Because the focus of most of the themed articles in this issue of LIM is vendor relations from the point of view of the customer, it seemed sensible to allow the legal publishers to present their own views of relations with their customers to the readership, via a short survey carried out by BIALL's Legal Information Group.

Professor Graham Virgo, in delivering the 3rd Willi Steiner Memorial Lecture, asks if it is possible to become a legal practitioner in England and Wales without having studied Law as an academic discipline. Is there any point in studying for a Law degree? Students study any academic subject to acquire knowledge and to develop key skills. This is just as true of students studying Law. But is the knowledge acquired by a Law student and the skills which they develop really of benefit to them in legal practice? Crucially, what can the managers of legal information do to support the particular needs of Law students and academic researchers?

David Percik, Chair of the BIALL Legal Information Group traces the history of this award, which was presented for the first time to Wildy's at the BIALL Conference in June 2010.

Professor William Binchy provides a summary of the legal system in the Republic of Ireland and reflects on constitutional developments and challenges facing the country, particularly in the light of the recent economic collapse.

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.

In June 2010 the first BIALL Supplier of the Year award was made to Wildy & Sons Ltd, following a survey of BIALL members. The chair of the Awards and Bursaries Committee at the time of the award was Susan Scorey. Some time after the event she talked to John Sinkins, Managing Director of Wildy's, about the award and customer relations more generally.

Professor Brice Dickson offers forthright views relating to law reform issues in Northern Ireland against the background of the peace process.

In this article, Nick Jarrett-Kerr examines the long delayed implementation of the ABS structure which is likely to be finally implemented in October 2011. He reviews the plans of some early movers towards ABS and considers the possible benefits to law firms, to external investors and to clients.

Julie Kitchen is a law librarian with many years experience of working for law firms large and small. In this article she provides an account of her personal experiences with vendors over the years and offers some suggestions for helping to improve the relationship.

Patricia T Rickard-Clarke writes on the complex issues relating to access to justice for the citizens of Ireland. Her article addresses the practical need for consolidation of legislation and the issues of making law accessible in a form that people can understand. The article also takes into account comparative developments in other jurisdictions.

This article is based on the parallel session given by Jackie Fishleigh at the BIALL Conference in 2011 which looked at how Legal Information Professionals can get involved and contribute their skills to collaborative projects using SharePoint.

Bronwen Still explains the provisions of the new SRA Handbook in implementing an entirely new system of outcomes focused regulation. This approach sets out to give firms much more freedom to tailor their services to individual clients, rather than the previous system of detailed regulation.