the judge is to take into account additional information provided by both parties.15 This highlights a comfortable mix between technology and the use of human judgement, in order to come with a decision.

There are however issues that are not to be ignored, as mentioned with the use of algorithms online, there is a profound lack of transparency.

In light of the use within the court-room to aid with bail applications, the lack of information as to the weighting of the factors such as a whether they pose a flight risk, or chance to reoffend, could be seen to limit the transparency of the system. It also requires that information to be quantifiable, which arguably is not possible.

An issue pointed out by A.J Wang at Yale Law School, is also the public perception of such tools and the impact it has on the legitimacy of those decisions.16 There is currently a lack of trust in algorithms in the US to make decisions within the court room, which makes the public uncomfortable with their use. Trust comes from understanding, and to gain understanding, there must be transparency as to how these systems are used, and whether the defendant has access to the information that enables the algorithm to make its judgement.

Conclusions The utilization of algorithms to make decisions on a legal basis has an obvious chilling effect.

The lack of transparency or accountability for these automated decisions, hinders the capacity to appeal and challenge them.17 Technology while providing a means to solve the problems of dealing with mass infringement online, or to decide whether bail should be granted to aid overburdened court systems, has inherent problems.

It should be stated that the criticisms and opinions put forth here of technological solutions do not rule out their use. The issue arises when technology creates obstacles to justice and undermines people’s reasonable reliance on well-established legal principles. Technology can bring benefits to the legal profession and law as a whole, with eDiscovery technology and new research tools making the work of lawyers more efficient. The other is the use of it to help make up for the short-fall from an increasingly squeezed legal aid system, the development of applications to aid litigants in person, or assist with the work load of legal clinics. Legal technology should focus on facilitating justice.

Matthew Quigley (LLB, 2016)

12. Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market and Amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC, Article 17.

13. Consilium (2019) EU Adjusts Copyright Rules to the Digital Age available at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2019/04/15/euadjusts-copyright-rules-to-the-digital-age. Accessed 21 July 2019 14. Cassandra Aquart, New Jersey Used an Algorithm To Revamp Its Bail System: Is It Working, And At What Cost? (2018)

15. Ibid 16. Wang, A. J., Procedural Justice and Risk-Assessment Algorithms (June 21, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3170136 or http://dx.doi. org/10.2139/ssrn.3170136 Accessed 21 July 2019 17. Urban, Karaganis & Schofield, Notice and Takedown in everyday practice (2017), UC Berkley Research Paper No. 2755628,

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HUMAN RIGHTS IN PAKISTAN

The land of the pure: its treatment towards its minorities Pakistan gained its independence from India on the 14th August 1947. It was established on the foundations of religious freedom for all, especially Muslims. Typically, one would imagine that this would encourage the people of Pakistan to treat everyone equally.

But the current landscape displays a different picture.

Its inability to defend basic human rights of minority groups has been called out by international organisations worldwide. This is evidenced by reports such as the Amnesty International report on Pakistan 2017/18, which says ‘minorities continued to face discrimination in the enjoyment of economic and social rights’. This is echoed in the report conducted by the Human Rights Watch.

Who are the minorities? Anyone but a Muslim, right? However, it is a bit more complicated than that, 96% of the population recognise themselves as a Muslim. Within that percentage, there lie a lot of sects, which divide Pakistanis and are the cause of much sectarian violence. The majority of Pakistanis are Sunni (estimated to be 75%-95%). Nevertheless, for this article, minorities will be Shia, Ahmadiyya, women, Hindu and Christian.

1 Jones, Brian H. (2010). Around Rakaposhi. Brian H Jones. ISBN 9780980810721.

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These groups are inevitably considered as second class citizens. The Pakistani demographic as already shown is mostly Sunni, therefore, the next biggest sect in Pakistan consists of Shia Muslims. They are constantly involved in sectarian violence. It has been alleged that Shias have been discriminated against by the Pakistani government since 1948, claiming that Sunnis are given preference in business, official position and administration position1. This seems true.

