Author: Faculty of Business and Law

Bristol Law School helps celebrate alumnus Jeremiah Daliel’s first book, inspired by his real life experiences

Author Faculty of Business and Law | Posted on

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On Thursday 16th February, Bristol Business and the Bristol Law School invited alumnus Jeremiah Daliel back to UWE to help him launch his first book.

Jeremiah Daliel was in a car accident in 2011 which left him wheelchair bound. Whilst recovering in hospital he found he had ample time on his hands so began reading avidly and ended up enrolling for not one but two degrees: LLB Law at UWE Bristol and Criminology at the University of Portsmouth.

On his first day at UWE Bristol, Jerry’s tutor asked the class what they saw themselves doing in the future.

Whilst his fellow classmates talked about future careers they would have, Jerry said he wanted to stand to receive his degree, 3 years later.

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Miraculously, Jeremiah managed to stand up completely unaided and remain standing for the first time in 5 years to receive his degree from UWE Bristol in July last year.

The incredibly emotional moment was shared on UWE Bristol’s Facebook page and was viewed over 130,000 times.

From being shared across UWE social media, the story got picked up by the press and Jerry soon became an internet sensation, with most major newspapers covering the story.

Since graduating in July, Jerry has continued his studies at UWE Bristol and is now undertaking his Advanced Legal Practice course. He hopes to go into full time practice upon completion.

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As well as studying for the LPC, Jerry has also written the book “Paradigm Uncovered: Up Close and Personal”.

The book was inspired by the life changing events which happened to Jerry but focuses on setting and achieving goals.

The book aims to help you change your mind-set in order to stay focused and achieve your goals.

Guests were welcomed to the book launch by Pro Vice Chancellor Jane Harrington, before Jerry shared his experiences and read excerpts from the book to the crowd.

Photos from the event can be found here. Credit: REW-Photography.

The Centre for Applied Legal Research Annual Lecture with Tunde Okewale MBA

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Bristol Law School was joined by Tunde Okewale MBE for the Centre for Applied Legal Research (CALR) Annual Lecture on 9th February 2017.

Tunde, a barrister specialising in criminal defence at Doughty Street Chambers, is the recipient of numerous awards for his efforts to promote diversity within the legal profession. In 2016 he was awarded an MBE for his charitable work. He is the founder of the charity Urban Lawyers, a social empowerment project designed to educate, engage and stimulate discussion amongst young people in relation to Law. He’s also considered to be the most followed barrister on Instagram and his court room dress has even caught the attention of GQ magazine.

He delivered an energising address entitled ‘Nobody Rises to Low Expectations’ to an audience of staff, students and members of the Bristol community. Recounting his own journey, Tunde spoke about perseverance and responding to challenge in order to reach our goals. Following the talk Tunde, and event organiser Dr Zainab Khan were interviewed by Ujima Radio who were keen to hear about the Faculty’s commitment to diversity and raising attainment. The Law School looks forward to hosting Tunde again in the near future.

Photos from the event can be found here.

Alumnus Jeremiah Daliel Launches his book at UWE Bristol – Thurs 16 February

Author Faculty of Business and Law | Posted on

Jeremiah Daliel became an internet sensation when he stood for the first time in five years at his UWE Bristol graduation ceremony in July to receive his Law degree.

Join the Bristol Law School help him celebrate the launch of his book on Thursday 16 February at UWE Bristol.

Since his graduation, Jerry has finished and launched his book Paradigm Uncovered which inspires setting and achieving goals. Paradigm Uncovered converts the reader from going with the flow to taking charge of life’s controls

Jerry became wheelchair bound after a bad car crash in 2011. However, Jerry used his time in hospital to study for a degree in Criminology and Law.

He is currently studying the LLM LPC Advanced Legal Practice at UWE Bristol and plans to go into full time practice on competition.

At the launch, Jerry will share excerpts from the book as well as recounting some of his experiences including when he stood at his graduation ceremony.

There will also be time for networking over light refreshments.

Places are free to attend but you need register via Eventbrite.

 

Dr Mary Young helps uncover tax avoiders behind Easton housing development

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Dr Mary Young recently advised investigative journalists from the Bristol Cable of an aggressive tax avoidance technique used by a Bristol property firm. ‘REVCAP, the financiers behind the controversial development of the Greenbank Chocolate Factory in Bristol, are connected to entities in low tax jurisdictions such as Jersey, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands’, says Adam Cantwell-Corn from the Bristol Cable.

Since the article was published, on 30 November at a planning hearing, Bristol Council voted to defer the decision on the housing development – mainly due to the concerns the Dr Young and the Cable raised.

More on the story can be found here.

