Hester Swift writes about the successful one-day courses on foreign and international legal research that have been run since 2009 at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) in conjunction with BIALL. These courses have been a collaborative venture between the Foreign and International Law Librarians at the Bodleian Law Library at Oxford, the Squire Law Library at Cambridge, and the IALS Library, together with law librarians from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies and the University of Cardiff. The courses have attracted delegates from many different sectors of the legal information profession. The post of Foreign and International Law Librarian, or Foreign, Comparative and International Law Librarian, is relatively new to the UK, but has a long history in the United States. The BIALL-IALS foreign and international law training initiative complements the cooperation of the Foreign Law Research (FLARE) Group.

This was the first time that I had attended EBIC, so I didn't quite know what to expect. When I received the preliminary information on the conference I put it on one side wondering whether it warranted the expenditure required, but when I had a chance to look at it properly I really liked what I saw and realised that it would be very pertinent to my job as it is now. The conference appeared to be a nice balance between knowledge and information strategies, technology and information delivery and leadership and management – all areas in which I am very interested. Also, the structure appealed to me – a combination of panel, plenary and breakout sessions.

Sweet & Maxwell's acquisition of Lawtel has certainly caused librarians some concerns. The legal sector has rarely seen so many mergers and takeovers, having reached almost the point of a true anti-trust duopoly operating. Concerns have been expressed about the concentration of market power between Sweet & Maxwell and Butterworths. This article examines some of the competition law issues which arise.

One thing I learned is when an old friend [Carswell's Bonnie Preece] calls inviting you to be the rapporteur of an event that will take place months in the future, particularly when she importunes you with the carrot that you will not have to prepare anything in advance of the conference, DO NOT SUCCUMB. I subsequently discovered that the task of marshalling the substance of more than a dozen hours of outstanding presentations is a challenge indeed. I had to actually attend every session; I had to furiously take notes for hours; I had to work late into the night to consolidate these woefully inadequate notes. Whatever their limitations, however, I offer them here as some record of this marvellously well executed and educational programme.

Lesley Young analyses how the acquisitions process has altered in an academic law library with a huge international collection of both hard copy and electronic resources, following the increasing introduction and use of electronic sources of legal information.

Paper presented by Gerry Power at the 37th BIALL Annual Study Conference in Brighton, June 2006, outlining the importance of lifelong learning; discussing the work of some prominent writers and suggesting how to surmount barriers to learning.

Ufuoma Lamikanra and Dr T. O. Dada visited the IALS library in March 2010 to study the running of a large academic library with a view to trying to modernise procedures in the Nigerian Institute's library.

This article, by Mercedes Robba and Mariana Lavalle, deals with the civil right to reproduction and procreative liberty aroused by the Argentinian legislation and Court's decisions, in the light of the new concept of family in the country. This contribution focuses exclusively on the barriers to equal access to reproductive health in Argentina, taking into account infertility, infecundity and childlessness, according to the right to raise a family in conditions of equality and freedom.

The first issue of the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers came out at the end of 1995, and sprang out of the work I was doing on my Web site (http://www.venables.co.uk) as well as my work as an IT consultant for lawyers. Although the Web site is free to the user, I did hope that some money could be made from the Newsletter! Initially, the Newsletter went to just a few tens of clients and subscribers but I am glad to say that it has grown steadily since then and now has around 1,000 paid subscribers.

A new ethics resource was launched at the end of January; Cardiff Centre for Ethics, Law and Society (CCELS). The web site was officially launched by Dr Michael Wilks, Chairman of the BMA Ethics Committee, and the event was attended by some 90 people who listened to talks by Professor Richard Gardner, FRS, Professor Bob Lee, Professor Peter Whittaker and Professor Ruud ter Meulen. Full details of the occasion and of the papers given are on the web site at www.ccels.cardiff.ac.uk

Carl Clayton, Director, SINTO - the information partnership, writes that there is no shortage of legal information, yet for some people it can still be difficult to get access to the legal information they may need as citizens. Libraries in the Sheffield area have a strong history of co-operation but this cannot remove all the barriers.

This article by Craig Gerrard, Librarian, Weightmans LLP reports on plans being drawn up by the Finnish library authorities to implement a huge digital library.

This article by Gareth Ryan, Law and Official Publications Librarian, describes the history of the library, outlines the courses offered by the law school and details the collections and services offered by the law library.

Ruth Ward explains how open access to legislation in Africa is a much more recent development than in the developed world. Several recently launched projects are well underway, and are contributing towards promoting justice and the rule of law in Africa. Access to legislation facilitates great transparency and access to the law for the promotion of trade and investment; and supports the resulting economic development on the continent. Several different approaches to establishing projects which deliver reliable consolidated access to legislation are illustrated, and show that successful projects can be established and maintained on modest budgets by very small teams.

This article by John Furlong is an updated and revised version of an article originally authored by John Furlong and Susan Doe and published in Legal Information Management 2006, 6(2) Summer 2006 and covers in some detail the basic sources for researching European Union law. It also gives some background on the growth of the European Union and its law making.

The chairman of the European Information Association examines some of the more useful sources of regular information for those seeking to keep up to date on the European Union, its institutions and legislative process. Having reviewed the key official sources, such as the Rapid database and the press site of the European Commission's Representation in London, he explains the importance of the free services available from the various commercial producers of EU information.

Technology is transforming the way legal work is being delivered. It is influencing what law firms, clients and legal departments are expecting of their employees and what employees are expecting of their employers. It is reshaping legal education and careers; lawyers are becoming legal knowledge engineers, information professionals and knowledge managers are working closer than ever with IT teams. In this article, Ann Hemming and James Wilkinson will be considering lawyers’ training and BIALL members’ role in the landscape being reshaped by legal technology.

Roddy Waldhelm, Head of the Solicitor's Legal Information Centre, describes the work of Government lawyers in Scotland and how their information needs are met by his team, which provides a dedicated in-house legal library and research service.