It took just a simple e-mail in the Autumn of 2000 to set the ball rolling towards one of the most informative, enjoyable and interesting professional experiences I've ever had. The e-mail in question was a request to fill in a questionnaire from the Foreign Comparative and International Law Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries. The questionnaire concerned participation in AALL's Clearinghouse for Internships & International Personnel Exchanges. This is a program used to promote exchanges and visits between law librarians in the US and abroad in order to develop both personal and professional relationships, and also to give librarians the chance to work with legal information sources pertaining to other jurisdictions. Library and Information Services (LIS) management here at the University of Wales Swansea (UWS) kindly agreed to explore both the avenues of hosting and that of ‘sending forth’ a law librarian within the program.

Does the following scenario sound familiar? You have an enormous amount of data that needs putting into some sort of coherent order. Your external Web site and company intranet contain vast numbers of documents and offer links to yet more information sources, all containing yet more data.

Your role in this deluge of information often leaves you feeling as though you are running to stand still. There are thousands of users (company employees as well as external browsers) searching for thousands of different documents and you have the unenviable job of making all of this information available to them in an efficient manner. Too much data, too little data, or data which is inaccurate are all potential problems to a user.

This article follows an initiative to create a Knowledge Database in SharePoint from inception to roll out. Written by Allie Lustigman and Amy Hanley, the Knowledge and Information Team at Charles Taylor, this article explores how certain customisations to SharePoint 2010's out of-the-box capabilities can be successfully applied to a knowledge repository on a limited timescale and budget.

From the 1960s to the late 1980s, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Library produced an annual List of Current Legal Research Topics. The most recent annual issue was published in 1988 and listed the subjects of research currently being pursued (i.e. provisional dissertation titles) by students registered for research degrees in law (e.g. PhD, MPhil) at higher education institutions in the UK.

In this article Terry McDonald provides an introduction to the Library of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) with particular emphasis on the legal resources available to students and visiting readers. She outlines the history and the current nature of the library and the University's School of Law before turn attention to the law collections, the legal deposit status, the role of library and its law subject specialists, particularly in the context of supporting the teaching objectives of the Law School.

The right to free speech and expression is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of part III of the Indian constitution. The fundamental rights act as the constitutional restraints over the state's authority to intervene within the protective gamut of civil liberties of the people. However, the Indian judiciary remains the principal enforcer of the constitutional liberties guaranteed as fundamental rights whenever breached by the state. As the interpreters of the constitution and guardians of civil liberties, the Indian constitutional courts have consistently acted to protect people from state-authorised interventions in their respective domains of fundamental rights. To this concept, this research article by Rebant Juyal attempts to study the landmark judgment of the Indian Supreme Court in the case of Anuradha Bhasin v Union of India, where the court upheld the fundamental right of people to express their speech and expression on the internet.

The escalating adoption of wearable technology for health data monitoring has led to the real-time aggregation of personal information. This phenomenon has fuelled heightened apprehensions about data security and privacy, given the storage, processing, and sharing of personal health data by corporations. Regulatory frameworks have been enacted to safeguard individual privacy rights, as exemplified by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This research paper, by Ms Varda Mone and Ms Fayazullaeva Shakhlo, offers an overview of extant literature on privacy apprehensions concerning wearable devices, conducting an exhaustive review to discern pivotal privacy issues and proffer prospective remedies. Specifically, the paper delineates the ensuing privacy concerns associated with wearables. Predominantly, wearables introduce security vulnerabilities that may facilitate the misappropriation, compromise, or revelation of delicate health data. The copious health information amassed by wearables can be potentially sold or divulged to external parties’ sans user cognisance or consent. Furthermore, the deployment of wearable technology harbours the potential for discriminatory practices against those with disabilities or chronic ailments. Additionally, apprehensions pertaining to privacy and surveillance stem from the capacity of wearable devices to monitor and trace an individual's movements and activities. To conclude, the paper deliberates on plausible measures to address privacy concerns pertaining to wearable devices, encompassing: a) Fortifying the security apparatus of wearable devices, b) Amplifying user autonomy over their health data, and c) Regulating the collection and utilisation of user health data by wearables. The paper asserts that the amelioration of these privacy concerns is indispensable for leveraging wearable technology's potential to enhance human well-being while ensuring the preservation of personal privacy.

The Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament confers on that Parliament the power to make laws which are known as Acts of the Scottish Parliament. However, the legislative competence of the Parliament is restricted. The main restriction relates to reserved matters, that is those matters which the UK Parliament has not devolved to the Scottish Parliament. These are listed in sch 5 to the Act and cover such matters as defence, taxation, social security and macro-economics. Other significant restrictions on the Parliament's legislative competence are that an Act of the Scottish Parliament cannot make any provision which is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) or with European Community law, nor can an Act of the Scottish Parliament modify certain “protected enactments” - including most provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 itself and the Human Rights Act I 998. Finally, an Act of the Scottish Parliament cannot have effect outside Scotland, nor can it remove the Lord Advocate from his position as head of the systems of criminal prosecutions and investigation of deaths in Scotland. An Act of the Scottish Parliament is not law so far as any provision of it is outside the Parliament's legislative competence

In this article, John Eaton details Canadians' passion for ice hockey and chronicles the legal struggles of Canadian women to partake in the sport on an equal basis to men. Readers interested in the law of ice hockey are referred to the authoritative work on the subject, John Barnes's The Law of Hockey (Markham: LexisNexis Canada Inc., 2010) and those who wish to read more of the story of women's ice hockey in Canada should consult Etue, Elizabeth & Williams, Megan K., On the Edge: Women Making Hockey History (Toronto: Second Story Press, 1996).