 

Life after a Law Degree Panel Event

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On Wednesday 25 January three external speakers participated in a Bristol Law School panel event designed to demonstrate the wide range of jobs and careers open to law graduates.

The speakers were:

  • Jonathan Grant, Head of Legal at the Bank of England
  • Steve Rowan, a Director at the UK Intellectual Property Office
  • Bryannie Gibson, Senior Associate at PwC and part of their recruitment team.

Jonathan and Steve both completed their degrees at UWE Bristol.

Each speaker explained what their current role entailed, giving detailed and engaging examples to illustrate the breadth of their responsibilities. They then explained their career path from completion of their degree to their current role and finished by giving advice and tips to current students about how to maximise their chances of pursuing an interesting and varied career after graduation.

During the questions put to the panel members at the end, the two UWE alumni were asked to explain what they felt they had gained from their time at UWE. Jonathan Grant praised the mooting that he had taken part in during his law degree and said that he still had one of the posters his team had prepared for a moot! He encouraged current students to get involved with any of the extra-curricular activities offered at UWE, such as mooting and pro bono work as these will all improve CVs and make students stand out from the crowd. Steve Rowan said that he had taken his law degree on a part-time basis, whilst working at the Intellectual Property Office and he praised the practice-orientated teaching he’d received at UWE and the wide range of modules on offer, including the IP module which he of course took.

Around 150  students attended, some of whom are on our FBL Foundation Year course, designed for students progressing to any degree within the Faculty of Business and Law. Also attending were students from years 1-3 of the undergraduate law courses and some post-graduate Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course students.

The Faculty of Business and Law launch new Research Centres and Groups

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A ‘soft launch’ of the new research centres and groups was held on 25th January 2017 at the Executive Conference Centre.  The groundbreaking research undertaken at UWE Bristol aims to make its mark on business, industry and the wider community.

There are three new research centres and five research groups:

  • CALR- Centre for Applied Legal Research
  • BCEF – Bristol Centre for Economics and Finance
  • BLCC – Bristol Leadership and Change Centre

The groups are:

  • IOMS – Innovation, Operations Management and Supply
  • HRM – Human Resource Management
  • AMG – Applied Marketing Group
  • EE – Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
  • BBEC – Bristol Business Engagement Centre

Donna Whitehead Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean in her introductory remarks stated:

‘I’m really excited about the future of our research. What we are launching today represents our ambitious and creative values. We have created new research centres and groups that really reflect our strengths; where we have significant resource, capacity, capability and ambition’

Presentations were given on each of the research centres and the research groups, outlining the aims of each centre or group.

All the presentations stressed the applied nature of their research and links with their stakeholders.

The soft launch was held prior to Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE, Chairman of Cobra Beer’s Bristol Distinguish Address.

In his concluding remarks Lord Bilimoria congratulated the centres and groups and focused on the benefits of collaborative research that impacts on both policy change and decision -making. Lord Bilimoria outlined the benefits of collaborative research and the resultant opportunities.

Over 120 staff and external stakeholders attended the soft launch.

Professor Ed Cape and Dr Tom Smith get chapter published in Access to Justice and Legal Aid book

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Professor Ed Cape and Dr Tom Smith have had a chapter published in the book: Flynn & Hodgson, ‘Access to Justice and Legal Aid: Comparative Perspectives on Unmet Need’ (Hart, 2017).

The book considers how access to justice is affected by restrictions to legal aid budgets and increasingly prescriptive service guidelines. As common law jurisdictions, England and Wales, and Australia, share similar ideals, policies and practices, but they differ in aspects of their legal and political culture, in the nature of the communities they serve and in their approaches to providing access to justice.

These jurisdictions thus provide us with different perspectives on what constitutes justice and how we might seek to overcome the burgeoning crisis in unmet legal need.

The book fills an important gap in existing scholarship as the first to bring together new empirical and theoretical knowledge examining different responses to legal aid crises both in the domestic and comparative contexts, across criminal, civil and family law.

A summary of the book chapter can be found below:

“In 2013, then Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling proposed major changes to the funding of criminal legal aid, including large cuts in fees and forced contraction of the market of legal aid service providers. Arguing these reforms would endanger the viability of the criminal legal aid system, the legal profession and others engaged in a very public two year battle to stop – or at least dilute – the reform programme. In the wake of strike action by lawyers in July 2015 and multiple legal challenges to the contracting process, new Lord Chancellor Michael Gove abandoned a good deal of the reform package.

Whilst this represented a particularly bitter dispute, conflict between the Government and the criminal legal aid profession is not new. For more than two decades, criminal legal aid has arguably been devalued by consistent attempts to reduce its financial burden on the state and consequently the scope of its provision.

