Research Briefings

Kathryn Hollingsworth - Judgments for Children (PDF: 2MB). A handful of ‘child-friendly’ judgments have emerged in the UK in recent years. We examine why form and presentation of judicial decisions is important in children’s access to justice. We look at why judges have a duty to enhance children’s status and capacities as legal citizens through judgment writing. We identify four potential functions of judgments written for children:

• communicative
• developmental
• instructive
• legally transformative.

We call for greater attention on how judgments are constructed and conveyed to promote children’s access to justice.

Professor Kathyn Hollingsworth has also completed her research briefings on:

• Children's Rights Judgments Leaflet (PDF: 1.39MB)
• Sentencing Remarks for Children (PDF: 2.2MB)
• EUSS (PDF: 806KB)

The EU settled status scheme and children in conflict with the law. A joint briefing written by Professor Kathryn Hollingsworth and Professor Helen Stalford, of Liverpool University. It was produced as part of the Brexit and Children Coalition.

Sue Farran - 'A new lease of life for Donatio Mortis Causa in a time of Coronavirus?' (PDF: 555KB). Ideally those confronting possible death from coronavirus would have time and resources to draw up a will. The reality is many have had, and will have, neither. A possibility is equitable institution of donatio mortis causa, but it's not without problems. In this briefing, Sue addresses these problems. The research is forthcoming in Trusts and Trustee.

Derek Whayman - Bargain Wills? The Rectification of Computer Generated Documents (PDF: 1.28MB). Getting a will from an online provider might be tempting. But in his latest research, Derek has identified some problems with this route. He considers how the courts and legislators might respond to them.

Hélène Tyrrell - Foreign jurisprudence as a persuasive authority (PDF: 1.66MB). This briefing discusses the judicial use of foreign precedents. They have received relatively little attention in the UK context. Yet foreign jurisprudence is cited in around one third of the UK Supreme Court’s decided cases.

David Lawrence and Sarah Morley, Regulating the Tyrell Corporation(PDF: 2MB). This briefing discusses the Wellcome Trust-funded project ‘Regulating the Tyrell Corporation’. This explored whether company law can, or should, be the means of regulating novel beings. It looked, by extension, at their potential wide-ranging societal impacts, through future work.

Professor Lilian Edwards, Employee Surveillance (PDF: 443KB) 'The Road to Surveillance is Paved with Good Intentions'. This briefing looks at the recent academic UCU strike action in the UK. It examines how technologies introduced into the workplace for beneficial reasons may morph. They can, via function creep, become privacy invasive tools of surveillance.

Sue Farran, ‘How political are environmental charities? A focus on Marine Protected Areas and the role of charities’. The briefing questions whether charities are ignoring an established legal principle. Charities should not engage in overt political activity aimed at legal change when lobbying for marine protected areas. Environmental charities (PDF: 658KB)

Richard Collier has recently completed a study of anxiety amongst junior lawyers. It's funded by the charity Anxiety UK. It's supported by the Junior Lawyers Division (JDL). We have uploaded the briefing report. Richard's starting a research project exploring the relationship between men and gender equality. It intersections between gender and wellbeing in a UK university.

Bryan Clark has just finished a research briefing on 'Getting it right: MIAMs and Court-based mediation in Scotland‌'. MIAMS are Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings. They're a chance for would-be mediation users to:

• find out about the process
• assess the suitability of their case for mediation

Colin Murray has a research briefing on 'Prisoner Voting: Enfranchisement reform in Scotland'. The Scottish Parliament's restrictions on prisoner voting breach its ECHR obligations. This briefing outlines the legal and historical basis for reform. It offers four models for compliance with the ECHR.

Derek Whayman has completed research briefings on 'Resolving the status of Property Guardians'. They look at how the law remains unclear about whether property guardians are:

• tenants, with additional protections
• licensees, with considerably fewer protections