Technological advancements have revolutionised the social interactions of global society and in turn influenced the means and methods of warfare; increasing the involvement of civilians in hostilities, not only as victims but also as participants. Together with the involvement of multiple state and non-state actors, civilian participation makes these modern conflicts all the more unpredictable, challenging inter alia the traditional notion of direct participation in hostilities established under international law.

Simon Drane writes that the next decade will see a shift within legal service provision, where it will transition from a model which is predominantly geared around internal work processes to one that is geared around customer outcomes. Law firms will complete their evolution from a bill by the hour service-based model to something closer to a product subscription model. This shift will deliver growth, sustainable recurring revenues at high margins and new higher value service opportunities. At the core of this shift is the changing nature of consumption driven by consumer technology and the inexorable drive for base level information to become free. Law firms are sitting on vast quantities of data, and yet very few are currently harnessing this effectively in their offerings. The effective use of data combined with technology will allow innovative organisations to provide a new form of productised offering which will not only drive new recurring revenues but will allow them to offer higher value business advisory services. Whereas effective use of data within the organisation will lead to better evolutionary efficiency, quality and risk management, the use of data externally for clients will lead to more revolutionary changes. It will also blur the lines further between traditional law firms and LegalTech product businesses, in the way alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) and the Big Four are already exploring.

The Covid-19 pandemic drastically changed the information landscape. For us it exponentially increased our workload and unequivocally demonstrated how much value we could add to the business. The skill set of information professionals is in demand like never before, changing many of our roles for the better. This article, written by Felicity Cross, discusses the effect the pandemic has had on her department and what that means for our profession as a whole.

In this article David Wills, the Librarian of the Squire Law Library, offers a brief description of the extraordinary range of architecture at the University of Cambridge with particular reference to the David Williams Building, designed by the world-renowned architects Foster + Partners. He suggests that, in the context of the Squire Law Library, which occupies the top three floors of the David Williams Building, the building has truly come of age; he looks at some of the features and challenges of its modern design; and notes that the building looks set to play a major part in the education and research activity of legal scholars and university students into the distant future. This article is a personal reflection based on the author's experience of using and working in the building for some 26 years since it was constructed and opened in the mid-1990s.

This article explores how and why LawCare came into being. LawCare is the only charity dedicated to promoting and supporting good mental health and wellbeing across the legal community in the UK. The charity started in 1997 to help solicitors with alcohol problems, but has developed over the years and now supports all legal professionals in the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man with any mental health and wellbeing issues. This article by Mary Jackson is based on a presentation she gave at the BIALL Online Annual Conference held in June 2021.

Adoption of legal technology within law firms has seen a significant increase in recent years with the current necessity for seemingly indefinite remote working only adding to the need for technology solutions to keep legal workflows running. In light of this, legal technology purchases will undoubtedly see a further increase and a well conducted proof of value is crucial to making the right investment decision. This article is based on a talk given by Eleanor White at the BIALL Knowledge Management SIG in November 2018. It establishes the difference between a proof of concept and proof of value and elaborates on some key principles to consider during each phase of the latter. From the preparation and planning through to the running of the evaluation and the resulting decision-making process, this article addresses how to get the most out of the proof of value opportunity.

In this article Samantha Steer looks at recent market insights as to the expectations of law firm clients, as well as the traits of lawyers, and presents key features from Westlaw Edge UK that address both aspects. She focuses on how Westlaw Edge UK can help lawyers with regard to accuracy, efficiency and confidence.

The author of this article Margaret Clay looks back on her long tenure as Librarian at the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court libraries serving barristers, judiciary, and students on the Bar Course. She recalls the selection process she experienced and proceeds to discuss the introduction of automation to the Library, a high priority in the early days. She explains the various relocations of parts of the Library's print collection (made necessary by periodic changes in the priorities of the parent organisation) and traces the development of electronic services: from CD-ROM databases to web-based services and onward to social media. She outlines the initiatives in reader services and other areas entered upon during her tenure and, in conclusion, looks forward to the future of the information service she was instrumental in setting up. Margaret retired in 2020.*

This article written by Helen Garner, the Bodleian Law Librarian, reviews three different building projects that have taken place at the Bodleian Law Library (BLL) between 2010 and 2020. The three projects were all undertaken independently of each other and have transformed the BLL. This article discusses each project and explains the work that was completed. This is followed by a summary of the impact of the projects and the lessons learnt.

Sara Meyer, the newly appointed Knowledge Manager at the Legal Ombudsman in Birmingham, describes how they are beginning to set up KM systems to deal with a completely new jurisdiction relating to the hearing of complaints against solicitors. This follows the introduction of reforms contained in the Legal Services Act 2007, which mean that all complaints are now heard by this one organisation.

This article, by Emily Allbon, is based on a presentation given at the BIALL Conference in 2011. She explores the depth of student engagement with online resources and how to handle the information-complacent law student. She discusses the development Learnmore, Lawbore's legal skills wiki, and concludes with thoughts over future development of this resource.