In this chapter we argue, with regret, that the prospects for criminal legal aid in England and Wales are bleak. We begin by tracing the development of the modern system of criminal legal aid, from its inception as an essential element of the welfare state following the Second World War, to its peak in the 1990s. We then describe and analyse its decline, arguing that whilst the need for economy and efficiency, especially following the global financial crisis of 2007-08, has been used to rationalise government policy in the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, the roots of that decline are deeper, and reflect an antipathy not only to state welfare provision but also to procedural justice and fair trial.

This is followed by an examination of the likely impact of both budget cuts and changes to the arrangements for managing and delivering criminal legal aid. Whilst there are grounds for optimism at the international level, with both the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) recognising the fundamental importance of legal aid in underpinning justice and fair trial, successive British governments have lacked a commitment to developing and sustaining a high quality criminal legal aid system”

For more information on the book and to order a copy please see here.

Centre for Applied Legal Research Annual Lecture: Tunde Okewale – Thurs 9 February

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Join us on Thursday 09 February for the Centre for Applied Legal Research’s Annual Lecture with Tunde Okewale.

To register please see here.

Tunde Okewale MBE (Doughty Street Chambers) is the recipient of numerous awards for his contribution to social justice and inclusion. In 2016 Tunde was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. He was named Diversity Champion at the UK Diversity Legal Awards in 2014.

Tunde is the founder of Urban Lawyers, a charitable initiative designed to educate, engage and stimulate discussion amongst young people in relation to law. The organisation provides information to disaffected young people and communities, as well as providing information and opportunities about how to secure work and/or experience in the legal profession.

Tunde grew up in a council estate in Hackney, East London. Tunde is the eldest of four children and was the first person in his family to attend university and obtain a degree. He is passionately committed to promoting diversity and widening participation within the professions.

Alongside the accolades for his charitable work, Tunde has attracted considerable interest from the media for his unique style. He has been the feature of GQ articles and is considered to be the most followed barrister on Instagram.

Having been called to the Bar in 2009 he has established a practice in General Crime, Serious Crime and Extradition. He also specialises in Sports Law and is a Registered Lawyer under The FA Football Agents Regulations.

Tunde was involved in the Griffiths Trust ‘Hush The Guns’ Project in Kingston Jamaica in 2009, and was also commissioned by the Jamaican and Canadian Government to facilitate workshops for disaffected youths.

The event is free to attend but you must register a place. To register please see here. The event will be held in the ECC on Frenchay Campus.

UWE Student Conference: Final call for abstracts

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Organised jointly by staff and students, the inaugural UWE Student Conference will celebrate research/enquiry/evidence-based practice from undergraduate and postgraduate taught students across all years of study and all disciplines.

There will be prizes for the best paper and poster presentations, and posters will be printed at no cost. Your name, paper/poster title, abstract and short biography will be included in a colour programme.

 What can you present?

  • Dissertation work
  • Group based/individual projects
  • Placement/Internship activities
  • Essays
  • Evidence-based enquiries
  • Reflective evidence-based practice/ service improvement.

You can use existing coursework material or present new ideas to gain feedback

What is the time-line?

  • Revised and final abstract deadline: Friday 20 January 2017
  • Notification of abstract acceptance: Monday 30 January 2017
  • Conference registration opens: Monday 30 January 2017
  • Submit papers and posters online: Friday 24 March 2017
  • UWE Student Conference: Monday 10 April 2017 (first week of Easter break)

How do I submit an abstract?

You can find the abstract submission form and further details via: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/newsandevents/studentconference.aspx or by checking Infohub.

Email your abstract to learningforall@uwe.ac.uk using the conference abstract submission form by the revised deadline of 20 January 2017. In the subject of your email state: your faculty, your name, student conference e.g.:  ACE, John Smith, student conference.

“Life after a law degree – different legal jobs and options” – Panel event – 25 January

Author Faculty of Business and Law | Posted on

The Bristol Law School are hosting a panel event on Wednesday 25 January to highlight the different career paths you can take after studying a Law degree. The panel includes three Law alumni from UWE Bristol.

The speakers are:

  • Jonathan Grant, Head of Legal for Markets, Banking and Notes at the Bank of England;
  • Steve Rowan, Director of the Tribunals, Trade Marks and Designs Division of the UK Intellectual Property Office;
  • James Poole, Team Manager of Company Secretarial Services at Capita Asset Services; and
  • Bryannie  Gibson, Senior Associate at PwC.

Each of the speakers will talk for around 10minutes on their career path from Law degree to their current job. They will explain their current role as well as sharing tips for soon to be graduates.

The presentations will be followed by questions and informal networking over refreshments.

The event is open to any student who is interested in a career in the legal profession, regardless if they are studying Law or not.

The event starts at 1pm in 4B031, Frenchay Campus.

If you would like to attend this event please register via InfoHub.