Zia-ul-Haq, the former military dictator, from the offset was anti-Shia. Terrorist groups target Shia specific areas, mosque and gatherings, as they are in a ‘war of beliefs’, as they perceive it.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community are considered as heretics. Their rights are limited to the extent that they face state persecution and constitutionally they are limited in their freedom of religion and belief. There are two laws which outlaw their mere existence. In 1974, the Parliament of Pakistan, under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, declared the group to be non-Muslim. In 1984, under Zia ul Haq, he passed Ordinance XX which entailed restrictions upon them as a community.

They are not allowed to call their mosques, a mosque; they cannot call the Azaan (call to prayer); they cannot pose as a Muslim. This is also subject to a fine or/and imprisonment of three years. One recent case study demonstrated the cruelty of the law and government. Abdul Shakoor, an 82-year-old manager of a bookshop and optician’s store, was found to be guilty under the Penal Code for blasphemy for propagating the Ahmadiyya faith and stirring up religious hatred and sectarianism. As I write this, he has been released on bail, finally.

Girls and women in Pakistan are marginalised and apprehended from their basic rights. Disadvantage in education is one of the most discussed themes.

Education should be a basic right for everyone, and it is the key to success to future nations. The newly elected government in their manifesto stated that 32% of primary school age girls are out of school in Pakistan, compared to 21% of boys. By grade six, 59% of girls are out of school, versus 49% of boys. Only 13% of girls are still in school by ninth grade. The finger can be pointed at various factors.

Poverty is the biggest challenge around the world, and it halts the progress of knowledge as families cannot financially afford to send their girls. In addition, they will be busy working to provide for family. Social norms play a big factor because the mindset of the families stop them from sending them. The belief is that girls should stay home and be looking after the family, the traditional conservative view.

Finally, armed conflict and targeted attack on school.

As Pakistan is an epicentre for terrorism, many parents face a dilemma on whether to send girls. Take the example of the December 2014 attack in Peshawar on a Military School, killing 145 civilians, mostly all of them children, or the terrorist attack on Malala Yousafzai as she fought for basic right to education.

The last group are the Hindu and Christian. Hindus in Pakistan have experienced a decline and persecution.

Hinduism derives from India therefore it is an easy target for Pakistanis to associate and lash out against them.

‘Discrimination and prejudice against the Hindus is reinforced by the religious orthodoxy, within educational

institutions as well as by the state-controlled media’2.

As far as Christianity is concerned, the recent famous case of Asia Bibi exemplifies the issue. Although she was cleared by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, nationwide riots took place at the outrage of the decision. This continues to marginalise and endanger thei lives of Christians in Pakistan.

The short-term solution to all these problems would be to repeal any specific act which is restricting the freedom of groups, such as blasphemy laws. This would allow them to practise freely without limitation. The government would need to implement an open arm policy, and the current Government of Imran Khan seems the most likely to do this.

The long-term solution is a much harder task.

The general population of Pakistan has to change its mindset. The current generation may not be able to fathom this; therefore, it is up to the new generation to change the scene. Building schools would be the obvious answer but it is those inside the school, the teachers, who align the mindset of the youth. There needs to be impartiality adopted.

The curriculum has to accommodate those beliefs.

The change needs to happen from top down to bottom.

Asma Jahanghir and Hina Jilani have laid the groundwork for human rights in Pakistan. Their domestic and international work has been recognised duly by the UN. They co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 1987. In terms of minorities, it has pressured the government to withdraw the insertion of a ‘religion’ column in people’s national identity card. The positive human rights work gives a flicker of optimism in a country plagued with corruption and human rights abuses.

It was the courage of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan, to pursue this dream. In his famous address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, on the 11th August 1947, he said, ‘You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed -- that has nothing to do with the business of the State’. This serves a reminder to Pakistan and the whole world on the issue of freedom of religion and belief – state and religion, should be separate.

Umar Bhatti, 3rd year LLB Law Student

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TRADING WITH CHINA?

