Wednesday 25th January 2012, 2pm – 4.30pm, Deeprose Theatre, Govan Mbeki Building, Glasgow Caledonian University. Free. Register online here: http://gcu-law.eventbrite.com/

Any queries to lawsoc@caledonian.ac.uk

The SPLG are delighted to invite you to their Autumn event, on current issues in media law in Scotland and the UK.  The event is being held with the support of Glasgow Caledonian University’s Institute for Society and Social Justice Research on Tuesday 29 November 2011. 

Recent developments involving and affecting the media need little introduction.  Complaints about the apparently excessive protection of privacy through the use of superinjunctions have shifted in the course of the year to much wider concerns over the involvement of media organisations in phone hacking and unorthodox, if not unlawful, relationships with the police and others.  Meantime, in the field of freedom of expression and regulation of hate speech we have had the introduction – and evolution – of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Bill in the Scottish Parliament.

To discuss these current issues in media law we will have a panel of speakers including:

Hugh Tomlinson QC a well known specialist in media and information law including defamation, confidence, privacy and data protection.  He has represented a number of  high profile individuals seeking to protect their privacy, including several well known (English) footballers and is highly respected as an authority on civil liberties and regulation of the media.

Rosalind McInnes is principal solicitor with BBC Scotland and the author of Scots Law for Journalists, now in its 8th edition.  She speaks, publishes and teaches on all aspects of media law and has been at the coal face for many years challenging reporting restrictions, and protecting the rights of journalists, in the Scottish courts and in the European Court of Human Rights. 

The event will take place on Tuesday 29 November 2011 at the Govan Mbeki Building, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow

It will commence with tea and coffee at  5.15pm.  Talks will start at 5.30pm and will run, with a Q&A session, until 7pm.  There will then be a drinks reception from 7pm to 8pm.

Please email Karen.Brough@shepwedd.co.uk to book your place.  We anticipate that places for this event will be in demand.  We do not charge for our evening events, but we do ask in return that if you sign up and are unable to attend you let us know, so that your place may be offered to somebody else.

The SPLG are delighted to invite you to their Winter event, on the use of international law in cases in the Scottish courts.  The event is being held jointly with Edinburgh University, on Friday 24^th February 2012.

If there ever were days when international law rarely troubled the domestic courts, they are long gone.  Scots law is in a continuing process of adaptation to international rules of law.  Some international law has changed Scots law by being incorporated directly, the most obvious examples being the European Convention on Human Rights and EU rules of law.  Other international rules such as those deriving from the Aarhus Convention are revolutionising the approach to expenses in public law cases, and encouraging a liberalisation in title and interest rules.  For the future, the Scottish Government has a legislative proposal to enshrine the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in domestic law, and there are many other untapped areas of international law that Scots lawyers could be using in the Scots courts.

We have assembled a fantastic panel to speak on this important subject.  Lord Bonomy, Senator of the College of Justice, recently spent 5 years working in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  He will speak about aspects of his international law experience there of benefit to Scots lawyers.  Michael Fordham QC is one of the foremost public law practitioners at the English bar, author of the leading practitioner’s book on Judicial Review, and teaches at Oxford University.  Shaheed Fatima is a barrister with Blackstone chambers, using international law in her domestic court practice.  She has written a book entitled Using International Law in Domestic Courts, has lectured at Harvard, and is Global Professor of Law at NYU School of Law.  Dr Antonios Tzanakopoulos of Glasgow University and UCL is assistant editor of the journal International law in Domestic Courts.  Between them they will look at how international law bites in domestic proceedings, past, present, and future.  The event will be chaired by Professor Alan Boyle, Professor of Public International Law at Edinburgh University.

The event will take place on Friday 24^th February 2012 at the Playfair Library, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL.  It will commence with tea and coffee at  4.15pm.  Talks will start at 4.30pm and will run, with a Q&A session, until 6.30pm.  There will then be a drinks reception from 6.30 to 7pm.

Please email Karen.Brough@shepwedd.co.uk to book your place.  We anticipate that places for this event will be in demand.  We do not charge for our evening events, but we do ask in return that if you sign up and are unable to attend you let us know, so that your place may be offered to somebody else.

The Faculty of Advocates is sponsoring the Autumn Seminar of the Scottish Public Law Group.  It is an event on Friday 9^th October 2009 from 5.30 to 7pm (with tea from 5pm, and drinks from 7 to 7.30pm).  It will take the form of a roundtable discussion on the new UK Supreme Court, at the end of the court’s first week in action.  There are a number of eminent speakers, including the Hon Lord Rodger of Earlsferry chairing the event, with Lord Hope (Deputy President of the Supreme Court), Professor Brice Dickson (Queen’s University, Belfast), Gerry Moynihan QC (Axiom Advocates) and Professor Neil Walker (Edinburgh University) also speaking. 

Details of how to book a place are on the attached flyer.  Members who are interested in attending are advised to book early as spaces are limited and the event is open to solicitors, academics, and other public lawyers.

Updated Flyer

SPLG Summer Conference Brochure

The SPLG would like to thank all of the speakers and chairs for their contributions.

Papers from the conference can be found below:

Presentation by Anna Poole

Presentation by Christine O’Neill

Presentation by Sarah O’Neill

Presentation by Jessica Burns

Presentation by Alan Page

Presentation by Aidan O’Neill

John Ewing, Director of Public Service Reform, Scottish Government, provided a valuable overview of Single Outcome Agreements while Martin Booth, COSLA, gave participants an  insight into the operation of Shared Services.  Andrew Ferguson, Fife Council & Vice-President of SOLAR, concluded the evening’s events with a helpful synopsis of the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 and its application to local and central government.

The SPLG would like to thank all of the speakers for their informative presentations, as well as the University of Edinburgh who kindly hosted and provided refreshments for this seminar

• What lessons have we learned about litigating human rights in the Scottish courts?
• What about the attitude of the appellate courts, particularly the Privy Council, towards the development of human rights principles?
• What role will Scotland’s new Human Rights Commission play in the development of human rights law going forward?
• How important is the process of ‘mainstreaming’ human rights in the policies and practices of our public authorities?

Power point slides used by Tony Kelly in his presentation will be available in the members area shortly.

The SPLG would like to thank the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow for their support in hosting the event and providing refreshments. 

• Has it lived up to the expectations of campaigners for FoI?
• What have been the main areas of contention leading to appeals to the Information Commissioners and what lessons can be learnt from them?
• How have public authorities responded to the new FoI regime in the way in which they go about their business?
• What is the future for FoI – has it worked or is there a need for change?

 Powerpoint presentations of Alicia McKay and Margaret Keyse are available in the Members’ section.  The SPLG wishes to extend its thanks to the Scottish Government for hosting the event. Details of the SPLG Winter event will be announced shortly.