Key awareness for negotiators The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has experienced relevant changes since the revision and opening-up policy was announced in 1978. Following these economic reforms in 1979, half a billion people in China have been lifted out of poverty. In the new global economy, China has become a powerful machine driving the world economy around the world, promoting globalisation through the trading relationships with other countries, and expanding domestic consumption. According to the Financial Times, since China took part of the World Trade Organisation in

2. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/hindus-2

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2001, more than $52 billion in foreign direct investment was attracted in 2002, overtaking the United States.

Since then the trend has gone farther ($136 billion in 2017, (World investment Report, UNCTAD)), it seems to be no end for China’s desire for investment.

Despite being one of the largest economies in the world, little progress has been made in the adoption of Western characteristics, and the basic laws governing foreign investment seems to be opaque for investors.

The main purpose of this article is to highlight useful

considerations when starting negotiations in China regarding its culture and etiquette to pursue a successful business relationship.

Cultural behaviour to do business in China In order to be successful on a Chinese business opportunity, keep in mind that building a strong relationship with your future business partner will assure you a long-lasting business partnership and minimising risks concerning to quality of the product itself, timing, shipment and clearance.

It is relevant to highlight that relationships for Chinese people are extremely important than for other people around the world. Contributors find three fundamental grounds: First, the economy in China is constantly monitored by the government which will always intervene if it goes in the opposite direction. Second, law in China has a different perspective than in Western countries where law is considered as the basic set of principles regulating behaviour in the community, and as the main remedy for grievances. In China, the basic set of principles regulating behaviour are based on Confucianism.

Societal compromises rather than legal mechanisms strongly guarantee a good observance of agreements between parties. Third, it is essential to mention three codes of ethics regarded by Chinese community when doing business: First, the regard of the feelings of others, which is known as Qingmian. Second, the term He which refers to the state of being in concord with others.

And, third, Guanxi which refers to the relational system and exchange of favours with the clear objective of promoting international or local negotiations.

Moreover, be prepared to travel to China for visiting your future business partner. It is quite common that a Chinese company’s representatives invite you for a viewing of the manufacture facilities to enhance your confidence regarding their products. If you go there, be aware of some business formalities when meeting face to face.

According to Chinese culture, it is quite common that businessmen invite their clients to luxury restaurants to share drinks and meals where you should remember two major protocols: First, the appropriate salutation.

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For instance, 郭总 Guo“ Zong ” which refers to a senior manager of a company; and, 郭处 Guo “Chu” that refers to the head of a department. Second, the seating arrangements when having meals and formal meetings.

You should remember which place should be taken for you as a guest. It is as follows: the President (Jongchi) or Vice President (Fu Jongchi) of the host company will sit in the chair that directly faces the door. Then, the principal guest will sit to the host’s right-hand side. The other supporting host who could be the Director (Jongjen) or the General Manager (Jong Qingli) will have a seat on the chair facing President or Vice President’s chair nearest the door so that he or she can communicate easily with the waitresses and other restaurant staff. Then, the other guests will arrange themselves in decreasing rank with the least senior people closest to the door . Also, it is relevant to be aware of your place when you share seats in host’s car. The principal host will sit next to the driver and the main guest will sit just behind the host’s place and the other guest will sit behind the driver.

Finally, if you do not feel confident enough with the company’s performance, you should contact directly with a representative office based in China at one of the prominent cities such as Beijing, Singapore or Hong Kong in order to provide you with a valid and truthful information about your future business partner. This local agent normally operates with export/ import rights and can deal with customs clearance paperwork,and can also control stock and inventory.

Anira Chang, LLM student

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LAW DIVISION ROUND UP I’m thrilled to end the year on a real high – @LSBU_Law is 11th in The Guardian League Table!

Thanks to everyone who has made this possible, our dedicated academic staff, the professional services teams who care for our students and, of course, our fantastic students. We couldn’t do it without you.

This issue is packed with all the great things that have been going on across the Law Division. It is hugely rewarding to work with the Student Law Society, whether on our mentoring programme, our joint programme of evening talks or just having a good time at the expertly organised social events.

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The future is now!

If you follow @LSBU_Law on Twitter you will see that tech is a particular passion of ours. We have been observing, and participating in, the inexorable rise of lawtech over the last two years. I have been attending conferences and talking to people in the field and it seems likely that legal practice will be transformed.

This could be a doomsday scenario for entry-level graduate employment in the legal market.

Rather than taking a negative line, @LSBU_Law believe that we can prepare our students for the new world and, at the same time, tackle the increasing access to justice gap.

We have set up a new law and technology module where law students work alongside computer science students to create access to justice tech solutions.

Some very exciting ideas have emerged from the first run of the module and we are hoping to develop them further. @LSBU_Law are proud to be in the front pack of law schools working in this area. Our work is being showcased at conferences in the UK and abroad and will feature in a book on “Teaching Legal Education in the Digital Age” in 2020.

Packed schedules Looking back at the announcements on The Law Hub and our Twitter feed, we have had another busy year.

Nicola Williams (Law, 1984) gave a powerful talk challenging the illusion of a post-racial world at our Annual Alumni Lecture. Nicola spent 16 years as a barrister focusing on both civil and criminal law, with a specialism in police misconduct cases before becoming a Judge in 2009.

She is now the highest ranking civilian in the Armed Forces as the Service Complaints Ombudsman, and stands three times listed as one of the most influential black people in the UK. You can read more about the impact of Nicola’s talk on three of our second years elsewhere in this issue.

Other events included talks by Sir Peter Thornton QC, the Chief Coroner, and Remi Mohammed from Inquest on the Grenfell Tower disaster, conferences on Police and Racism in October and Refugee Law in Europe, an evening on Lawtech with the South London Law Society and various careers events. These covered everything from a talk by Nick Young, a partner in City Law Firm DAC Beachcroft to a new series on commercial awareness led by Vanessa Beever, the Director of Education and Student Experience for the School of Law and Social Sciences. Vanessa is very well equipped to do this as a former international corporate finance Senior Associate with New York law firm Shearman and Sterling LLP. Opportunity knocks We are keen to offer as many employability and extra-curricular activities as we can. The Gee Street court helpdesk in Shoreditch replaced our long standing helpdesk at Lambeth County Court, when the court closed.

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We are planning a dedicated family law helpdesk as well.

You can read elsewhere in this issue about the exciting developments in mooting, Street Law and other advocacy and outreach opportunities. Internally, Robert Hush and Olivia Rainford, the LSBU head of alumni relations, have set up a lunchtime Legal Writers’ Club to support students’ legal writing in an informal setting.

And, of course, all those who attended enjoyed the networking event of the year, the London Legal Walk. This is a sponsored 10k walk from the Royal Courts of Justice through the Royal Parks and round the Serpentine. Staff, students and friends of the Division joined our team and some lucky students got to say hello to Lady Hale! @LSBU_Law on the move We were delighted to welcome Professor Hassan Abdelhamid, Dean of the British University in Egypt and Dr Marwa Zein, programme director of the BA in Anglo-Egyptian Law to London in March. Our partnership with BUE goes from strength to strength. I have attended conferences in Melbourne, Australia and all over the UK, discussing lawtech, the impact of the SQE and clinic.

Alan Russell spoke about lawtech in the clinic context at the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education in Bratislava.

It is not only staff who are on the move. Students on the Comparative Law module visited Hong Kong and the EU Crime and Migration module held its regular study trip to Opatija. This issue has the stories of the Law and Technology Society’s visit to The Hague and one of our students who took up an Erasmus traineeship. Student mobility is very dear to our hearts so we were particularly pleased and proud to launch Dr Cherry James’s new book, “Citizenship, Nation-building and Identity in the EU: The Contribution of Erasmus Student Mobility”.

Finally, law staff have all moved to new offices in Borough Road as part of the LSBU estates plan.

The Keyworth Centre will remain the student home for the Law Division (classes and tutor meetings), it is just our offices that are moving. We will still have some tutorial rooms in the Keyworth Centre as well.

Andy Unger, Head of the Law Division

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Devil’s Advocate Magazine, 2019 Issue